A Bear of Very Many Words Winnie-the-Pooh in the Dictionary

A Bear of Very Many Words Winnie-the-Pooh in the Dictionary A Bear of Very Many Words: Winnie-the-Pooh in the Dictionary Did you know that today, January 18, was A. A. Milne’s birthday? To mark this, people around the world are celebrating Milne’s much-loved creation, Winnie-the-Pooh. And for Winnie-the-Pooh Day this year, we thought we’d take a quick look at the language of Pooh. Pooh and friends. But what can a bear of very little brain offer the English language? More than you might expect! In fact, if we look at the Oxford English Dictionary, Pooh and his friends pop up a few times†¦ 1. Pooh-Sticks Perhaps the most obvious bit of Pooh in the dictionary comes with â€Å"pooh-sticks.† This is the game that Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends play by dropping sticks into a river on the upstream side of a bridge. The contestants then rush to the other side to see whose stick emerges first. This might not sound like a competitive sport, but the World Poohsticks Championships have been taking place in England for 35 years now! Pooh-sticks in action.(Photo: Malc McDonald) 2. Eeyore and Tigger Among Pooh’s friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, Eeyore and Tigger stand out for their contributions to the English language. Eeyore, the downbeat donkey, appears in the OED as a term for a â€Å"pessimistic, gloomy, or habitually disconsolate person† (or you can use the adjective â€Å"Eeyore-like, if you prefer). A â€Å"Tigger,† on the other hand, is defined as an â€Å"exuberant, energetic, and cheerful person.† The famously bouncy tiger has also inspired two adjectives: â€Å"Tiggerish† and â€Å"Tigger-like.† It seems, then, that Winnie-the-Pooh offers terms for people of very different temperaments! 3. Heffalumps and Woozles In A. A. Milne’s writing, heffalumps and woozles are (possibly imaginary) creatures that steal honey. And since Winnie-the-Pooh is really, truly very fond of honey, he has to be wary of these sneaky beasts! The words â€Å"heffalump† and â€Å"woozle,† and the creatures’ appearances, are based on the English words â€Å"elephant† and â€Å"weasel,† respectively. But outside of Milne’s writing, â€Å"heffalump† has become a playful word for real-life elephants (or sometimes, less politely, larger human beings). Sadly, the word â€Å"woozle† hasn’t yet made it into the dictionary. However, it has inspired the term â€Å"woozle effect.† This is based on the story of Pooh and Piglet mistaking their own footprints for those of a woozle, then chasing themselves in circles in a hunt for something that doesn’t exist. In the real world, the â€Å"woozle effect† occurs when a misleading or unsubstantiated idea is repeated and republished often enough that people start believing it (or chasing their own footprints, so to speak). So while â€Å"woozle† isn’t in the dictionary yet, it still might appear there one day!

