Note to self: Ask ChatGPT to write a light, chatty blog intro explaining a prolonged absence, ahh, screw it, nobody reads those things anyway. Heywelcomebackthanksforreading.

I’ve been …

–writing short stories.

–launching a new English learners project. It required me to learn video editing and early twenty-first century media.

–trying to get over homophonophobia.

–updating the English Learners resource page with wordplay links to my favorite subreddits.

So, loyal reader, check back here for …

-terse “fun-size” posts full of troll links every couple of weeks.

-monthly updates about ongoing projects.

-an archive of “regular feature” posts with troll links that will no longer be updated. (You’re welcome.)

The post Welcome back … to me. appeared first on Mostly English.

Here’s a link via one of those services that people use for Podcasts.

She’s also got a website. It’s here, I think, and it’s all in Slovak.

Now, I don’t speak (or read) that language, and Firefox doesn’t support it, so there’s an outside chance this website has nothing to do with marketing at all. Maybe it’s all about Slovak handball. I don’t know.

Take a look and let me know.

Also, she shared this commercial with me. Now I pass that earworm on to you.

The post Student Assist: Andrea Liszkai appeared first on Mostly English.

Just kidding: The link won’t imbed because of … reasons. Click here.

Here’s what she commented under said post:

强烈推荐一下Sophie和Nick两位老师~一位是温柔亲和的地道英式，一位是幽默风趣的磁性美式，而且都会好些个其他语言，多才多艺了属于是！推荐想练习口语的盆友们去italki找他俩~

Don’t speak Chinese? Neither do I! Here’s what some robots think it says:

“Highly recommend Sophie and Nick~ One is gentle and friendly with authentic British style, the other one is funny and magnetic with American style, and both of them know many other languages, so they are multi-talented! If you want to practice your speaking skills, we recommend you to go to italki to find them!”

You may be able to guess which one is me.

The whole experience made me think of this. …

The post Student Assist: Sophie不是公主 appeared first on Mostly English.

You are being lied to. Deceived. Tricked. That’s right, someone’s pulled the wool over your eyes. You can’t see the truth. Because of the wool.

E.g. If you really believe that politician is a regular guy, just like you, he’s already pulled the wool over your eyes.

E.g. The farming lobby got to you, didn’t they? Wild sheep don’t need to be sheered. Don’t let them pull the wool over your eyes.

E.g. I lie to myself all the time. “I’m getting better with age.” “America’s a place where anyone can succeed.” “It’s not butter.” See? I’m pulling the wool over my own eyes.

Incidentally, you can purchase hand-crafted woolen blindfolds on Etsy.

The post Idiomatic-tastic: pull the wool over (one’s) eyes appeared first on Mostly English.

folks ’round the globe used maps.

Post knightly days, though,

we’re thumbing our apps.

Here be modern sites

with cartography divine,

Of the places we live,

love, die, and dine.

Now that I’ve met my hack poetry quota for the day, on to the tools …

The True Size Of

This site lets you visually compare the relative size of countries by eliminating the distortion from superimposing latitude and longitude. Suck it, Eratosthenes.

I found out about it several years ago via a comedy and conspiracy theory podcast. (And, no, it wasn’t The Joe Rogan Experience.)

Windy.Com

This site shows various real-time weather conditions. These include but are not limited to wind, temperature, waves, air quality, dust mass, fire danger, drought conditions, and probably the number of Flat Earthers who live there.

I found out about it last year from my wife. I use it to check if it’s raining without looking out the window.

r/MapPorn

This is a subreddit where people post interesting maps. Data sourcing quality varies.

I don’t remember who turned me on to this one, but I keep coming back for more.

The post All over the map appeared first on Mostly English.

A biweekly feature about idioms.

Are you committed to learning English? I mean, really committed? You can’t just learn the basics then fake your way through—this isn’t brain surgery or representative democracy. You’ve got to marshal your resources and really do it. As they say, “in for a penny, in for a pound.” That means if you’re going to do something, really try your hardest.

