Leigh's Lingua #12: "It's pending!" Something needs to happen...

Have you ever seen the word "pending" on a form or application?  It comes from the Latin word "to hang" -- as in, to hang a picture.  It means that something needs to happen, or that something is missing until the form is complete.  Until someone does something necessary, the form will never go anywhere.  It will just "hang" or remain "pending."

We get the word "pendulum" also from the Latin word "to hang."  A pendulum hangs from a clock.  It goes back and forth -- tick-tock!

Do you want to see your teacher's eyes pop out?  If you forget your homework... and he asks, "Where is your homework?," you can say (with a big smile), "It's pending!"     Or, if your children ask you for supper, and it is only 4:30, you can say, "It's pending, children."

What is something you have pending now?  A Ukrainian friend of mine is waiting for her son from Russia.  His visa to the U.S. is "pending."  I hope that Mama and Son can be with each other soon.

Leigh's Lingua #11: "Jump Like a Fish, or a......"

My husband tells me a funny poem sometimes. 

It goes:  "Jump like a fish, jump like a porpoise, all join hands and a habeas-corpus!"   (A porpoise is a dolphin, and "habeas corpus" is a Latin legal phrase.)

But I was thinking about the verb, "Jump."

If we jump, we bend our knees and then -- up! into the air we go!

Some people can jump high!  Many animals jump.  Fish can jump.  Who doesn't jump? 

Jumping sounds like a happy thing to do.  "I jump, you jump, he/she/it jumps, we jump....."

But Americans use "jump" in other ways also. 

"To be jumped" can mean:   1)  Someone fixed my car's dead battery, or 2) Someone mugged me. (They hurt me and stole things from me.)  In 1), picture the battery "jumping" back to life.   In 2), picture someone "jumping out" in the dark to hurt you.  Everyone likes to "be jumped" in 1).    No one likes to "be jumped" in 2).

I hope you are well and happy.  Can you tell me the last time you "jumped for joy"?  That also is a wonderful English expression to remember.  Write or talk about it.  I will jump for joy with you!  

Leigh's Lingua #10: Never Too Late for Valentine

Last Monday we celebrated Valentine's Day.  Although lovers celebrate romantic love on this day, the day celebrates a man called St. Valentine --- who was never married!

Christian legend offers that St. Valentine was put in prison for his faith --- something many refugees have experienced.

The Roman Emperor Claudius had Valentine killed.  He became a martyr.  But before he died, he was said to marry several couples in prison.  And to perform miracles, such as cure blindness.

In English, we get the word "valor" (which is a noun, meaning courage) and "valiant" (an adjective, meaning courageous or strong) from the same root as Valentine.  Valentine showed strength and courage in prison.  I want to be like Valentine.  And not just on Valentine's Day.

Leigh's Lingua #9: "Viral"

Have you been sick this winter?  If so, you may have had a "virus."   A virus moves very, very quickly.  It can go very fast from person to person -- or even from computer to computer.  Have you ever heard of a computer "crashing"?  If so, it may have caught a "virus" -- something bad another computer sent to it.

"Viral" is related to "virus." It means something moves very, very fast.  Did you watch the American football game, the "Super Bowl"?  The newspaper said that some commercials, or advertisements, from the Super Bowl "went viral" even before Sunday.  That meant the ads traveled very quickly over the Internet (over computers).  They probably were on "You-Tube".  People saw the ads on computers even before the Super Bowl on TV.  The commercials went "viral" or "became viral."

What is something you know that "went viral"?   Would you like to share it with us?  Please do!  We can make it viral! 

Leigh's Lingua #8: "Great"

English speakers make it very hard for English learners sometimes.  When English speakers say, "Great!" they can mean:

• Hey, that's wonderful! or
• Oh no, it's terrible!

"Great" has a root in the German word "Gross" --- which means "large."   Strangely, in English slang, "gross" now means "quite disgusting"!   But you can also buy things "in gross" --- that is, in larger amounts for a cheaper price.

To understand the exclamation "Great!" in English -- you have to look at your speaker.  Is he or she smiling -- happy and contented?  Then it means "Hey, that's wonderful!"  But if he or she is frowning... unhappy... then it means, "Oh no, it's terrible!"

Tell me about the last time you heard the exclamation, "Great!"  --- Was it with a smile?  Or was the speaker unhappy?

I think you are doing "great" to read this far in my blog.  I am smiling.  "Great, ESL learners!"

Leigh's Lingua #7: Groundhogs & Other Mammals

Tomorrow is February 2nd -- "Groundhog Day".  Groundhogs are furry little animals -- rather like big, fat brown squirrels.  They sleep during the winter -- or "hibernate."  People say if a groundhog comes out and sees its shadow from the sun on Groundhog Day, then there will be six (6) more weeks of winter.  I don't know if I want six more hours of winter!  How about you?

Groundhogs are "mammals."  Mammals are animals that give birth to live young.  They do not lay eggs.  Mammals' babies suck milk from the mamma animal.  Did you know that "mamma" is the Latin word for "breast"?  So a baby's word for its mother, or "Mama," may be a call for a drink!  In English, you also see the word "mammogram" -- which is a kind of x-ray of the breast. 

What is a baby's word for "mother" in your original language?  Does it have anything to do with the word for "breast" or "breast milk"?   You don't have to be a groundhog to wonder!  Write me and let me know!