I saw an interesting word on the Guardian website yesterday. There was an article about people choosing to have ‘staycations’. What they mean is that people are choosing to stay at home in the U.K. for their vacation rather than going abroad.
I had not seen the word before yesterday but it turns out that it’s already featured in the Merriam Webster Dictionary so it must be fairly widely used.
Another interesting phrase in this article is in the third paragraph where Bob Atkinson describes the Northumbrian Coast as an ‘undiscovered gem‘. A ‘gem’ is usually a precious stone but in this situation means a beautiful or special place.
I have been to Northumberland a few times because I have family there and it really is a beautiful place. In fact, it’s so beautiful that the Canadian tourist board used photos of it to promote Alberta, Canada.
The next interesting phrase in this article is in the fifth paragraph when David Tutt is quoted as saying “We’re weathering the storm well,”. In this case, to ‘weather the storm’ means to deal with a difficult problem or situation.
The last piece of vocabulary I would like to look at comes near the end of the article where the author mentions a festival at a stately home. A stately home is a very large, old house built for a well-known family. Many of them are open to the public nowadays and are often used as the setting for costume dramas such as Pride and Prejudice.
What would you like to do on a ‘staycation’?