Celta Assignment 3 Essays

Celta Assignment 3 Essays Celta Assignment 3 Essay Celta Assignment 3 Essay Assignment 3: Skills Related Task Course: Celta By: Syed Ahmed Submission date:15/08/2011 Rationale for lesson The reason why radio advertisement has been chosen is due to the following: I would expect students listen to the radio everyday. They are exposed to radio advertisement whether it is in English or in their native language. It is a useful area to explore as students will pick up a few words used in advertisements and hence generate interest in learning the language. This area will be interesting as some students may not like a particular advertisement and some may do. This will encourage a healthy discussion amongst the students. A lead in/ warmer can be introduced regarding this subject followed by activities after the listening exercise that would encourage students to practice their productive skill (listening). This exercise was chosen because students require a lot of concentration while listening to the task hence it demands listening. It also gives an opportunity for students to check their answers in pairs. (Scrivener 2005, p. 176). This lesson is appropriate to the upper-intermediate students as they should have the knowledge of lexis relating to advertisements. This means I can concentrate on a few words for lexis and therefore allow more time for the students to focus on their skills based part (listening) and their follow on tasks. TASKS Task 1: The pre-listening task (p. 64) This task is a good introduction to the topic of radio advertisements as it is easy. This will be a good lead in to the topic. Students will be asked to state th eir favourite advertisement and if they listen to the radio. A top down method has been used in this exercise where we are making use of what we already know to assist us to foresee the content and structure of the text. This gives an overall impression of the message (Scrivener 2005 p. 178). (Scrivener, 2005) states that we cannot use a bottom-up method i. e. building up the messages from individual small pieces. Even though this may sound appealing, however to do this it is virtually impossible. Task 2: The first listening task (p. 65) Before handing out the task I would set the question first. The question first technique is described as ‘‘task before audio’’ (Scrivener 2005 p. 172). The students will have to match the following options to the advert being listened to. For example which advert? Is selling soap powder Is trying to recruit personnel. The students will have the chance to listen to the audio. The students will have a basic understanding on how to do the task. If students have not found the answers to a specific section of the task, it would be necessary to play the recording again (Scrivener 2005 p. 172). This task is useful to introduce the text to the students. If students get the answers correct in the first attempt, this will help build confidence in them and students can move on to the next task. Task 3: The detailed task (comprehension check p. 65) Students will have a comprehension exercise in order to catch the specific details such as names, color and so on. I would assume that this exercise will be challenging to the students as they have to listen to the details carefully. However I feel that this exercise will help them pick up phrases such as ‘‘wherefore art though’’ and students will be familiar with it. As stated in Scrivener, 2005 it would be appropriate to play the recording more than once or sufficient number of times for the specific section the students are struggling on. As stated in Scrivener, 2005 it would be appropriate to play the part which the students disagree to. During the feedback session, the students will be allowed to check the answers in pairs. The recording would be played again until the students have reached an overall agreement to the answer and not just led by one student (Scrivener 2005, p. 176). Task 4: The follow on task (speaking skills) Group work: Newspapers and magazines will be given out to each group. The groups will be asked to choose an advert that appeals to them and discuss why they like it. This task should take ten minutes. Task 5: Follow on task (Writing) Group work Students will be asked to devise a radio advertisement. They can choose their own product or service or choose from the following option: A BMW sports car A restaurant in town A bank for students Students discuss this in pairs and will have to make a visual presentation on visual cards and write a slogan for the advert. Task 6: Follow on task (Speaking) Group work (Pairs) Students will participate in an activity where students will make a radio advert on a product they will choose. Each group will make an advert and the class will decide which the best advert is. Task 7: Follow on task (Writing) Students should write an advert on the following options: A car for sale A job at Curries A new computer Students will have 15 minutes to write this advert. I will then check each students answer for mistakes. Bibliography: Scrivener, J (2005). Learning Teaching. Macmillan.

British petrolioum case study for corporate goverance & ethics course

British petrolioum for corporate goverance & ethics course - Case Study Example (BP) has approximately 80,000 workers and produces roughly 3.8 million barrels of natural gas as well as crude oil, with revenue of around 386 billion. This attests that indeed the BP is one of the largest multinational corporations. However, it is not a stranger to some of the environmental hazards and over the past years, it has found itself in various unethical cases and decisions that have damaged its reputation (Warren, 2012). The goal of any organisation is to maximise profits and its activities ought to be accepted by the society. However, some firms focus on making profits without caring about the interest of the society; hence, resulting to the businesses making ethical dilemmas. The British Petroleum has been involved in various scandals such as the 2005 explosion, which has had a major impact on the stakeholders and has raised important corporate social responsibility questions. The BP has various ethical obligations such as ensuring that they provide the consumers with the right products, conducting honest transactions with the suppliers, guaranteeing safety, and complying with the stipulated environmental laws among others (Mauer & Tinsley, 2010). However, following its unethical practices, it has failed to live up to its expectations. Therefore, it is imperative to deliberate on some of the scandals that it has been involved in and their impact. The BP has faced difficult decisions in the past that has damaged its reputation. The company had a social responsibility towards the society but because of its unregulated safety measures, it failed. It is obvious that it took decisions and risks that were not socially reasonable and its culture of safety was compromised and focused more on maximising profits rather than caring about the wellbeing of the people. It also came up with unreasonable measures to ensure safety such as cutting on the costs and failing to invest; hence, leading to grave safety issues (Richard Ivey School of Business, 2008). This

