If you didn’t know these two words–kitty-corner and copycat–you may think they have something to do with cats, but they don’t.
A kitty is what we call a small or baby cat. However, kitty-corner means that something is located diagonally across from something else, usually across an intersection where two streets meet.
In this picture, the chicken is kitty-corner from the restaurant. The bench (long seat) is kitty-corner from the two trees. There are no cats–or kitties–anywhere.
Copycat (or copy cater) is a word used by children to refer to someone who copies someone else’s ideas or behavior, such as the way they dress or the way they speak. Adults sometimes use it jokingly to mean the same thing.
For example, if I cut my hair short and bleached it (made it a lighter color), and the following week, Jeff cut his hair and bleached it, I may say, “Jeff, you are a copycat.” Of course, those of you who have been listening to the podcast for a long time know that that would be impossible!
As many of you know, California has many immigrants who speak English as a second language. The State of California has developed a special website to help adults learn English online. It is full of short, interesting news stories with additional materials to help you improve your English. These stories are good for both intermediate and advanced students. The site is called the California Distance Learning Project (CDLP).
How to use this site: Warren Ediger, one of the best ESL classroom teachers and online tutors I know, has detailed suggestions on how you can use this site to help improve your English. Warren gives you specific steps on how to make the best use of the articles and stories you will find on the CDLP website.
It’s Monday, the start of a new week, and for those of us who work Monday to Friday, the most dreaded (disliked before it happens) day of the week.
We used to say that the average work week for Americans if 40 hours. These days, Americans are actually working more, with about 40% working 50 hours or more. That’s more work and more pressure. Pressure is the force we feel to do something. Bosses may pressure workers to do more work. Workers are under pressure to do well to keep their jobs.
This song is called “Under Pressure” and is by the classic rock group Queen. You may recognize the first seven notes (musical sounds). They have been sampled (music used from other songs) in other, more recent songs. The video is interesting to watch, too. I sometimes feel like screaming (yelling loudly with a high voice), just like the women in the video. Don’t stand too close to me.
~ Lucy
“Under Pressure”
by Queen
Mm ba ba de
Um bum ba de
Um bu bu bum da de (just sounds with no meaning)
Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure – that burns a building down Splits (divides) a family in two Puts people on streets (makes people homeless)
Um ba ba be
Um ba ba be
De day da
Ee day da
It’s the terror (being very scared) of knowing what the world is about
Watching some good friends screaming, ‘Let me out’ Pray (communicating with a god) tomorrow – gets me higher
Pressure on people – people on streets
Day day de mm hm
Da da da ba ba
O.K.
Chippin’ around (going around (not used in American English)) – kick my brains (the organ in your head that allows you to think) around the floor
These are the days it never rains but it pours (rains very hard)
Ee do ba be
Ee da ba ba ba
Um bo bo
Be lap
People on streets – ee da de da de
People on streets – ee da de da de da de da
It’s the terror of knowing what this world is about
Watching some good friends screaming, ‘Let me out’
Pray tomorrow – gets me higher high high
Pressure on people – people on streets
Turned away from it all like a blind (unable to see) man Sat on a fence (not supporting one side or another; being neutral) but it don’t work
Keep coming up with love but it’s so slashed (cut into pieces with a knife) and torn
Why – why – why ?
Love love love love love Insanity (craziness; mental illness) laughs under pressure – we’re cracking (breaking into small pieces; becoming emotionally unstable)
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance
Why can’t we give love that one more chance
Why can’t we give love give love give love give love
give love give love give love give love give love
‘Cause (because) love’s such an old-fashioned (traditional; not modern) word
And love dares you (asks that you have courage) to care for the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure
If you are an artist in the U.S., your artwork (piece of art) may be protected under the Visual Artists Rights Act, which became law in 1990. If you live in California, your artwork may also be protected by the California Art Preservation Act (1979). Both of these laws prohibit (make something unlawful, not legal) the alteration (changing) or destruction (destroying) of certain types of public artwork without first notifying (telling) the artist so that the artist can remove the artwork if he or she wants to.
In Los Angeles yesterday, an artist by the name of Kent Twitchell received a $1.1 million settlement (decision or compromise between the two sides in a lawsuit) in his lawsuit against the U.S. government and 11 other people who managed the building. He filed the lawsuit because his six-story (floor) mural (painting on a wall) on the side of a government building in downtown Los Angeles was painted over, so that a new layer of paint covered the mural. The mural was painted between 1978 and 1987 and is of another artist. It was painted over in 2006.
For the artist, the good news is that art experts say that it is still possible to restore (bring back) the mural. It’s not clear, though, if that will happen.
