British Pubs

British people love going to the pub. But what exactly is a pub? Well, a pub is like a bar – people go there to have a drink, to meet their friends or to play darts.

Pubs open at about 9 o’clock in the morning and they usually close at about eleven o’clock at night. You have to remember two very important things about pubs in Britain: you have to order your drinks at the bar because there is no table service (servicio de camareros en las mesas) and you have to pay for (pagar) your drinks when you order them! If you go with friends, everyone usually buys a round of drinks (ronda de bebidas). Of course, you don’t have to drink alcohol; you can also have non-alcoholic drinks.(bebida sin alcohol)

       

Here is a list of some of the things you can order in a pub.

Beer and whisky

There are lots of different kinds of beer; lager, bitter, mild or stout for example. And of course, there are many different kinds of whisky: Ballantines, Glenfiddich, Cardhu or Johnnie Walker, for example. Do you know of any other brands (marcas) of whisky?

Ordering drinks – beer and spirits

When you want a glass of beer, you can order a pint or half a pint.

 “Pint” – 1 pint = 0.568 litres

“Half pint” – 1/2 pint = 0.284 litres

         

In British pubs, when you buy spirits (bebidas alcohólicas) the barman gives you a very small amount of alcohol. He measures (mide) the amount of alcohol (0.0284 litres) that he puts in each glass. In Britain, the law (la ley) says that pubs have to do this. If you want a bigger drink, ask for a double – but remember you have to pay double as well.

Do you like whiskey? Yes? Well, then you probably know that you can drink whisky with or without ice If you want your whisky with ice, you can say “a whisky with ice, please”, or you can ask for “Scotch on the rocks, please” – they always use this expression in films!

You are now ready to survive (sobrevivir) in a British pub!

Torn By a Mimic

Watch David Armand, of the comedy troupe Hollow Men, with a literal mime version  of Natalie Imbruglia's Torn.(roto, desgarrado )

Comic David Armand’s  brilliant interpretation  went viral in 2005, and Imbruglia joined in the fun on The Secret Policeman’s Ball a year later. Check out this link to watch it !!! Torn by David Armand and Natalia Imbruglia! 

Things to say about...

About being overweight:

He’s a roly-poly old man.¹

I look a bit chubby² in this dress. 

He is a real elephant, isn’t he?³

What a tub of lard!⁴

                                

About being too thin:

He’s as thin as a rake⁵

He’s a real skinnymalink.⁶

I’m a bit of a pencil-neck.⁷

He’s a long streak of piss. ⁸

Comments

(1)   Es una manera suave y graciosa de decir que alguien es un poco gordo. Es parecido al adjetivo en español ‘rellenito’. A veces se usa para describir a Papa Noel!

(2)   Chubby – gordinflón/a

(3)   Elephant significa elefante, así que el origen de la frase es fácil de adivinar.

(4)   Lard es manteca de cerdo, tub es una tina, así que la frase quiere decir que alguien es como una tina de manteca de cerdo (contiene mucha grasa). Es una frase bastante ofensiva.

(5)   Literalmente “es tan delgado como un rastrillo”, pero se usa como la frase en español “flaco/a como un fideo”.

(6)   Esta palabra es una variación irlandesa de la palabra ‘skinny’ que significa delgado.

(7)   Pencil es lápiz; neck es cuello, así que la frase quiere decir que uno tiene el cuello muy delgado, como un lápiz. También se usa en EEUU para hablar de alguien muy débil, como la frase española “enclenque”. Ambas maneras de usar la frase son un poco ofensivas.

(8)   Es un insulto normalmente hacía un hombre que es alto y delgado; alguien que la gente percibe como débil. Literalmente significa un chorro largo de pipí.

The World of English: accents.