The Message of Harp of Burma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Message of Harp of Burma - Essay Example is coined from the fact that the Japanese solder in the war use to play Harp instead of using the bullets after realizing that they lost the war, this unit of the Japanese soldiers remained motivated through signing and playing of the Harp. The book describes the engagement of the Japanese soldiers and the British soldiers in the battle of the World War II that ended in 1945. The author himself admits that he was not pro the involvement of the Japan in the World War II and more so, joining the triple alliance with Germany and Italy forming the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin axis. This story gives the in depth of the Japanese participation in the war, the consequences they realized, and their relationship with the British army after the defeat in the Second World War, which lasted between 1939 and 1945. The book talks about Japan in the participation of the World War II in terms of the roles played by the soldiers and the intrigues that followed. Contrary to the opinion that is known about Japan in the Participation of the war. The story in the book depicts Japanese solders as easily disillusioned (Takeyama, 44). This is because just by getting the rumors making the rounds that the war is over, the captain of the solders admits to surrender to the British forces and constantly being under the control of the British. During this period, the British even asked the captain to send one of theirs solders to other units to inform them of the status of the war. One is of the Japanese soldiers who happened to be playing the harp volunteers the duty though knowing the potency of the same-he risked being killed by the solders for showing high level of cowardice (Takeyama, 56). The solder risk and went to deliver the message but in the jungle, he finds most of the Japanese soldiers killed in the field and remains unattended. He feels the situation needs care and wanted to volunteer to bury as many bodies as he could but later decided to abandon the exercise as he realized that there is

Rhetoric and Reality Essay Example for Free

Rhetoric and Reality Essay In chapter four â€Å"Black Radicals: Rhetoric and Reality†, writer tried to locate whether black powers i. e. militants and radicals had any viable program to organize black people or their ideas and action were disarray with no clear agenda. For this purpose, he provides an insight into the ideas and efforts of pioneer of black movement. He starts with the ideas of Malcolm X and analyzed his â€Å"intellectual framework for revolutionary Black Nationalism† (p. 246) Malcolm X asserted that psychological liberation and black pride are essential elements to shape black American into an organized whole. But writer is of the view that mostly. His (Malcolm’s) ideas were misunderstood or misinterpreted and hence they were unable to influence the black movement. He further analyzed the idea of another pioneer of black movement, Stokely Carmichael who stressed on the importance of reformation in black ideology and advocated â€Å"independent politics†. His considered the capitalist structure as the primary cause if all injustice and racial discrimination prevalent in the American. He developed a two-pronged strategy to counter racism and capitalistic exploitation. There is marked shift in his ideology after visits to several south American countries and he considered guerrilla warfare an important tool to establish their right on the land, houses and stores†. Rap Brown, another chairman of the SNCC advocated military and armed struggle in a more unequivocal way. Carmichael developed a new approach after his visits to Latin world and â€Å"in February 1968, the enemy of the blacks was no longer the capitalist system. The prime enemy was the white man, the honky. † (p. 250) So Carmichael added racism to capitalism as the new enemy but his reformatory efforts for restructuring the black community and to counter these two evil systems were ambiguous as he mostly advocated in favor of socialism as the remedy of these evil system. His ideas are mostly paradoxical and writer is of the view that his middle class background torn him â€Å"between militant nationalism and accomodationist integrationism† (p. 252). Writer further delves deep into the different strategies and programs of SNCC to charge the batteries of black movement but he asserts that mere speeches and statement does not yield into viable activities. Writer further explores the black student movements and says that typically black students adopt a bourgeois outlook after their graduation and try to assimilate and identify themselves with white community. This attitude of black students made them distrustful in the eyes of less-privileged classes of black community. As black student were not part of White community so they were entangled into a dilemma and this identity crisis was more heightened in Ivy League Schools where they were labeled as â€Å"white Negroes† by their own community. However there was a growing resentment in black students against the racial policies and they took several armed revolts against the college and government authorities. Writer provides comprehensive details of black students’ struggle in various college campuses across America during 1968. SNCC and other black activists were in favor a political party that would the sole representative of African American. The SNCC experience had taught it that both Democrats and Republican parties are not a cure to their afflictions so they worked to establish a black political party at the national level. In this attempt, SNCC and â€Å"black panthers† created an alliance and advocated a struggle for self-determination. Due to several inherent and structural differences these organization failed to merge and turned into a political party. Writer sums up the chapter by illustrating that although SNCC and black panther were not representative of the all black radicals but their ideas manifested the ideas and activities pf radicals elements during the black movement.

