There was a really interesting audio slideshow on the BBC news site today with the title ‘Quacks and Cures’. What is a ‘quack’ though? In the slideshow, the presenter talks about ‘quacks’ as a mixture of a showman selling some kind of medical treatment. In modern English, we usually use the word in a slightly …
I love trying different kinds of local fruit when I travel. Here in Indonesia, we have some really interesting varieties of fruit. I think the most unusual to a foreigner are durian and mangosteen. I was pleased to see this article on the BBC website yesterday because I have fond memories of making jokes about …
I saw this interesting article on Al Jazeera news today and this piece of vocabulary caught my attention: Bouillard said the search for the flight recorders, or “black boxes“, from the Airbus A330-200 aircraft would continue until July 10. (Al Jazeera News) I think the meaning of ‘black box‘ is fairly clear here. It is …
Scorpions are the only animals I’m afraid of. I really can’t stand them. That’s why I was shocked to see this article in the news today. The customs officers must have been very surprised! There’s an interesting phrase in the article, too. One of the customs officers is quoted as saying: “This time we had …
‘Stoned’ has been in the news twice recently in very different contexts. The first example means to throw stones at a person until he/she dies. Hardline Islamist militiamen in Somalia have stoned to death a man accused of raping and murdering a woman. (BBC News) The second meaning is quite different. In this example …
Welcome to Wil’s World of Words. English students often ask me what the best way to expand their vocabulary is. My first response to advanced students is always “Read the news in English every day”. In this blog I hope to help English learners with this by giving you my pick of all the …