Sorry the last blog has got me thinking...Monty Python. I´m not sure how many of you are familiar with Monty Python, but here I share with you one of my favourite clips, which is quite apt for an English blog as it expresses clearly our problems with Latin...and future Romance language conjugations. You will appreciate that with our simplistic grammar, so many tenses and variations can tax our brains sometimes...I leave you with the clip. Enjoy!
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Thursday, 18 February 2010
SPAM SPAM SPAM
by Monty Python
SPAM
Technology always has an influence on language. When printing came in, it brought new words into the language. When broadcasting first started new words came into the language. And now the internet has come along so it’s not surprising that quite a large number of new words have come into English vocabulary since, especially the last 10 years really since the world wide web came into being. And of course if you’ve got emails, and most people have these days, then you will have encountered the word Spam. Spam flooding your email box with ads or other unwanted messages. But why the word Spam for this sort of thing?
Spam was originally a tinned meat back in the 1930s, a brand name for a particular kind of cold meat. But it became very fashionable when Monty Python, the satirical television comedy series back in the 70s and 80s they had a sketch where just for fun they had spam with every item on the restaurant menu - bacon and spam, egg and spam, ham and spam, spam and spam. Spam spam spam spam… and they actually sang a song about it and it caught on.
And therefore it became a real part of the language meaning any unwanted material of any kind and so when the internet came along it wasn’t surprising really that spam became part of that kind of experience. And the evidence that it’s become part of the language is not just because of the noun spam which you might expect to see in the internet context but because it’s generated other kinds of linguistic expression as well.
You’ve now got verbs based upon it, and adjectives based upon it. You can now have ‘I’ve been spammed’ or ‘somebody’s spamming me’ and the actual people who do the work themselves who send all these horrible emails out to everybody so that we’re flooded with these things, what are they called? Well there’s a new noun, they’re called ‘spammers’.
By Professor David Crystal (BBC)
Well, now you know where the word "spam" comes from. Hope you have enjoyed the video and the reading.
Carmela
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
ENTER OUR II TRAVEL PHOTO CONTEST
To enter our II Travel Photo Contest send up to 3 shots as Jpg e-mail attachments along with your full name to: eoinavalmoralconcursos@gmail.com
Clearly state the location of the photographs and include a short description. Only 3 entries per person. The contest is open to our school students only.
To enter our II Travel Photo Contest send up to 3 shots as Jpg e-mail attachments along with your full name to: eoinavalmoralconcursos@gmail.com
Clearly state the location of the photographs and include a short description. Only 3 entries per person. The contest is open to our school students only.
See the contest conditions in the right column.
Check out the 2009 Winning Photos at the Gallery (right column).
Enjoy your Carnival!!
Carmela
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
AFTERNOON TEA
A very British tradition.
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Henry James.
Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry around four o'clock in the afternoon. The evening meal in her household was served fashionably late at eight o'clock, thus leaving a long period of time between lunch and dinner. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread and butter and cake be brought to her room during the late afternoon. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her.
Nowadays however, in the average suburban home, afternoon tea is likely to be just a biscuit or small cake and a mug of tea, usually produced using a teabag. Sacrilege!
A very British tradition.
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Henry James.
Tea, that most quintessential of English drinks, is a relative latecomer to British shores. Although the custom of drinking tea dates back to the third millennium BC in China, it was not until the mid 17th century that tea first appeared in England.
Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry around four o'clock in the afternoon. The evening meal in her household was served fashionably late at eight o'clock, thus leaving a long period of time between lunch and dinner. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread and butter and cake be brought to her room during the late afternoon. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her.
This pause for tea became a fashionable social event. During the 1880's upper-class and society women would change into long gowns, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea which was usually served in the drawing room between four and five o'clock.
Traditional afternoon tea consists of a selection of dainty sandwiches (including of course thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches), scones served with clotted cream and preserves. Cakes and pastries are also served. Tea grown in India or Ceylon is poured from silver tea pots into delicate bone china cups.
Nowadays however, in the average suburban home, afternoon tea is likely to be just a biscuit or small cake and a mug of tea, usually produced using a teabag. Sacrilege!
For tea lovers: http://blog.englishteastore.com/
Do you prefer tea or coffee?
Thursday, 4 February 2010
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