All over the world, people are adjusting to a new way of living as a result of COVID-19. At the time of writing, around a third of the world is on lockdown, permitted to leave home only for such reasons as food and medicine shopping. Even those of us who are lucky enough to be well and virus-free may be finding the sudden changes to our lifestyles challenging. With this in mind, I thought we’d focus on words and phrases around the theme of dealing with difficult situations.
blue spacenoun [U]
/ˌbluː.ˈspeɪs/ any body of water or the area around it
The benefits of “blue space” – the sea and coastline, but also rivers, lakes, canals, waterfalls, even fountains – are less well publicised, yet the science has been consistent for at least a decade: being by water is good for body and mind. [theguardian.com, 3 November 2019]
blue mindnoun [U]
/ˌbluː.ˈmaɪnd/ a calm state of mind caused by being close to water, for example when looking at the ocean or swimming
According to scientific studies, water has a calming effect on our brains. Author and Marine Biologist Wallace Nichols spoke to our Robert Santos about “blue mind” and the science of how being in close proximity to water – be it the ocean, a lake, or a river – can lower stress and improve our health. [news.mongabay.com, 13 February 2020]
blue accelerationnoun [U]
/ˌbluː.əkˌsel.əˈreɪ.ʃən/ the increase in humans’ use of resources found in the world’s seas and oceans
A new study highlights a sharp uptick in marine activity and defines the “blue acceleration” as the unprecedented rush for food, material and space taking place in the ocean. [news.mongabay.com, 13 February 2020]
In my last post, I introduced a few proverbs that are common in English, especially in conversations. In this one, I am going to look at some common uses of proverbs: to give warnings, to criticize, and to comfort people. I mentioned last month that some proverbs are so well-known that we often use only the first part. Where this is the case, I will show the part that can be omitted in brackets.
smishingnoun [U]
/ˈsmɪʃ.ɪŋ/ an attempt to trick someone into giving personal information by text message that would allow someone else to take money from them, for example by taking money out of their bank account
People across the U.S. are receiving text messages that claim to be from FedEx and ask you to set “delivery preferences.” It’s a new example of a growing scam called “smishing”, in which fraudsters send unsolicited messages from well-known companies or reputable sources to try to obtain phone access and personal information from their targets. The scheme is similar to phishing, long a source of scam email, only it’s powered by the short message service, or SMS, technology used in texting. [cbsnews.com, 24 January 2020]
burglary tourismnoun [U] UK /ˌbɜː.glᵊr.i.ˈtʊə.rɪ.zᵊm/ US /ˌbɝː.glɚ.i.ˈtʊr.ɪ.zᵊm/ the activity of going to another country to burgle someone’s home
Thieves ransacked his home while he and his wife were away in October last year. The gang stole more than £33,000 worth in belongings, including a gold Rolex watch. It’s believed he was the latest target of “burglary tourism” which involves foreign criminals flying to the capital to target luxury homes. The thieves are difficult to track because they are missing from police databases and usually flee the country soon after the raid. [itv.com/news, 15 January 2020]
climate criminalnoun [C] UK /ˌklaɪ.mət.ˈkrɪm.ɪ.nᵊl/ US /ˌklaɪ.mət.ˈkrɪm.ə.nᵊl/ a person or organization whose actions make the climate emergency worse
Toni Vernelli, the head of communications at the Veganuary campaign, which encourages people to go vegan for the month of January, claimed that coffee chains still charging extra for plant milks were “climate criminals”. She said: “Animal farming is responsible for more than half of all food-related greenhouse gases and cows are the prime cause”. [The Times, 18 January 2020]
Earlier this month, we published a post on extreme adjectives used to describe the weather and emotions. (Extreme adjectives are adjectives that we use when we want to really emphasize a particular quality.) This week, we’re focusing on adjectives that emphasize a high degree of other qualities, for example, size and age.
