English Matters

Portmanteau:

• Why did the government stop merger of Federal Express and UPS ?
• Anti Trust ?
• No. Fed-ups was the proposed name.

 

A Language where such a few words convey quite a lot.

 

That is the picture in a movie review that talks about her smile... a lot.

Here is the first couple of paragraphs of the review...:

The smile of Julianne Moore is one of the delights of modern cinema. It is the smile of someone who knows, all too well, that you can’t rely on life to be delightful. Forget the megabeams of Julia Roberts or Anne Hathaway, either of which could be deployed as an emergency searchlight during a power failure. Consider, instead, the smile that flickers and gutters on Moore’s countenance in “Boogie Nights” (1997) as her character—a **** actress—says of her co-star, “I really love the stupid jerk.” As if love could survive in their trade. Sadder yet is the smile of the hopeless lush portrayed by Moore in “A Single Man” (2009), who, becalmed by Tanqueray, puts “Stormy Weather” on the gramophone and nestles tight to her gay best friend. Not since Ingrid Bergman has there been so trenchant a demonstration of what it means to maintain a brave face.

Moore’s latest film is “Gloria Bell,” in which she takes the title role. Gloria is divorced, with two children, Peter (Michael Cera), who has recently become a father, and Anne (Caren Pistorius), whose boyfriend is an extreme surfer. “I go around the world looking for giant waves,” he tells Gloria, who stays in Los Angeles and waits for minor ripples. During the day, she works in insurance, advising clients how to be safe rather than sorry: the ideal career for someone who has perfected the art of being at once sorry and safe. Come evening, she likes to go out for boogie nights, and if, for anthropological reasons, you enjoy watching a herd of humans—mostly middle-aged and white—shimmy to venerable disco tunes, with all the suppleness of rheumatic giraffes, this movie is for you.​

..... you may read the rest of the essay at
The Genius of Julianne Moore in “Gloria Bell”

 

I like this girl Gita's advice on speaking English, and this is so useful for all ESL students too.. And she demonstrates how a slow, clear elocution is key to speaking well. [ I watched some of her cooking demonstrations...]



One of the strange ideas that we have in India is that there is some sort of "correct" accent to speak English. There is no such thing. All accents are correct. I love the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaking English. She doesn't try to speak it like how the British Council in India would want language learners to speak.

 

Here is some English spoken by a docent

 

Hi ladies, Please clarify this even though it sounds silly. which of the following is correct to use.

Have you reached? or Are you reached?

Coming Saturday or come Saturday.

 

Unless one is appearing for international competitive exam, it shouldn’t matter.
2. Contextually it will be understood in the sense you want this to be understood by the other. One is ok in uk and the other ok in USA. Like lift in uk is hike in USA. elevator in USA is lift in UK.
Do as romans when in Rome or wear a tonga!
God is in our expressions.

 

In Rome they'd likely wear a chariot.
[if the charioteer is small he'd get in it, if large, like a gladiator, he'd put it on.]
When Romans go to Tonga they'd wear a Tupenu, a cross between a sarong(lungi) and a kilt.