Life in the Community Essay -- Gender Roles, Racism

Life in the Community Aren’t you supposed to be smart because you’re Asian? Aren’t you supposed to be a trouble maker because you’re African American? We are discriminated against because of our multicultural society. In our multicultural society we experience these terrible racist comments due to the diversity we have. Our society is one of the worst because of the diversity of people and religions. We have different languages, foods, religions, movies, music, and games making life confusing for the average person. We have trained our minds to think of everyone as different; judging them without even knowing them. We live with all these freedoms and choices that can led to bad reasoning. Lois Lowry explores the concept of Sameness in The Giver and shows that while there are problems with Sameness ultimately it is a positive way to run a society. Living in a society that employs Sameness corrects the problem of racism and sexism. Lily had exclaimed, â€Å"One of them—a male; I don’t know his name – kept going right to the front of the line† (Lowry 5). Lily only describes the child as a male not introducing the thought of a race. She does not describe him as anything else than a male, meaning she doesn’t know the concept of racism. It is shown that racism can also lead to there being sexism in a society. Jonas shows this by saying, â€Å"Mother, who held a prominent position at the Department of Justice, talked about her feelings† (Lowry 8). Jonas shows the reader that in his Community the idea of anyone becoming anything is true. It does not matter if they are male or female; it only matters if they are capable, making... ... violence. When violence is present in a community it normally leads to crime, and in The Giver crime is not one of the major problems. Sameness also helps the citizens of the community to make good choices. No one in Jonas’s society has the wrong job, spouse, or children. All this is due to the idea of Sameness. Would you trust someone to bath you? Sameness is the reason Elders in Jonas’s Community are not scared of being bathed by a random stranger. Sameness also gets rid of all the hardships of the climate, and environment. Sameness makes the climate and environment constant meaning no random changes will occur in it. Would you like to live in a world on no crime, violence, entrust, hardships, racism, and sexism? Lois Lowry reveals to use that a community with Sameness is more productive and reasonable that one without.

Life Span Perspective on Human Development Essay

In this essay I will touch on several different theories of human development and growth as well as their theorist. I will show how hereditary and environment play a vital role in human development and identify a few aspects of life span perspectives. Psychosexual Theory One theorist was Sigmund Freud who believed that the development of sexual personality or libido was the development of personality. Freud beliefs were that every individual goes through five stages that further form your personality. The first stage or the earliest is the oral stage which includes sucking and drinking, sexual drive is focus around the mouth, later on leading to more aggressive biting, chewing, sucking of thumb and later years of possible cigarette smoking. The second stage is the anal stage or the toddler stage. His stage is actually broken down into two parts; the first part is called the expressive period in which the child takes pleasure in having a bowel movement. The other part to the second stage is the retentive stage where they will store their feces. The Phallic stage is where children gain pleasure from stimulation there private area, this also is a time were the child will begin to identify with either mother or father depending on the sex of the child. This will help to identify gender roles. The latency stage is the puberty stage where teens find a more acceptable way channeling their sexual aggression. The last stage is the Genital stage in which the adult has reach sexual and emotional maturity. Ego Development Ego development theory was created by Erik Erikson. Erikson believed our personality is formed from opposites such as dependant or independent, aggressive person or passive person, are just an example of a few. Erikson stated that some of these traits you are born with others are learned. Erikson based his theory off the study of the Sioux Indians during this study he learned that behavior and the Indians culture played a great part in there world. Erikson organized life in stages from birth to death, in this theory Erikson theorized that children who had a difficult childhood, versus a child who did not have so many challenges. First stage birth to 18 months trust versus mistrust in this stage we as babies will either learn to trust and have confidence or mistrust and have a feel of worthlessness. Early childhood stage 18 months to 3 years Autonomy versus shame, in this stage children start to master some of the skills on their own their independency kicks in and it also at this stage they may be easily shamed. Ex. (toilet training). 3 years to five years is the intuitive versus guilt, 6 years to 12 years is the industry versus inferiority, 12 to 18 years identity versus role and then there are three more stages after that. Environmentalist Theory John Watson, Skinner believed that a child environment shapes what they learn and environment. Depending on how and where you were raised will determine how you react to things. It was believed that be more stable learning environment will help develop normal stages of growing up. Children seem to learn best through rote activities were the recite colors, alphabet, numbers their address and telephone. When children don’t take to this form of learning they are said to have a learning problem or disability such as ADD. Conclusion In conclusion I agree with every theory except for Sigmund Freud psychosexual theory, I felt a little uncomfortable with some of the points, I do not believe that any part of the sucking, drinking, or chewing as a infant has anything to do with sexual drive. I think it all had to do with surrounding to your environment weather you be an adult of infant. The Theory that I agree with the most is John Watson, Skinner the environmentalist theory, I believed that children learns through things being repetitive, I feel that a good environment breeds a stable child then there are the exceptions. Carlson, Neil R. Psychology: The Science of Behavior. Boston: Allyn, 1990 Gleitman, Henery. Psychology. New York: Norton, 1991 Western, Drew. Psychology: Mind, Brain, Culture. New York, 1999.