Idiom: “To throw a Hail Mary”
Here’s one of those phrases for you. Used not only in its original field. 😉
A Hail Mary pass or Hail Mary route in American football refers to any very long forward pass made in desperation with only a small chance of success, especially at or near the end of a half.
What Oxford doctionary has to say about it?
Hail Mary:
1a prayer to the Virgin Mary used chiefly by Roman Catholics, beginning with part of Luke 1:28. Also called Ave Maria.2 [usually as modifier]US (in American football) a long, typically unsuccessful pass made in an attempt to score late in the game.a plan or project with little chance of success.
There is no play riskier in football than making a last second, desperation pass play to the end zone. The game clock is running out, the opposing team’s defensive coordinator knows the play is coming, and the defense is set up and ready to foil the attempt. Hail Mary passes stimulate the minds and hearts of spectators, sports announcers and teammates. After all, that last second chance to claim success offers something needed in a time of helplessness — hope.
Now I’ll use the Show, don’t tell principle:
My Ultimate British
No, not the Queen! You cannot buy her, decorate her roof with an union jack (in lieu of the crown) and proudly drive her down the streets  of..anywhere. Even constructing that sentence was nonsensical. I said you cannot, do not even think about it 🙂
Not the doubledecker, not Mr. Churchil (I am sorry, sir Winston). Not Prince William, nor Katerin, Kate Moss even not Stephen Fry. Not the London Eye, nor the fish and chips. And not the Tea time.
Not even this young gentleman:
No, no, no….
Let me introduce you to one of my loves.
A true baby, a sweetheart, a dream.
The Mini.
The Mini has won many awards over the years, perhaps the most notable include: “Car of the Century” (Autocar magazine 1995), “Number One Classic Car of All Time” (Classic & Sports Car magazine 1996) and “European Car of the Century” in a worldwide Internet poll run by the prestigious Global Automotive Elections Foundation in 1999. The Mini managed second place (behind the Model T Ford) for “Global Car of the Century” in that same poll.
The Mini is not another motor vehicle. It is … a statement. A toy. A delight for the soul and the senses.
Come as you are little thing  – old one, new one, One one, Cooper one, red one, blue one, just come my way.
Sigh,
I don’t believe in tests…
anymore.
A couple of days ago I posted an interesting online based vocabulary test and my result of 17.000.
Yesterday I got back to it and did the test once again (as you may have expected, I know the same set of words), BUT this time I checked different post-vocabulary fileds. Instead of “All of my subjects were in English” (or sth of the kind) I checked that I no more learn English and that I stopped about an year ago (true fact). On the additional questions (this time there were much more – I checked that I read, speak, and write a lot: with one word communicate a lot in English (the truth). Guess what, this time my result was not 17.000 but 23.500.
So, I decided to take another test and to see what would my n:
Found this one: http://dynamo.dictionary.com/placement/level
Result: 50.052
Pff, what should that mean?
For one it surely means that the tests are lost on me. The lot of them and all the pals, mates, and peers they might have.
I remembered how we once had that perfect candidate for the place of attorney in our office. He got 100/100 on each and every test but turned to be a weird psycho bloke post-hiring. He did know the matter but had no clue how to use it.
So, I’ll stop with tests and will continue with reading, speaking and writing a lot and…
come what may.
Your remaining-untested-in-the-future,
A teacher to remember
I wish I have had and a teacher like Taylor Mali. Once you get over his formidable side you will feel moved, empowered, inspired and motivated.
If you had 4 minutes, please watch his speech and you will never again ask yourselves what do teachers (have to) do (and make):
Taylor Mali: What Do Teachers Make?
You’d like more? There is more:
Taylor Mali: Miracle Workers
Have you had teachers that had inspired you for living?
Stay tuned for my favourite Taylor Mali piece. 😉
And no, you may not work in groups,
Tea time
Plenty has been said and written about the world famous and well-known tradition of the British tea-time and the most beloved Cuppa tea.
I shall not invent the wheel here.
From the astonishing work of Henry James’s early period, The Portrait of a lady.
Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. There are circumstances in which, whether you partake of the tea or not–some people of course never do,–the situation is in itself delightful.
Through the brilliant essay of George Orwell. Read More…
How many words do you know?
A nice tool that claims to access your English command (or, at least a rough estimate number of words that you may know):
Test your Vocab
- 1,500–3,000 words: a couple of years of English courses
- 4,000–7,000 words: intermediate English (4–6 years)
- 8,000–10,000 words: advanced English (8 years) for a particularly good student
Anything much beyond 10,000 words generally only comes from living abroad in an English-speaking country for a significant period of time, or else spending tremendous amounts of one’s own time exposed to English media (books, sitcoms, movies, etc.).
Mine are about 17.000 – 23.500*
*Did it once again, same words, different check ot the additional questions after the words.
Not bad for a non-native speaker, huh 😉
What is your result (no cheating, please 🙂 ) ?
Targeting 30 000,
10 British slang words, kindly translated for Americans
(B)
Barmy – If someone tells you that you’re barmy they mean you have gone mad or crazy. For example you’d have to be barmy to visit England without trying black pudding!
Bees Knees – This is the polite version of the dog’s bollocks. So if you are in polite company and want to say that something was fabulous, this phrase might come in handy.
Biggie – This is unusual. A biggie is what a child calls his poo! Hence the reason Wendy’s Hamburgers has never really taken off in England – who would buy “biggie fries”? Yuck – I’m sure you wouldn’t buy poo fries! The other meaning of Biggie is erection. It just gets worse!
Blimey – Another exclamation of surprise. My Dad used to say “Gawd Blimey” or “Gor Blimey” or even “Cor Blimey”. It is all a corruption of the oath God Blind Me.
Blinkered – Someone who is blinkered is narrow minded or narrow sighted – they only see one view on a subject. It comes from when horses that pulled carriages wore blinkers to stop them seeing to the side or behind them which stopped them from being startled and only let them see where they were going.
Bob’s your uncle – This is a well used phrase. It is added to the end of sentences a bit like and that’s it! For example if you are telling someone how to make that fabulous banoffee pie you just served them, you would tell them to boil the condensed milk for three hours, spread it onto a basic cheesecake base, slice bananas on top, add some whipped double cream, another layer of banana and Bob’s your uncle!
Box your ears – Many young chaps heard their dads threaten to box their ears when I was a littlun. Generally meant a slap around the head for misbehaving. Probably illegal these days!
Budge up – If you want to sit down and someone is taking up too much space, you’d ask them to budge up – move and make some space.
Bugger all – If something costs bugger all, it means that it costs nothing. Meaning it is cheap. If you have bugger all, it means you have nothing.
Butchers – To have a butchers at something is to have a look. This is a cockney rhyming slang word that has become common. The reason “butchers” means a look even though it doesn’t rhyme is because it is short for “butchers hook” and “hook” of course, does rhyme.
Your uncle,
Did you know? No, really, did you?
Bet you never stopped to think about it. 😉
- The most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E (1 out of every 8 letters written is an e).
- Â The least used letter in the alphabet is Q.
- Â Dreamt is the only word that ends in mt.
- Â The first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON. Read More…
(I said) Betyghtbouhn
My favourite tongue-twister 🙂
Betty Botter bought some butter but, said she, the butter’s bitter.
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter will make my bitter batter better.
So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter,
put it in her bitter batter, made her bitter batter better.
So ‘t was better Betty Botter bought some better butter.
Say it fast and then even faster. 🙂
How’s your tongue? Twisted? That should mean…mission complete 🙂
Boughthbitiouthi,
Please write intelligible e-mails
Sometimes I get quite fierce headaches form e-mails that you get lost into.
Please:
- for the sake of your addressee,
- for the sake of time,
- for the sake of brevity,
- for the sake of understanding and
- last but not least for the sake of yourself,
choose your words with care and thought. Let people know what you request them to give you or do. Have a point. Write with authority.
Here are some examples how to do it:
E-mail examples
Yours sincerely,
AWARDS
Just English 