Every language has its idioms, those frustrating phrases that make no sense even when you can define all the words :p.
An idiom is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word separately.
Take this dialogue, for instance:
Jennifer: I think we got off on the wrong foot. Can't we just let bygones be bygones? Grace: Absolutely. It's water under the bridge. Let's move on!
You know what "water", "under", and "bridge" mean, but what does it mean to say that something is "water under the bridge"? This website is a handy guide to English idioms - there's a list of "most popular" idioms, as well as an alphabetical listing of idioms. The link is also in the sidebar if you want to find it later. Understanding idioms can improve your understanding of English texts as well as your writing. Plus, a lot of them are funny and/or strange and might give you something to laugh about!
Gordon Lightfoot has been called a Canadian "national treasure," and for good reason. He's a singer-songwriter who first became famous in the 1960s for his mellow folk-pop sound, acoustic guitar, and beautiful lyrics.
Lightfoot was born in 1938 in Ontario. He was a musician from an early age and although he briefly moved to the US to pursue his music career, he missed Canada and moved back two years later. Perhaps for this reason, he is better known internationally as a songwriter than a performer - in fact, he's one of Bob Dylan's favourite songwriters! Dylan once said that whenever he hears a Lightfoot song, he wishes "it would last forever." Lightfoot has had some health problems (including a minor stroke) in the last ten years, but is still touring at the age of 71!
Some of his most famous songs are "Did She Mention My Name", "Black Day in July", "Sundown", "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", and "If You Could Read My Mind". Here are a few of my favourites:
The Diltheyschule English Leistungskurs has a blog, and you should check it out! You can find it here, and the link is in the sidebar for later.
They have content from each of their project groups, as well as texts, games, and useful links to help you with your English. They even have a widget where you can type in your text and have it pronounced in an American, British, Australian or South African accent! You can find that here.
Helen Gordon McPherson, a Canadian writer, made the following perceptive observation about Canadian "identity":
Canadians have been so busy explaining to the Americans that we aren't British, and to the British that we aren't Americans that we haven't had time to become Canadians.
It has been said that Canadians define ourselves more by negation (what we aren't) than by affirmation (what we are). This is somewhat analogous to describing yourself as someone who doesn't like horror movies, doesn't play tennis, and doesn't speak Russian - kind of strange, right? What do you think? Is what you aren't just as important as what you are?
Many Canadians, especially those in the entertainment industry, move to the United States to seek fame and fortune. Once they get there and become famous, the public often forgets where they came from. In this (possibly) recurring feature, "Surprise! He's Canadian!", I'm going to talk about people you probably never knew were Canadian.
First on the list is Captain James T. Kirk or, more accurately, William Shatner, the first actor to play him.
Shatner was born in Montreal in 1931 and trained as a classical Shakespearian actor. By 1958 he had moved to the United States and was acting in movies, television shows, and plays. It wasn't until 1966 that he landed the role that would make him famous - Captain James Kirk in Star Trek. The TV show was short-lived, but later became so popular that Shatner starred in an animated Star Trek TV series as well as seven Star Trek movies.
Shatner also starred in the popular police drama T.J. Hooker (1982-1986) and has tried his hand at writing (both fiction and non-fiction), singing, and directing. Captain Kirk remains his best-known role, and Shatner has often bemoaned the fact that he became a cult figure and was typecast, making it difficult for him to find other roles.
With the space shuttle Discovery now in orbit above the Earth, I thought it would be a good time to talk to you about something cool... and Canadian! It's called the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or the Canadarm, and it's a 15.2 meter long mechanical arm. The Canadarm is installed on each of the three remaining space shuttles, and since its first flight in 1981, has been successfully used on more than 50 missions, including the mission to repair the Hubble telescope.
The Canadarm weighs 410 kilograms and although it can't even support its own weight in Earth's gravity, it can lift up to 29 tons in space! An astronaut operates the arm from inside the space shuttle, often while other astronauts perform a spacewalk outside. The arm is used to retrieve satellites and other components from the shuttle's payload bay and release them into space. It can also be used to capture satellites in orbit and maneuver them into the payload bay.
Canadarm 2, a more advanced version, is installed on the International Space Station. When the Canadarm passes a station component to the Canadarm 2, it's called a "Canadian handshake"!