English contains many variations of accent and even dialect , but unlike Italian or German, the dialects are rarely different enough to make comprehension impossible. True, a London Cockney would have a very difficult time in a conversation with a steel worker (trabajador del acero) in Glasgow, and a Carolina cotton picker (recolector de algodón) might find it difficult to understand and be understood by a sheep farmer from Australia, but a businessman from, say Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A  would have few problems dealing with (tratando con)  a businessman from Dublin, Ireland or Sydney, Australia, Auckland, New Zealand, Liverpool in England , Johannesburg ,South Africa  or Kingston, Jamaica. A reasonably educated standard English allows comprehension and communication all over the English speaking world.

Take a quick  tour through the British Isles in this video where comedian Siobhan Thompson performs 17 British accents – and the celebrities that speak with them,!

Jokes in English

It's time for most of us to go back to work, after our summer holidays, we know it is hard, so from Home English we would like to cheer you up in this post today, with some  funny jokes. Enjoy them!

Baby or monkey?

A lady and her baby get on a bus. The bus driver looks at the lady, and then at her baby, and then screams, “Ah! That’s the ugliest (el más feo) child I’ve ever seen in my life!”

The lady then, totally disgusted, marches up to the back of the bus to sit down. As she was sitting there absolutely furious, a man asks, “Are you ok?”

The lady replies, “I’m so angry, because the bus driver insulted me.”

The man says, “You go back up there (vuelva allí) and tell the bus driver what you think about him, and I’ll watch (vigilaré) your monkey.”

             

The dogs playing chess?

A man went to visit a friend and find him playing chess with his dog.

He watched the game in astonishment (con sorpresa)  for a while. He exclaimed:

     -   I can hardly believe my eyes! That’s the smartest (el más listo) dog I’ve ever seen.
 The friend replied:
- Nah, he’s not so smart,..He’s only won two games out of five.

        

Presidents on a plane

Five presidents are on a plane: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. George Washington says, “I will make someone happy!” and throws a dollar bill off the plane.

Then Abraham Lincoln says, “I will make five people happy!” and throws 5 one dollar bills (billetes de dolar) off the plane.

Then Thomas Jefferson says, “I will make 500 people happy!” and throws 500 one dollar bills off the plane.

Then Bill Clinton says, “I will make the whole world happy!” and throws George W. Bush off the plane.

Zanzibar

The food of Zanzibar is some of the best and most varied in Africa. The people who have come to the island – especially Persians, Arabs, Indians and Black Africans – have brought new ingredients and created a fusion of techniques. The result is a distinctive cuisine, which uses abundant rice, coconut, bananas and spices. It is colourful, fragrant and exciting, and one more excuse for visiting this beautiful destination.

    

Coconuts and Bananas

These two ingredients are essential for Zanzibar’s cuisine. In Stone Town Market you can see children carrying fresh coconuts on their heads. They open them with a machete and you drink the delicious juice. The flesh (pulpa) is made into coconut milk. This is added) to fish, meat and vegetable dishes, including soups. You can eat fresh bananas or use them as an accompaniment to savoury (sabrosos) dishes.

Ugali and Pilau Rice

The basis of a typical meal in most of East Africa is Ugali, made from maize (maíz) or cassava (mandioca) flour.(harina) Some visitors will find the texture strange, but it is perfect for absorbing the sauces of meat or vegetable dishes. On special occasions there is magnificent pilau rice. This dish is common to the Middle East and West Asia, and adapted to local cultures and ingredients. It is an elaborate dish made with spices, nuts, (nueces) dried fruit (frutos secos) and meat.

Sugar Cane Juice (zumo de caña de azúcar)

Because the majority of Zanzibarans are Muslim,(musulmanes) alcohol is not served in many places. In hotel bars you will find the Tanzanian national beer, called Safari Lager. The best drinks are delicious fruit juices made with the island’s abundant fruits. A glass of sugar cane juice with lime and ginger (gengibre) will be a memorable experience. Or why not have some spicy ice cream, made with a combination of the island’s spices?

A Sense of Humour.

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her university class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. 'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa'. 'Pencil’, however, is masculine: 'el lapiz'.

