THE BEST BOND GIRL EVER!

007

As the whole world saw yesterday, the latest and most unlikely "Bond girl" is none other than Her Majesty the Queen!

Just for fun, here is a James Bond wordsearch:

S C F R A O T L C T A S N G R

G X O G U E J O N S E M E A E

T N E C R S D J T Y Q U K D T

K N I C K E S O T D T G A G P

T K E M N T N I C V H G H E O

R S T A E M A E A E U L S T C

G E M J A L L I G M N E L S I

X E G R V M F A L N D R C W L

V K T N Y N N E P Y E N O M E

V I T G I O F D E R R I T S H

N Y P S I F L Y Q F B Y D H T

C M D P B D D Y L H A I D T V

E E S B B P Y L N Y L Y K N P

F E H I T M A N O U L C V J U

M O O N R A K E R G G Z U D D

AGENT

ASTONMARTIN

COCKTAIL

CODENAME

ESPIONAGE

FLEMING

GADGET

GOLDFINGER

GUN

HELICOPTER

HITMAN

MONEYPENNY

MOONRAKER

RUSSIA

SECRET

SHAKEN

SMUGGLER

SPY

STIRRED

THUNDERBALL

This post gives me an excuse to post a James Bond film theme sung by Dame Shirley Bassey, who is from my home town of Cardiff, UK:

Dame Shirley Bassey - Goldfinger

ALL TOGETHER, NOW....

Jeremy Irons - London Pride [BBC Proms, 1999]

London Pride - Lyrics

London Pride has been handed down to us,

London Pride is a flower that's free.

London Pride is our own dear town to us,

And our pride it forever will be.
Whoa, Liza,

See the coster barrows,

 Vegetable marrows and the fruit piled high.
Whoa, Liza,

Little London sparrows,

Covent Garden Markets where the costers cry.

Cockney feet 

Mark the beat of history.

Every street pins a memory down.

Nothing ever could quite replace

The grace of London Town.

There's a little city flower,

Every spring unfailing,

Growing in the crevices,

By some London railing.

Though it has a Latin name

In town and countryside,

We in England call it

London Pride.

London Pride has been handed down to us,

London Pride is a flower that's free.

London Pride is our own dear town to us,

And our pride it forever will be.

Hey, lady,

When the day is dawning,

See the policeman yawning

On his lonely beat.

Gay lady,

Mayfair in the morning,

Hear your footsteps echo 

In the empty street.

Early rain,

And the pavement's glistening,

All Park Lane 

In a shimmering gown.

Nothing ever could break or harm

The charm

Of London Town.

In our city, darkened now,

Street and square and crescent,

We can feel our living past

In our shadowed present.

Ghosts beside the starlit Thames

Who lived and loved and died

Keep throughout the ages

London Pride.

London Pride has been handed down to us,

London Pride is a flower that's free.

London Pride is our own dear town to us,

And our pride it forever will be.

Grey city,

Stubbornly implanted,

Taken so for granted

For a thousand years.

Stay, city,

Smokily enchanted,

Cradle of our memories,

Our hopes and fears.

Every Blitz,

Your resistance toughening.

From the Ritz

To the Anchor and Crown,

Nothing ever could override

The pride

Of London Town.

- Sir Noel Coward

Notes:
whoa - a command, usually used when speaking to horses, meaning "Stop". The speaker or singer is telling his companion to stop for a moment and look around.

coster [archaic]  - a seller of fruit or vegetables 

Cockney - traditionally someone born within the sound of the bells of the Church of St Mary-le-Bow in London. See also this post.

beat - [1] the passing of time [2] the area which a policeman patrols on foot

gay - here used with its old meaning of "happy"!

Blitz [here] - the bombing of Britain during World War II

Ritz - the Ritz Hotel

The Anchor & Crown - name of a pub

London Pride flower
[saxifraga x urbium]
Image:  Picture Esk on flickr

Now, you all have to clap your hands while you sing this one! Are you ready? Go!

The Business - Maybe it's Because I'm a Londoner

Maybe it's Because I'm a Londoner - Lyrics
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner That I love London so Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner That I think of her wherever I go I get a funny feeling inside of me Just walking up and down Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner That I love London town
- Hubert Gregg
Note:Towns and countries are sometimes referred to in the feminine gender.  This is mostly a poetic usage these days.
ENJOY THE LONDON OLYMPICS, EVERYBODY!

