Whata

Human Sleeping Pill We go back to college in this cartoon, where we see a young student shaking hands with a university professor. (We often use  college  and  university interchangeably  in American English, meaning one word can substitute for the other.) The professor is holding a  briefcase in his left hand. The two of them are standing just outside what looks like a classroom (you can see the  desks  behind the professor’s back, inside the room). The student says to the professor, “Your lectures cured my sleep disorder.” A  lecture  is a formal talk or explanation given usually by a teacher or professor. To  cure  means to make a sick person healthy or well. We usually talk about “curing someone of” a disease. A  sleep   disorder  is some condition that prevents you from sleeping well or normally.  So, the student is telling the professor that his lectures are so boring, or uninteresting, that he can fall asleep. The lectures have “cured” his sleep disorder, since

Hockey Moms If you read an American newspaper a few years ago, you would have seen the phrase  hockey mom.  What is a  hockey mom , and why are all the newspapers talking about it? In the  narrowest  (most restricted) sense, a  hockey mom is a mother who has children who play the sport of ice hockey. The image of a hockey mom is someone who supports her children by going to the games, transporting them to practices, and being active with other mothers whose children are participating in the sport. But hockey mom (like a similar term,  soccer mom ) means more than that to the average American. The term is associated with women with families living in the  suburbs  (just outside the city) or in small towns who are  middle-class  (not rich, not poor - in the middle and therefore "average"), who perhaps drive a  minivan  or an  SUV  (a large car that can transport several children and their sports equipment), and who are active in their local schools and communitie

Do You Have Future Shock? When I think about change, I almost always think of my grandfather - or as I knew him, Grandpa. Grandpa lived almost 100 years. As he got older his eyes got worse, so he had trouble seeing, but the last time I talked to him – when he was 98 – he still had a  sharp  (able to think and understand) mind and a long memory. It was always fun to talk to Grandpa about change because he had seen a lot of it. The list of things that didn’t exist when he was born but had become an  integral  (necessary) part of life when he died is very long – things like cars, telephones, airplanes, radio, television, movies, computers, satellites, men on the moon, and space stations. Grandpa wasn’t  threatened by change (didn’t believe it would hurt him). In fact, I think he enjoyed it. I know he enjoyed talking about it. He read a lot and always seemed  to be aware of  (know) what was happening in the world around him. However, not everyone is as comfortable with

The Peer-to-Peer Economy In the past few months, I've been reading more and more about services that  match   (put together; connect) people who have something to sell or some service to provide with the people who are looking to buy it.  This newer way of doing business, what people are calling the  peer-to-peer economy,  bypasses  (goes around) the  middleman  (person between the seller and buyer, usually a salesperson). (A  peer  is someone who is like you in important ways, such as being the same age or with the same status, being in the same grade in school, having the same skills, etc.) For a few years now, people have been using websites like Airbnb that match people who have  accommodations  (a place to sleep and stay) to rent for a short time with people who are visiting a city and want a place to stay. It could be as simple as a free sofa, bed, or bedroom to an entire apartment or house. This often cheaper and more  roomy (with more space)  alternative (o

I'll Have Nothing to Do With You QUESTION: Ali wants to know what it means when someone says, "It has nothing to do with me." ANSWER: The expression "to have nothing to do with (someone/something)" is used in three main ways. First, we use it when we want to say that something isn't related to me, it doesn't concern me, or it does not involve me. For example: "Why are you asking me all of these questions about the new building? I'm not on the planning committee and it has nothing to do with me." You are saying, very strongly, that you are not involved in the planning of the new building and this person should stop asking you questions. A second way to use this expression is to mean that you are innocent of something. For example: "I'm sorry that your car broke down, but it has nothing to do with me driving it yesterday." You are saying that although the car you borrowed from this person broke

Cartoon Wheel of Fortune Two men are at a "bank," where one of the men (standing) has brought a wheel with him. The man standing under the sign, "Very First Bank," works for the bank. The man standing is asking for a  loan  (money given to you that you have to pay back) to start a business making this "new" technology, the wheel. (We are supposed to think that this man actually  invented  or made the first wheel.) The man responds, "Normally, I don't invest in tech stocks, but in this case . . ."  To   invest  is to give money to someone to start or operate a business.  Tech  is short for technology, and stocks are partial ownership in a company. So,  tech   stocks  would be for technology companies. The man says he does not normally give money for technology stocks, " but   in   this   case " -  meaning "for this situation" - he will invest in this man's company. And it would probably be a very good inves

Celebrity Contract Riders An interesting website that is often mentioned in the media is  The Smoking Gun . This website gets interesting and often  confidential  (secret) documents from the government, police, and the courts by using the Freedom of Information Act. The Freedom of Information Act is a law that was passed in 1966, which allows  ordinary  (normal) citizens to request information controlled by the government. What does " The Smoking Gun " mean? It's an expression that means that someone has  indisputable  (cannot be wrong)  proof  (evidence) that someone did something wrong, usually a crime. One thing you'll find on The Smoking Gun website are contract riders. A  contract rider is used by performers who sign a  contract  (legal agreement) to speak or to perform. The contract rider includes the details on how the stage, sound, and lighting should be  set up (arranged). It also includes what the performers want backstage in their dressing room

Shop Phobia - A Male Disease? I want to warn you that much of this post is  tongue-in-cheek , or  ironic  - some words are used in an opposite way to create humor. I think I learned this from Jeff. On to my story . . . If we can believe the people from Lee, there's an epidemic among men and many men don't even know they have the disease.  Lee  is a well-known American company that's been making  jeans  (informal pants made of denim, or cotton, often called blue jeans) since 1889. Let me  pause  (stop briefly) for a moment to tell you about the  - demic   words - there are three of them. An  epidemic  is a disease that quickly affects a large number of people and then goes away. During the Middle Ages (from about 500-1500 A.D.) there were many  epidemics  in Europe. A  pandemic  is an epidemic that affects entire continents or even the whole world. The Black Death in Europe from 1348-1350 was a  pandemic ; it killed more than 30% of the people in Europe.

Is That Our Daughter in the Mail? Speak to anyone who has worked for the United States  Postal  (Mail) Service and they’ll tell you that a lot of strange things have been sent in the mail.  Perhaps the strangest were  children . In 1913, the U.S.  post office  (mail service) announced that it would begin a service called “parcel post” to send items that were too big to fit into an envelope. A “ parcel ” is a package wrapped in paper or other outer covering ready to be transported or mailed.  According to post office policy at the time, the only living things that could be sent were bees and  bugs  (insects). However, it’s  human nature  (natural for people) to  push the envelope  (extend the limits of what is possible or allowed), so people started sending all types of things.  In 1914, the first child was sent using parcel post. This child and all of the others sent during this period were not  packed  (placed and sealed) in boxes. Instead, most of them had  mailing labels  (p

The Company You Keep (And Where You Keep It) Imagine that you are walking down the street and suddenly you see a letter on the ground. It is addressed and stamped, but  clearly  (obviously) has not been mailed. It appears that the person who was planning on sending the letter dropped it. Would you mail the letter? In one survey of American college students, 95% of those asked said yes, they would mail the letter. Now consider what actually happened when some researchers did an experiment to test this. They took 100 letters, addressed and stamped, and put them on the ground around some college  dorms (small apartments for university students, usually owned by the college). Some of the dorms had very few students in them, while others were very  crowded  (had lots of students living there). The letters around the near-empty dorms were almost all picked up and mailed by the students living there. But only 60% of the letters around the crowded dorms were  posted