A student asked, 'What gender (género)  is 'computer'?'

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into (dividió la clase en)  two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether 'computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your wages on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ('el computador'), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on (encender , calentar );

2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realise that if you had waited a little longer, you could have got a better model.

The women won!!!

Things To Say When You Get Wet or Have a Cold.

When you get wet ...

I’m wet through.  I’m drenched.(1) I’m soaking wet.(2). I'm soaked to the bone (3)

I

"I am soaked to the bone ... "

When you’ve got a cold...

I’m bunged up. (4) .I’ve got a frog in my throat.(5) .I’ve got a runny nose. I’ve got a tickly(6) cough.

" I've got a runny nose  ..."

Comments

(1) Drenched y soaked tienen el mismo significado y ambas son muy parecidas a la palabra empapado en español.

(2) Soaking wet es como la frase en español como una sopa. Se usa sopping wet para hablar de un suelo mojado.

(3)  I’m soaked to the bone. estoy empapado hasta los huesos .

(4) Bung up  :cuando algo está atascado y no puede hacer su  función. Ya os podéis imaginar las situaciones en que se utiliza..

(5) Literalmente la frase significa tengo una rana en la garganta y es parecido a cuando en español decimos tener carraspera.

(6) To tickle significa hacerle cosquillas a alguien. Podemos decir I have a tickle (picor) in my throat. A tickly cough es una tos que hace que nos pique la garganta..

Bollywood

Where did the last movie you saw come from? Most of you would probably say either Hollywood or maybe Spain or France. However, if you asked an Indian the same question, the answer would be completely different. They would say, off course, that it was made in Bollywood.

Bollywood is the name given to the Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India, a word formed by substituting the “H” of Hollywood with the “B” of Bombay. It is also known as “Hindi cinema”, although (aunque) many of the films are in Hindustani, a dialect spoken in Northern India and Pakistan. Songs often use Urdu vocabulary, and English is increasingly (cada vez más) heard in dialogues and songs. It is fashionable (de moda) to speak English, while a majority of the urban middle-class are educated in English schools and speak it as their native language. It is not uncommon to find bilingual or trilingual Indians in the cities, and a mixture of English and an Indian language (usually Hindi) is often used at work. As a result, Bollywood reflects this language mix (mexla de idiomas) and incorporates English words and phrases, and even whole sentences in its dialogues.

        

Song and Dance

Film music in India is called filmi. While many actors can dance, few of them can sing well. Songs are generally pre-recorded (pre-grabados) by professional singers with actors miming (cantando una canción haciendo playback) the words while dancing. Playback singers are prominently featured in the opening credits and have their own fans that will watch a mediocre movie to hear their favourites. The composers of film music, known as music directors, are also well-known, and their songs can determine a film’s success.

The dancing in old Bollywood films is usually modelled on Indian dance, such as classical dance styles, dances from Northern Indian or folk dances. In modern-day films, Indian dance is often combined with Western dance styles that are seen on MTV or in Broadway musicals. 

 

Dialogues and Lyrics

The film script (guión de la película) and the song lyrics are often written by different people. Music directors often prefer working in a two-man team with certain lyricists. The resulting dialogues are usually written in Hindi or Hindustani.

The Bollywood song lyrics, however, mostly use a combination of Urdu or Hindustani vocabulary and include many elegant and poetic Arabic and Persian words. The song lyrics are usually about love. Here are a few lines from the 1983 film Hero, written by the great lyricist Anand Bakshi:

Hindi lyrics	English Translation
Bichhdey abhi to hum, bas kal parso,	We just got separated, only a day or two back,
Jiyoongi main kaisey, is haal mein barson?	How am I going to live this way for years?
Maut na aayi, teri yaad kyon aayi,	Death doesn’t come, but your memory does
Haaye, lambi judaayi!	Why?

Now, listen to a fragment of a typical Bollywood song, and enjoy it!!