ETp65_pp54-55:ETp50_pp56-57 12/10/2009 16:13 Page 54 SCRSCRAAPP BOOKBOOK Gems, titbits, puzzles, foibles, quirks, bits & pieces, quotations, snippets, odds & ends, what you will nowed under S s mo language ha yth that the Eski Witty popular urban m , It is a r . In reality mber of words fo nusually large nu What happens when it cats and dogs? an u ur definition of s depends on yo number of word in the You have to be careful not to step in a poodle. the guages spoken any different lan imo (there are m ibed Esk ometimes descr What did one say to the other? nhabitants are s a whose native i rds are have different wo ‘Let’s twist again like we did last .’ course, they all Eskimos and, of now- as Do you include s finition of snow ( What did one hurricane say to the other? r snow), your de the fo fer specifically to nly those that re ‘I have my eye on you!’ lated words or o re hod of counting , and on the met hite stuff itself?) ferent What did Santa Claus’s wife say during a ? w at have quite dif s in languages th umbers of word forget ‘Come and look at the , dear!’ n ish. People also ctures from Engl rammatical stru h. Some g ere are in Englis What doesn’t get any wetter no matter how much it rains? related words th ow many snow- ll and h owflake, snowba The ocean. ith snow, like sn re compounds w ow refer a er and sn like , powd If an orchestra plays during a thunderstorm, who is most nowdrift; some, owfall s , like , sn the snow; others likely to get hit by ? to the quality of . y in which it falls describe the wa The conductor. and snow flurry ld add rs and skiers cou mountain climbe Meteorologists, What is the technical term for a sunny, warm day which s to the list! even more word follows two rainy days? h number of Englis Monday. ou consider the nd then, when y es are A e that all languag e rain, you realis words to describ in btle differences y to describe su ich in vocabular now? r f these do you k ns. How many o weather conditio That npour snow deluge dow exc The wr use! cascade droplet ong kind of s now is a phr h drips British ase coined b drenc flood newspapers y the tion in 1991 afte ps inunda cause r severe wea dro raindrop d disruption ther soon rain to train servi mizzle mon the r ces. A spok le ail company esman for ent trick explained t rivulet torr pr hat they we ter squall oblems with re having k spat the type of sluice soa w snow that ha as unusually d fallen. It soft and pow int dery and fou o the electric nd its way al systems o ca f the rail netw using short c ork, ircuits. The s pa now also be cked in the s came liding doors of the tr n them ains, pre o from ope venting o ning S and closin g prope m did rly. a not re People i alise wh k that th o ere are g different n saw th kinds o e e of sn J xplanation ow as n © onse nsic / became al and the p a bywo hrase m rd for l o ame c excuse . s. o t o h p k c o t S i

54 • Issue 65 November 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com • ETp65_pp54-55:ETp50_pp56-57 12/10/2009 16:13 Page 55 r e h c s i F

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/ urface ing the s m ght reach o sunli c mount of . The a o t of t e amoun o 0 times th h th is 6,00 p f the Ear k o ldwide. c wor o man beings t l hu S al i energy used by used by people nt of fossil fuel The total amou equivalent to of civilisation is since the start ys of sunshine. less than 30 da man’s called the poor Tree crickets are ure directly cause temperat thermometer be nt the number of activity. Cou affects their rate econds, then et makes in 15 s of chirps a crick ry close to the e total will be ve Lightn add 37. Th ing never ture! outside tempera any strikes tw find out how m ice .... , you can During a the According to the G is by counting uinness Book of World ay the lightning Records, Roy miles aw f Sullivan holds the re een the flash o cord for surviving the f seconds betw most lightning number o strikes. Between 19 f thunder, then 42 and his death in 19 nd the sound o 83, Sullivan was lightning a o struck by lightning the UK often d seven times. The first two. Children in lightning strike went dividing by e through his leg and odile to mark th blew off his big toena g the word croc il. In 1969, a second this by usin e strike burned off his crocodile, thre eyebrows and knock crocodile, two ed him unconscious. seconds: one Another strike just a year later, left him w . ith a burnt shoulder. In crocodile, etc 1972, his hair was s et on fire and he had per hour to pour a bucket of 7 and 18 miles water over his head ps fall between to put it out. In 1973, Raindro he another bolt ripped nd) in still air. T through his hat and etres per seco hit him on the head, (3 and 8 m setting his hair on fire the size of the again, throwing him ed depends on out of his truck and actual spe knocking his left shoe up raindrops off. A sixth strike r friction breaks in 1976 left him with a raindrop. Ai n injured ankle. The la er hour. lightning bolt to st ceed 18 miles p hit Roy Sullivan sent h when they ex im to the hospital with chest and stoma ch burns in 1977. In 1 983, he shot himself. change ding Although he was a qualified meteorologist, TV Happy lan y high weatherman Peter Jenkins had a terrible record exceptionall encountered An aeroplane throw of forecasting. He became something of a joke cent into Hea made its des winds as it side to side g wildly from when a local newspaper began keeping a record e plane swun ff Airport. Th it bounced o and down as of his predictions and showed that he’d been swooped up and then the pilot e. Eventually, wrong almost 300 times in a single year. The TV of turbulenc nd pockets it bumpily – a plane – albe ed to land his t of company didn’t see the funny side of this and manag , he came ou disembarked passengers fired him. He moved to another part of the as the . The most hem farewell ckpit to bid t a country and applied for a similar job. One the co ed was from ent he receiv orable comm er he section of the job application form asked for his mem politely wheth o asked him e old lady wh one littl iosity on just reason for leaving his previous position. Jenkins atisfy her cur ould please s t down?’ w ere we sho wrote, ‘The climate didn’t agree with me.’ e land, or w point: ‘Did w

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