E.g. A marathon? You’re really taking that New Year’s resolution not to lie on your C.V. anymore seriously. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, I guess.

E.g. If Manchester United make the playoffs this year, I’ll totally get their logo tattooed on my butt. I’m in for a penny, in for a pound on this one.

E.g. I enrolled in a two-week intensive course, switched the language on all my devices, and even signed up for a native pen pal. When it comes to learning Klingon, there are no shortcuts. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Like many sayings, you can clip the expression and imply the latter half, “In for a penny …”.

And, oh yeah, a penny is a small coin that’s worth one one-hundredth of a pound. A pound is a unit of currency in the U.K. The U.K., or “United Kingdom” is a comprised of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The official name of the U.K. is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain, or simply “Britain,” includes England, Scotland, and Wales, but not Northern Ireland. If you want to go whale watching in Wales, the internet recommends the southwestern province of Pembrokeshire.

The post Idiomatic-tastic: in for a penny, in for a pound appeared first on Mostly English.

Take a look:

Between working and running around trying to sort visas with bad help, no help, then good-but-too-late-help, my wife and I didn’t see a quarter of these places while we were living there.

The student’s website is called “Behind the Nose.” Here’s his YouTube channel. There’s also a page for this on Facebook.

It’s always great to see what you’re all up to. Thanks for sharing!

The post Student Assist: Behind the Nose appeared first on Mostly English.

A biweekly feature about little things.

I’ve been clicking up a storm looking at … research. Excuse me while I change the batteries in my wireless mouse. I hate these things. I prefer mice with USB cords.

Or should that be “mouses”?

I already wrote about this once, but I recently woke up in the middle of a lesson and heard myself telling a student that it’s “mouses” for computer mice.

So I did some research. It’s mice. Douglas Englebart says so. Granted, not all scientists are to be trusted, but this guy seems extra competent.

E.g. Excuse me, does your store stock silent mice and quiet keyboards? I’m sick of people calling me out when I’m shopping during corporate meetings online.

Still, you can make case for “mouses” à la a similar thought process to how we get “octopuses.” It’s non-standard, but common enough.

Me, I side with Mr. Jinks.

The post Tidbits: a tail of two tails appeared first on Mostly English.

A biweekly feature about idioms.

Things don’t always work out well. Sometimes you screw up. Admit defeat, accept blame, and tell the powers that be you tried your hardest, but everything ended up “back-assward.” That way it’s clear to everyone involved things are wrong, incomplete, disorganized, and not as expected.

E.g. I think the Swedes must be going through some sort of collective mid-life crisis. These back-assward assembly instructions are impossible.

E.g. I was worried when the car showed up from Japan with the steering wheel and gearbox all back-assward, but once we’re in Cyprus it’ll fit right in.

E.g. “I give up. This whole project is back-assword,” roared Benjamin Franklin. “Man was clearly not meant to reverse engineer this so-called ‘Big Mac’ sandwich.”

The expression is a play on “ass-backward,” which means the same thing. If you want to get pedantic “back-assward” is a Spoonerism of “ass-backward.” There’s an ass-less variant, “bass-ackward,” for meek chaps.

The post Idiomatic-tastic: back-assward appeared first on Mostly English.

A biweekly feature about little things.

We’ve had this conversation before. You know what I mean? It’s strangely familiar. Like it’s happened before.

English borrows a French phrase for this: déjà vu. It means “already seen.”

E.g. Woah, Georgie, wait a minute. The costumes, the camera crew, the peanut butter, the hyena enclosure—does any of this seem familiar to you? I’m getting a serious sense of déjà vu.

Still not clear? Allow the existential horror auteurs Monty Python to illustrate …

The opposite phenomenon has a name in French, too, but it doesn’t show up much in English: jamais vu, i.e. “never seen.” Instead, the noted language authority George Carlin offers this …

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