OLYMPIC FLAMES AND ROYAL FLAMES

When the Olympic Flame arrived at the Tower of London last Friday, Mayor of London Boris Johnson joked that, as King Henry VIII had discovered, the Tower was "the perfect place to bring an old flame".  An old flame is a person you loved romantically in the past and the Mayor was referring to Henry's second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, who were both imprisoned in the Tower prior to their execution.  The ghost of Anne Boleyn is said to haunt the building.

You can also have a "new flame" or "latest flame", as in the Elvis Presley song:

Elvis Presley - His Latest Flame

What about you? Do you still think about your old flames?

FAT, PLUMP OR WELL-BUILT?

I give you fair warning - you are about to enter a linguistic danger zone!  As a teacher I get lots of questions about the adjective "fat" and its synonyms so I think it is worth looking at them even though this is a very problematic lexical area!

Big can be innocuous but it can also be offensive as some people will think you mean fat.

Fat is always offensive as it implies that the person is physically unattractive and has no control over their eating habits.  It is also associated with unhealthy eating habits.

Plump is a little less offensive, but not much! It implies that the person is fat but in a more attractive way and the word is associated with the idea of cheerfulness.

Well-built implies that the person has a large body and is tall. Some people might find the term offensive.

Stout is offensive and implies fatness.  We do not think of a tall person when we hear this word.  [One popular Italian publication for young learners of English suggests that it is all right to tell someone they are stout.  I advise you not to try it!]

Stocky implies that the person is both short and fat.  It is offensive.

Chubby implies roundness and that the person is plump in a pleasing way. It is often used when we are talking about babies.

Now here is one last piece of advice for the gentlemen reading this post:  When a lady asks you if a dress makes her look fat, the answer is always, "No"!

ORANGES AND LEMONS

Do you know this nursery rhyme?  It is based on the words that the bells of six famous London churches seem to be saying:

KiddieOK - Oranges and Lemons

A farthing was a pre-decimal coin with the value of one quarter of an "old" [pre-decimal] penny.  The farthing was removed from circulation on 31st December 1960.  The "penny-farthing" bicycle got its name because its big wheel and little wheel reminded people of a penny and a farthing.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

AN OLYMPIC WORDSEARCH

The excitement is mounting in London this week so here is an "Olympic" wordsearch for you:

AN OLYMPIC WORDSEARCH

LONDON OLYMPICS, 2012

P E S R F G R S D A U P H S T

F O Z C N E C E R I E A N T R

S U W I I I N C L Q R R O A A

C U W E P T H C U A R A L D C

Z O C M R E E E I N Y L H I K

R P Y S R L S L N N R Y T U G

V L W Y I T I S H Z G M A M N

O S C R R D M F J T V P I M I

F G N I L C Y C T B A I R K V

Z M A R A T H O N I C C T H I

J N K T O R C H E F N S I M D

L L A B Y E L L O V S G E C G

L O O P A L T A R T H D M O P

F F W L A G Q S S V A G C W N

Z S U S T O Z F H L I W B I N

ARCHERY

ATHLETICS

CYCLING

DISCUS

DIVING

EQUESTRIAN

FENCING

MARATHON

MEDAL

OLYMPICS

PARALYMPICS

POOL

POWERLIFTING

RELAY

ROWING

STADIUM

TORCH

TRACK

TRIATHLON

VOLLEYBALL

COCKNEY RHYMING SLANG

Johannes Brahms
Image: Wikipedia

In this BBC video, some US Olympic athletes are trying to pronounce Cockney rhyming slang.  They are also trying to use a London accent.

A Cockney is a term used to describe someone born in the East End of London and traditionally the person should be able to hear the Bow Bells from the place where he or she is born.  Cockney rhyming slang is a kind of slang [gergo] based on words that rhyme and often the second word of the phrase is omitted: for example, a speaker will just say "Dog" for dog and bone, which means "telephone".

No one really knows how Cockney rhyming slang originated but one likely explanation is that workers used it so that their employers would not be able to understand what they were talking about!

The sentence the athletes are trying to pronounce is:

"I'll stick on the Hansel and Gretel and make us a nice cup of Rosie Lee."

Hansel and Gretel means "kettle" [bollitore] and Rosie Lee means "tea" so the speaker is saying he's going to put on [accendere] the kettle and make a nice cup of tea for everybody.

