Inauguration Special

I don’t think I’ve ever watched the inauguration of any American president. All I know is that G.W.Bush got pelted with eggs and tomatoes on his first inauguration, but the idea that it might be an event worth watching simply never occurred to me. Still, I’ll be switching on the TV this afternoon to watch Barack Obama become president, if only because I owe him many lesson ideas.

And I can always blame it on the kids. My daughter (8 ) immediately started chanting “O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA” when I told her about the inauguration – and I swear, I never taught her to! My son (5)  was a little worried and asked if the guy he wanted (“not the old one – he’s too old!” – a more rational approach to politics) was now becoming president. They both want to watch. 

For some background coverage, I recommend This American Life’s Inauguration Show. This American Life has recently become the podcast I most listen to – it’s a one-hour show always full of surprises and  great stories. I recommend subscribing to it, because the MP3s are only ever available free for one week. So hurry if you want to download the Inauguration Show.

NB: Bloggers all over are celebrating the inauguration. I particularly liked the Cake Wrecks contribution

Cast your cookie! The Bakery Poll

There’s a lot to be said for the spirit and sense of humour with which Americans do almost everything. A bakery in the swing state of Ohio, Busken Bakery of Cincinnatti, has sold presidential cookies for the last eight elections. 

Not surprisingly, the sales numbers for the cookies are a fairly good indicator of how the election might turn out. A McCain supporter would hardly buy an Obama cookie – or would he? Maybe to publicly crumble it or – shock, horror – dunk it into coffee?

Anyway, McCain cookies aren’t selling so well this year. And McCain can’t win the election without winning Ohio. Oh, wait, but they’re also selling vice presidential cookies this year, and I have to say I wouldn’t mind sinking my teeth into You-Know-Who. So perhaps the Busken results aren’t all that trustworthy. 

But fun.

Electing a US president in plain English

Der Englisch-Blog unearthed a very useful video on the US presidential election process.  Before you look at it, head over to the Englisch-Blog and have a look at the neat vocabulary lists. Yesterdays post was a lucid explanation of the difference between politics and policy, by the way. With a Sarah Palin video!

Thank you, Markus. I just needed an excuse to nudge my students into the direction of your blog.

Who is Barack Obama – really?

Over the last weeks, both presidential campaigns have gone more negative and have been more prone to untruths ranging from ‘misleading’ to what the Truth-O-Meter calls ‘pants on fire’ (from the children’s rhyme “liar, liar, pants on fire”). In addition, people are sending round rather extraordinary e-mails claiming that John McCain suffers from Alzheimer’s or that Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist.

There’s a lot of fun to be had, to be sure, by creatively calling candidates things they are not. Some silly (and not-so-silly) attempts:

There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama:

Barack (his name means “lightning” in Hebrew!) Obama is the best candidate for your Jewish grandmother in Florida.

(Make sure you watch the whole video, it is very irreverent and very funny)

Barack O’Lantern – Yes, we carve!

When Halloween is just before an election, things can become interesting.

You can download stencils from the site, too, and carve your own pumpkin.

Campaign Ads V: Art imitates life – or is it the other way round?

These days, you can never be certain.

 

 

Of course, this is a spoof by the wonderful Stephen Colbert who once spoofed G.W.Bush to his face.

Some water idioms

I’ll be honest. This is a politics post thinly disguised as a language post. Read on, and you’ll see why.

As we all know, water is a dangerous element, which is why teachers don’t like their students to frolic around in it unsupervised. Water idioms reflect this: for instance, you can

• be in deep water: you’re either in trouble or in a difficult situation. Many banks are in deep water these days*.
• be thrown in at the deep end: you’re pushed into a situation where you have to do a difficult job without being prepared for it. Those who enjoy risks can jump in at the deep end by themselves.
• be like a fish out of water: you feel very uncomfortable in a situation.
  
• pour cold water over/on sth: to criticize someone’s plans or ideas so that you make them see the plans are bad and nothing to be excited about.
• be out of your depth: literally (in BE), this means that you are in deep water where you can’t swim**; figuratively, it means that you can’t deal with a situation properly because you don’t understand it.

Campaign Ads IV: Obama in 30 seconds

MoveOn.org, the online political action group currently supporting Barack Obama, has called upon people to make their own 30-second Obama ads. Many people have followed the call and sent in homespun ads, some of which are funny, some of which are clever and many of which are boring. You can vote on them here - unfortunately you can’t browse them, which is why I lost the one I thought was really good – it was called ‘Cleaning Up’ and showed a kid’s room being cleaned up by an invisible hand.

Here’s the story behind it:

And here’s another one from the old Echo Chamber…

Campaign Ads III: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen

Whee-hee! Another exciting primary day is about to dawn in Pennsylvania tomorrow, and again, each of the Democratic candidates is hoping the other one will do badly and then drop out of the race. In a mad last-minute scramble, Hillary Clinton has put out an ad that once again reminds the viewers that holding “the toughest job in the world” is no child’s play.

Among the nasty things that a potential POTUS might face are the following:

• the stock market might crash
• you might have to be the friendly father figure who declares war (that’s F.D. Roosevelt)
• the Japanese might attack Pearl Harbour
• you might be faced with a very expensive Soviet menace requiring a great deal of manpower
• the above-mentioned menace (personified by Nikita Khrushchev) might meet up with the Cuban menace (look at Fidel Castro’s short beard!)
• gas prices might rise
• a number of scruffy vandals might demolish a wall*
• Osama Bin Laden might release yet another video showing him alive and well
• a hurricane might lay waste to a big city
• you might find that your predecessor has sent a lot of troops into two wars
• gas prices might rise (again)
• buildings might fall to ruin (broken windows are a notoriously bad sign)
• people might have to give up their houses after being ruined by the bank

Remind me again, why are these people trying so hard to get the job?

Oh, and have you noticed that neither is any jobholder getting shot nor is anyone flying planes into buildings? Apparently there’s good bad news and bad bad news.

*wasn’t that supposed to be good news?

Campaign Ads, II: “John McCain realized that teaching is among the most honourable professions.”

That’s nice of Mr McCain, who claims he was inspired by his English teacher. He’s right, of course! But what exactly he is trying to say with this ad escapes me. What is that smoke supposed to mean? Is it an advertisement for Dead Poets Society? Who are all these people (apart from Theodore Roosevelt)? Why don’t we get to see the face of the rock star? Doesn’t John McCain have a favourite rock star? And did he turn in the other student himself?

I shall not lie.

I shall not cheat.

I shall not steal.

And I shall turn in the student who does.

There is a lot to be said for an honour code, I believe, because our school culture of cheating and intentional underachievement is not pretty, although it’s thankfully largely absent from my current course. But asking people to turn in the ones who break the rules? That makes me uncomfortable, although I have to say it would be really convenient.

Beside, who exactly is McCain referring to here? Has anyone lied or cheated or stolen recently who needs to be turned in?