Shoptalk

Some unusual English expressions

Today I heard someone being interviewed on the radio, and he used the expression "behind the 8-ball." At once I thought of the people here at Shoptalk, who might not know what the expression means.

It comes from the game of billiards, where players move balls around on a table by hitting them with the ends of sticks. Each ball has a number, and if your ball is "behind the 8-ball," it's almost impossible for you to continue the game. So when you are behind the 8-ball, you can't do anything useful.

That made me think about other expressions from games. For example, a "Hail Mary pass" in American football involves a player throwing the ball and just hoping another teammate will catch it. It's a desperate move.

In baseball, a player who gets onto a base is safe as long as he is close to the base. But players like to slip away from the base so that they can run to the next base if another player hits the ball. Sometimes the pitcher sees that the runner is far away from his base--so the pitcher throws to the baseman. If the baseman can touch the runner with the ball before the runner can step on the base again, the runner is "caught off base." When someone feels surprised by events, he or she may say: "I was caught off base by this."

Can you think of other expressions like these?

A very good English resource

My longtime friend and colleague Joan Acosta has created a new website called Best of The Reader. It's based on materials she published in The Westcoast Reader, which she edited for over 25 years. It soon became  very popular among teachers of English as a second language, and teachers of literacy. 

The site offers downloadable e-books that teachers and students can use, and Joan will publish more e-books early in the new year.

Prose

Hello,
I want to create a new room devoted to Prose, so I will send my prose here from now on.

La-la Theory

La-la theory (also called the sing-song theory) is the name of one of the speculative theories about the origins of language. This theory claims that speech originated in song, play, laughter, and other aspects of romantic side of life. It also argues some of our first words were long and musical rather than short grunts some theories suppose we started with.

Have you ever thought or read about the origins of speech? There are some other theories in addition to this theory. But, I like this one very much. It is a very neat lovely theory, any way.

Tours of western Canada

I have some online photograph albums that I made after our holidays in recent years. Here are some of them that I hope you will enjoy:

Chilcotin 2004 -- A trip north into central British Columbia, and then down the coast to northern Vancouver Island.

Sointula 2006 -- Sointula is a small village on Malcolm Island, off the northern end of Vancouver Island. We love it very much.

Haida Gwaii -- Photos from the islands also called the Queen Charlottes, with only 5,000 people but a great culture.

Yukon 2009 -- We went far north in September, for our first visit to the Yukon Territory. We want to go back!

Tell me what you think of these photos. I would love to see your own photos.

My home in North Vancouver

I have learned how to save a photo from Google Earth, so here is a picture of my house. It was taken by Google last June. I know that because the apple tree in the front yard is in bloom, and the grey van in the driveway belongs to the man who looked after our house when we were on holiday.

The front yard is an amazing garden, thanks to my wife. She has planted many trees, shrubs, and flowers, so it is beautiful at every time of the year. On the second floor of the house you can see the windows of my office--I'm sitting there now, writing this message to you. 

If you go to Google Earth, you can see my neighbourhood very easily. Type in North Vancouver, Canada. Then look for Cove Cliff Road, on the east side of North Vancouver. My address is 4635 Cove Cliff Road.

 
 

Irish Slang Website

Irishslang.info  is the most comprehensive online dictionary of Irish Slang. Developed "straight from the horse's mouth".

If you hear something "straight from the horse's mouth", you hear it from someone who definitely knows it is true.

Leila's Poems

Here's a place for you to post new (and old) poems, Leila...and I'll respond more quickly when I know you've made a new comment!

Let me write poems

Hello Crawford,

I'd like to send my poems to Shoptalk, would you please give me your advice?

"My home"

" I live in a rose, cream

 In which the white grew,

 I can see the beam,

Through the sitting dew."

Kind regards,

Leila

Swine Flu!

Last week, a new disease suddenly appeared in North America. I have been really, really busy on my blog H5N1, trying to cover the story. The blog has been getting over 5,000 visitors a day.

But I will be happy to deal with English questions about the influenza. For example, the word "pandemic" comes from two Greek words: "pan" (all) and "demos" (many or people). This could be a disease that might affect all people. I hope not.