A Catnap
A catnap is a short sleep, usually one which you have during the day. [informal] Synonyms: doze, sleep, nap, kip [British, slang] There are more English Synonyms of the word catnap.
Me pretending to read from a dictionary – remember them???
Word of the day: Wort des Tages:
To skive – skiving (schwänzen) means to shirk, to be truant (to not go to school), to malinger, to skive off, to bunk off (school – to not go to school). In other words to get away from doing any work, to hide when there is work to be done, to be in a really nice comfortable job, whilst other people are having a hard/difficult time e.g. If you are a soldier fighting at the front and then you get sent to the rear area to work in the stores doing “light duties”, sleeping under a roof every night then that is a good skive from being shot at, bombed, being out in all weather and sleeping in a ditch!
A person is called a ‘skiver‘.
Phrase of the day: Satz des Tages:
“Back to square one” means that after all that thinking, effort, money spent etc. you are right back where you started. The informal phrase back to (also at, in, on) square one means back to where one started, with no progress having been made. The earliest instances of the phrase indicate that it refers to the game of ‘snakes and ladders‘, a board game in which an unlucky fall of the dice takes one from the top to the bottom line.
Idiom of the day: Redewendung des Tages:
To have a cat nap. This means having a short sleep in the afternoon. Winnie the Pooh said he would have ‘forty winks‘, meaning to have a catnap.
British (B.E.) / American (A.E.) Vocabulary:
Britisches Englisch / Amerikanisches Englisch Wortschatz:
Gern geschehen meaning “You’re Welcome”. This is American/Canadian and you will not find too many British people saying this. In British society, a person is supposed to say, “THANK YOU”, for something that someone has done/said to/for them. It is NOT for the other person to respond after they have been thanked.
SPECIAL NOTE: It is true to say that I have heard a British person saying, “You’re Welcome” and so perhaps this retort is slowly becoming more popular like saying OKAY became popular in the 1940’s.
A German must respond after someone has said: “Danke” with “Bitte”! In British society, you do not need to respond to the “Thank you”. However, if you REALLY feel the need to say something, then you can say, “OK! – It’s OK! – No problem – happy to help.” (“Don’t mention it.” = quite old fashioned), but NOT “You’re welcome” and then say, “Yee-haw” – draw up saliva into your throat, spit and hear the “DINK!” as your spit hits the “Spittoon”.
Pronunciation tip: Aussprachetipp:
‘Cupboard‘ (Schrank) = do NOT pronounce the “P”. ˈkəbərd
False Friends Tip of the Week:
Falsche Freunde Tipp der Woche:
Familiar / familiär
Translate the following sentences:
-
She looks somehow familiar to me.
-
Er musste aus familiären Gründen absagen.
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Sie kommt mir irgendwie bekannt vor.
-
He had to cancel for family reasons.
There are various translations of “familiar”, depending on the context: bekannt, vertraut, vertraulich, intim, for example. English does have the adjective “familial”, but it is more common to use the noun ‘family’, attributively, as in sentence two above.
Wit, wit, wit
Witz, Witz, Witz
“Architecture is the art of how to waste space.” Quote by Philip Johnson.
Colloquial / Colloquialisms:
Umgangssprache / Umgangssprache:
“Bombay Bum” means to have diarrhoea (Durchfall) commonly known as “The runs”.
Cockney rhyming slang:
Cockney Reimender Slang:
Bees and Honey = Money.
Quote of the week:
Zitat der Woche:
“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”
Sir Winston Churchill.
Translate the Text: Übersetzen:
Wir lesen Bücher.
Sie lesen eine Zeitung.
Wir lesen eine Zeitung.
Ich lese eine Zeitung.
Du liest eine Zeitung.
Ein Mann isst einen Apfel.
Ich lese.
Er isst einen Apfel.
Ihr esst einen Apfel.
Ich lese ein Buch, sie liest eine Zeitung.
Die Frauen lesen ein Buch.
Es ist gut.
Er isst eine Banane.
Der Mann isst Zucker.
Ich esse eine Orange.
Die Pizza schmeckt gut.
Ich esse eine Pizza.
Wir essen einen Fisch.
Die Kinder trinken Orangensaft.
Die Männer haben Salz.
Das Bier schmeckt gut.
Wir haben Zucker.
Das ist ein Fisch.
Das Salz ist gut.
Der Mann hat Hunger.
Zucker schmeckt süß.
Wir essen Fisch.
Der Apfelsaft.
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