Lightning? to the Quality Of
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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 weather popular urban m , It is a r snow. In reality mber of words fo nusually large nu What happens when it rains 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 tornado say to the other? nhabitants are s a whose native i rds are have different wo ‘Let’s twist again like we did last summer.’ 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 thunderstorm? w at have quite dif s in languages th umbers of word forget ‘Come and look at the rain, 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 spring sn like slush, powd If an orchestra plays during a thunderstorm, who is most nowdrift; some, owfall s , like blizzard, sn the snow; others likely to get hit by lightning? 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 sn downpour ow e burst deluge xcus ascade cloud The wrong k e! c le droplet ind of snow s drizz is a phrase c drench drip British news oined by the ail flood papers in 19 inundation h 91 after seve drops drop caused dis re weather rain rain ruption to tra monsoon in services. A mizzle shower the rail com spokesman trickle pany explai for torrent ned that they rivulet squall problems w were having spatter ith the type ice soak of snow that slu was unusu had fallen. It ally soft and powdery and into the ele found its wa ctrical system y s of the rail causing sho network, rt circuits. Th e snow also packed in th became e sliding doo rs 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 a g re 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 n i t r a M , al e ogic e ol h r t Meteo i m S n a l ry A maste © / 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 n’s lled the poor ma e crickets are ca Tre directly se temperature rmometer becau the he number activity. Count t cts their rate of affe nds, then akes in 15 seco hirps a cricket m of c o the l be very close t L 37. The total wil ightning add never ture! outside tempera strike ut how many s twice you can find o .... uring a storm, Accordi D unting the ng to the Guinness Bo htning is by co ok of World Records, les away the lig Sulliva Roy mi ash of n holds the record for between the fl surviving the most lig ber of seconds strik htning num hen es. Between 1942 and nd of thunder, t his death in 1983, Su ng and the sou str llivan was lightni en do uck by lightning seven n in the UK oft times. The first lightn by two. Childre t ing strike went dividing the hrough his leg and ble codile to mark w off his big toenail. ng the word cro In 1969, a second this by usi ee strike burned off his e o crocodile, thr yebrows and knocked ne crocodile, tw him unconscious. seconds: o Another strike just a y ear later, left him with c. a burnt shoulder. In crocodile, et 1972, his hair was se t on fire and he had to per hour 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. Climate 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 • www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 65 November 2009 • 55.