It’s easy to forget how much language learning has changed over the years, unless you think back to your schooldays. You probably spent five lessons a week with “La Famille Bertillon”, and got to know them very well. Longmans Audio Visual French? Le Francais d’Aujourd’hui? Jean Pierre est dans le jardin. Beep! I’ve been looking…
Surprises
“Victorian Bakers” – and Victorian Butchers
My daughter and I watched the recent “Victorian Bakers” programmes on BB2 and were shocked at what a hard life the people had and the things they ate. Someone was making a bone marrow sandwich and we saw them slicing up a very tongue-shaped tongue. That reminded me of stories I’d heard about our German…
Twixtmas, a new word in English
Ever heard of a time of year called Twixtmas? Well, we hadn’t either, until yesterday. Twixtmas, we found, refers to the 5 days between Christmas and New Year. It’s being promoted by a non-profit making organisation called the Flexible Thinking Forum and the website is www.twixtmas.com. For each of the 5 days (27 – 31…
Mysterious Mistletoe
The afternoons are so short this time of year – I’m glad for Christmas decorations adding a bit of sparkle and wish they stayed up for the whole of January. If they’re not electric, decorations are usually brightly coloured: yellow (candles) or red (holly) or green (leaves). This is about how we came across a…