Just for fun today, see if you can match up the following Cockney rhyming slang expressions 1 - 8 with their meanings a - h.  You will find the answers at the end of the post.

1.  apples and pears

2.  trouble and strife

3.  Ruby Murray  [She was a popular Irish singer.]

4.  plates of meat

5.  Adam and Eve

6.  Sweeney Todd

7.  Barnet Fair  [Barnet is a town near London.]

8.  Brahms and Liszt


a.  feet

b.  wife

c.  hair

d.  pissed [also slang, meaning "drunk" [ubriaco]

e.  believe

f.  stairs

g.  curry

h.  Flying Squad [a branch of the London Metropolitan Police Service]

Franz Liszt by Pierre Petit
Image: Wikipedia

Highlight the space below to see the answers:

1f  2b  3g  4a  5e  6h  7c  8d

Now, what does the following sentence mean?

The singer Ruby Murray

"I'm going to take the trouble out for a Ruby after she's had her Barnet done."

Again, highlight the space below to see the answer.

"I'm going to take my wife out for a curry after she's had her hair done."

A GLASS QUIZ

The Shard in May 2012
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday's inauguration of what is now London's - and Europe's - tallest building, the glass-clad Shard, has inspired me to create a quiz all about glass. You will find the answers at the end of the quiz.


1.  Through the  - - - - - - - Glass, and What Alice Found There is a novel by Lewis Carroll.


2. If you see the glass as half-full, you are an optimist.  If you see the glass as 
half-empty, you are a  - - - - - - - - - .

3.  Similarly, if you always see only the good side of life you may be "looking at the world
through rose-tinted  - - - - - - - or - - - - - - - - - - ".

4.  Complete this proverb:  "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw - - - - - - ."

5.  - - - - - - - glass is often used to depict religious scenes in church windows.

The Thomas Beckett Window,
Canterbury Cathedral, England.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

6.  If you raise your glass to someone you are drinking a - - - - - .

7.  An - - - - - - - - - is an instrument for measuring time using sand that trickles from one glass bulb into another.

8.  - - - - - glasses help you see the performance better in a theatre.

9. - - - - - are binoculars which are used outdoors.

10.  A - - - - - - - - - - - is a craftsman who uses his mouth to create objects from molten glass.

Highlight the space below to see the answers:
1. Looking 2. pessimist 3. glasses or spectacles 4. stones 5. stained 6. toast 7. hourglass 8. opera 9. field 10. glassblower

ANGRY OR DRUNK?

Having sent "Happy Independence Day" messages to some special friends in the United States today, I remembered how I got the wrong end of the stick one evening while I was spending Christmas with them in 2002.  [To "get the wrong end of the stick", by the way, means to misunderstand a situation.]

It happened like this: on this particular evening, my friend's son had been very naughty and she told me that her husband was pissed.  "To piss" of course means "to urinate"" but to be pissed, in British slang, means to be drunk [ubriaco].  In American slang the expression means to be angry so you can see how I misjudged my friend's husband's state of mind!

We have to be very careful when we use slang in a language that is not our own, partly because of the danger of using it inappropriately and partly because slang becomes outdated very quickly and can make you sound really strange!  As you will have understood from my story, even an English speaker from a different anglophone culture can make a mistake with slang.

4th JULY WORDSEARCH

Wishing all our American friends a very happy 4th July!

4th July Wordsearch

I C A C B S G K S D I V Q Z N

I O J N Y A C K O M Z F K U O

N L O T J D O K U S A I I M I

Y O E C N E D N E P E D N I T

T N I R U T F P I S D C A P U

R I B T N N I F S L O T A Q L

E S S E A R I E E N K R G E O

B T R N T R N T G R A N F W V

I A A S I I A R E D S I A M E

L T T X P Q E L E D L O I R R

Y E S P P S Q I C A E R N L F

R S A T S X F I R E W O R K S

D H E U C E B R A B D I Q X J

C I N C I P J N R I G H T S G

M S P Z U O B X D L B K T R K

ADAMS*

BARBECUE

COLONIST

CONGRESS

DECLARATION

FIREWORKS

FRANKLIN*

HAPPINESS

INDEPENDENCE

JEFFERSON*

LIBERTY

LIFE

PARADE

PICNIC

REVOLUTION

RIGHTS

STARS

STATES

STRIPES

UNITED

*John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were among the signatories to the Declaration of Independence in 1776.