social giftingnoun [U] UK /ˌsəʊ.ʃᵊl.ˈgɪft.ɪŋ/ US /ˌsoʊ.ʃᵊl.ˈgɪft.ɪŋ/ doing a kind act for other people or to benefit the community instead of buying someone a gift
More and more engaged couples are shunning lavish wedding presents in favour of so-called ‘social gifting’. These couples, typically in their early 30s, have no use – or space – for expensive homeware. Instead, they ask their wedding guests to carry out small acts of kindness, such as picking up litter, volunteering at a local charity or helping an elderly neighbour with their groceries. [www.dailymail.co.uk, 16 February 2019]
impact exercisenoun [U] UK /ˈɪm.pækt.ˌek.sə.saɪz/ US /ˈɪm.pækt.ˌek.sɚ.saɪz/ the activity of combining a sporting challenge such as running a marathon with working on a project that benefits the people who live in the same area
Imagine travelling to Nepal to build a pipe that brings clean running water to a whole village, then topping it off with a high-altitude marathon in the Shivapuri national park in the Himalayas … This is impact exercise: the fitness and travel trend that combines sport and adventure with hands-on charity and community goals. [Sunday Times, 5 January 2020]
woke capitalismnoun [U] UK /ˌwəʊk.ˈkæp.ɪ.tᵊl.ɪ.zᵊm/ US /ˌwoʊk.ˈkæp.ə.t̬ᵊl.ɪ.zᵊm/ a strategy used by some major businesses in which they become involved in popular social and political issues in order to make more money
Instead of making business woke, we should not let our moral horizons be clouded by sentimental humanitarianism. We must critique woke capitalism clearly and forcibly, remembering that business exists to realize the particular economic ends that constitute its specific common good. [www.thepublicdiscourse.com, 16 February 2019]
Proverbs may seem rather old-fashioned or strange but when I started thinking about writing this post, I was amazed to realize how many of them are in common use. They serve as a convenient shorthand for something that would often be more complicated to say in a different way. We frequently use them at the end of a conversation to sum up what has been said, and many of them are so familiar that we can omit part of the phrase and still understand what is meant.
James Emmerson / robertharding / Getty Images Plus
bronze ceilingnoun [C] UK /ˌbrɒnz.ˈsiː.lɪŋ/ US /ˌbrɑːnz.ˈsiː.lɪŋ/ the fact that there are many fewer statues of women than of men
Three women who were pioneers for women’s rights are about to make history again. They’re becoming the first statues of women in New York’s iconic Central Park. The people behind the project say they’re breaking the “bronze ceiling” by creating the first ever statues of real women for the park. [wibw.com, 26 November 2019]
Waspinoun [C, U] UK /ˈwɒspiː/ US /ˈwɑːspiː/ abbreviation for Women Against State Pension Inequality: an organization of women born in the 1950s whose pensions were affected by a government decision to raise the retirement age for women from 60 to 65, or one of the women thus affected
Responding to the Waspi campaign, Labour has unveiled an election pledge to compensate those affected. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the payments were to settle a “historical debt of honour” to the women born in the 1950s. [thesun.co.uk, 24 November 2019]
tradwifenoun [C]
/ˈtræd.waɪf/ a woman who does not work outside the home and who believes that her needs are less important than those of her husband
The tradwives have been keenly giving interviews about how they are the true feminists in choosing not to work, to which anyone with a modicum of knowledge about feminism would say: “We gave women the choice – that’s the point! Bake banana bread until the sun comes up, if it makes you happy!” Whether they are still the true feminists in suggesting that “husbands must always come first if you want a happy marriage”, as Pettitt has tweeted, feels more debatable. [theguardian.com, 27 January 2020]
Are your English adjectives sometimes not strong enough? Perhaps you’re eating something that is so good, the word ‘good’ just isn’t enough. In this case, you might want to describe the food as delicious or even (informal)scrumptious. As you’ll have guessed by now, this post looks at extreme adjectives – that is, adjectives that we use to emphasize a high degree of a particular quality. Remember that we don’t usually put the adverb very before extreme adjectives. Instead, to add even more emphasis, we might use adverbs such as absolutely, totally and completely. Continue reading “Scorching, furious and delighted! (Extreme adjectives in English, Part 1)”→
flower milesnoun [plural] UK /ˈflaʊə.ˌmaɪlz/ US /ˈflaʊ.ɚ.ˌmaɪlz/ the distance between the place where flowers are grown and the place where they are sold to customers
We’re proud to say that our family of independent florists and botanical artisans work with sustainable flower farms worldwide. So whether you’re gifting stems to a loved one across the pond, or sending a feel-good arrangement to yourself, you can order safe in the knowledge that you’re helping cut down on flower miles by championing sustainable practice. [floom.com, 1 March 2019]
ecological griefnoun [U] UK /ˌiː.kəˈlɒdʒ.ɪ.kᵊl.griːf/ US /ˌiː.kəˈlɑːdʒ.ɪ.kᵊl.griːf/ a feeling of great sadness caused by the effects of the climate emergency
The sense of helplessness is very prevalent – the feeling that the scale of our environmental crisis is so large that as individuals we can’t intervene. And I think that’s actually one of the really powerful mobilising potentials of ecological grief – it’s driving action and anger; climate marches. [theguardian.com, 12 January 2020]
cli-finoun [U]
/ˈklaɪ.faɪ/ books, movies etc. about bad events that occur because of climate change, such as wildfires and droughts
“Climate change needs stories, and readers need them to be told,” he said. “There are figures, statistics, but these don’t really say anything. Cli-fi makes people more aware of the situation.” [phys.org/news, 15 November 2019]
