Origin of Black Friday

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November), often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In recent years, most major retailers have opened very early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many… Read More

A genialidade lingüística dos bebês – The linguistic genius of babies

No TEDxRainier, Patricia Kuhl apresentou resultados surpreendentes sobre como os bebês aprendem uma língua sobre outra -, ouvindo os seres humanos ao seu redor e “fazendo estatísticas” sobre os sons que eles precisam saber. Experimentos de laboratório (e tomografias cerebrais) mostram como os bebês de 6 meses de idade, usam um raciocínio sofisticado para entender… Read More

Where did the meme ‘Karen’ come from?

Dictionary.com defines Karen as a slang for: a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors. As featured in memes, Karen is generally stereotyped as having a blonde bob haircut, asking to speak to retail and restaurant… Read More

O que é uma ‘Karen’: novo personagem no debate racial dos Estados Unidos?

O que é uma ‘Karen’, novo personagem no debate racial dos Estados Unidos? Antes de mais nada: este post não tem a intenção de polemizar, mas sim de informar. “Karen” é uma gíria pejorativa para designar uma mulher branca de meia-idade desagradável, irritada e muitas vezes racista que usa seu privilégio para conseguir o que… Read More

Os alunos de línguas estrangeiras devem ser expostos a gírias na sala de aula e aqui está o motivo…

Resumo: Os especialistas dizem que as gírias no idioma ingles e os dialetos regionais não devem ser banidos das salas de aula, mas quando você está começando a se familiarizar com um segundo idioma, o quão útil é aprender um jargão diferente do padrão? Muito, diz Sascha Stollhans, do Departamento de Línguas e Culturas da… Read More

Foreign language learners should be exposed to slang in the classroom and here’s why…

Summary: Experts say English slang and regional dialect should not be banned from classrooms but when you’re getting to grips with a second language how helpful is it to learn non-standard lingo? Very, says Sascha Stollhans, of the Department of Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University, who argues that standardised language norms are artificial and… Read More

Woof Woof: Dog Barks in Different Languages

Woof is the conventional representation in the English language of the barking of a dog. As with other examples of onomatopoeia or imitative sounds, other cultures “hear” the dog’s barks differently and represent them in their own ways. Some of the equivalents of “woof” in other European and Asian languages are as follows: English –… Read More

Cursos de idioma online têm a mesma eficácia dos presenciais?

2021 trouxe profundas mudanças para o aprendizado de idiomas, especialmente no formato dos cursos que passaram de presencial para online, em decorrência da Covid 19. Mas afinal, quais resultados iremos colher? Os cursos de idioma online têm a mesma eficácia dos presenciais?  Essas tem sido as perguntas mais recorrentes entre alunos e pessoal de Rh.… Read More

List of 100 Irregular Plural Nouns in English

Singular:           Plural: abyss               abysses alumnus         alumni analysis          analyses aquarium        aquaria arch                 arches atlas                atlases axe                  axes baby                babies bacterium       bacteria batch               batches beach              beaches brush               brushes bus                  buses calf                  calves chateau          chateaux cherry              cherries child                children church             churches circus              circuses city                   cities cod                  cod copy                copies crisis               crises curriculum     curricula deer                 deer dictionary       dictionaries domino          dominoes dwarf               dwarves echo               echoes elf                    elves emphasis      emphases family              families fax                   faxes fish                  fish… Read More

Confusing words: Words With No Plural Forms

Many students who are learning English are very surprised to learn that the words information, knowledge, and jewelry have no plural forms. These are called uncountable noums: Here is my list so far: accommodation advice baggage bread bravery chaos clarity courage cowardice equipment education evidence furniture garbage greed homework honesty information jewelry knowledge livestock luggage marketing… Read More