Today is a federal (national) holiday. Memorial day is celebrated the last Monday of May each year and commemorates (remembers and shows respect for) Americans who have died while serving in the military (being soldiers).

This holiday began after the American Civil War (1861-1865) to recognize and remember the more than 620,000 soldiers who died during the four-year war, which was considered the deadliest (causing death) in American history up to that time. After World War I, the holiday was expanded (made bigger) to commemorate all soldiers who died in military service.

To all those who have served and are serving in military service everywhere, we remember and honor you today.

~ Lucy

Anyone who flies a lot knows what it is like to be in an airplane with inconsiderate (not kind; not thinking of others) travelers. Here are a few common complaints:

- People who talk on their cell phones at a loud volume (level of sound) and even after the flight attendant announces that all portable (able to travel) electronics should be shut off.

- While getting onto the airplane, people who stand in the aisle (walkway) for a long time, holding up (delaying) the rest of the passengers.

- People who speak loudly and non-stop (without stopping), often to the stranger (unknown person) sitting next to them who would rather rest.

- Parents who allow their children to run up and down the aisle or to yell loudly without checking them (telling them to stop).

- Passengers who bring more luggage on the plane then the two small bags allowed, taking up valuable overhead space (storage space over the seats).

- People who spread out (take more space) from their own seat to the seat next to them or by reclining (leaning back) their seats all the way back.

- People who don’t keep the bathroom clean for other people.

What annoys you when you fly? What do you do that might annoy other passengers?

~ Lucy

If you’re like me, you have friends, family, and co-workers who forward (send to other people messages that were sent to them) email jokes, chain letters, and other messages that you probably don’t want. Chain letters are letters that tell you to forward that message to other people or something bad will happen. I never forward chain letters so I’m expecting to be killed or maimed (permanently injured), or have many years of bad luck.

For me, it’s difficult to email that person to tell them to take me off his or her list. I don’t want to hurt their feelings (make them feel badly) or to make them think that I don’t appreciate them thinking of me (having me in their mind). The flip side (the other side of the issue; on the other hand) is that I have far too many email messages in my inbox when I check for new messages.

Some people suggest writing an email to the person who has you on their distribution list (list of people who receive a message or something else) to ask them to remove you. This is one example:
. . .
Cate,

Thank you for thinking of me with the jokes and quotations of the day (words said in the past by someone else that are funny, interesting, or inspirational). I’ve appreciated you sending them to me. Right now, though, I am trying to get a handle on (to manage; to keep in good order even though it is difficult) my email, and I am asking people to remove me from their distribution lists for the time being (for a short time).

Would you please remove me from your distribution list?

Thank you very much.
. . .
This note is polite enough and I might send something like this to someone, but I haven’t done it yet. Right now, my strategy (plan) is to continue deleting (erasing; putting in the trash) those messages from my inbox.

What do you do with unwanted email from people you know, people you don’t want to offend (upset)? Would you write someone directly to ask them to remove you from their distribution list?

~ Lucy

The importance of protecting and not harming the environment is an issue that more and more Americans are paying attention to, especially after Vice President Al Gore’s influential documentary (movie based on true events) An Inconvenient Truth.

American companies are trying to appeal (make more attractive) to consumers (people who buy products) by claiming that their products are “earth-friendly” or “eco-safe,” when it is not clear whether they are or not. (Eco is short for ecology, which is the study of how people and other living things interact with their environment.) This is called “greenwashing,” since the color green is associated with nature and the environment. This new word comes from the old term “whitewashing,” which means to cover up or hide a mistake, problem, or flaw (imperfection; weakness). Greenwashing, then, means that a company is trying to hide the real way it does business by saying or claiming that the way their products are made does not harm the environment.

The U.S. government regulates (controls; supervises) how some words are used in advertising. For example, companies must meet minimum (lowest acceptable) requirements before they can call their products “organic” (grown or developed naturally, without chemicals) or “recycled” (turning waste or garbage into new products). However, right now, there are no regulations about who can use terms like “eco-friendly” and “environmentally-safe.” So, buyers looking for “green” products have to beware (be careful). We have to ask ourselves: “Is this a product that will not harm the environment or is the company simply “greenwashing?”

~ Lucy

I have an exciting announcement to make: ESL Podcast will be giving away one million dollars this week to one of our lucky listeners. That’s right - $1,000,000! All you have to do to win is post a response to this blog post. You will then be entered in our Grand Prize (biggest or best prize) drawing (when you pick a name or number at random). Just answer the question…

April Fools! Actually, we’re not giving away one million dollars. Today is the first of April, known as April Fools’ Day. I gave a detailed description of this day on English Cafe #27 way back in 2006. Take a listen if you have not heard it yet. On this day, we try to get other people to believe things that aren’t true, to fool them, as a sort of joke. So don’t believe everything you hear today, especially if it is said by me!

~Jeff

Here’s another news article with comments and vocabulary using the SharedCopy website. It’s an article from Voice of America about a strange new type of party for women, where they get together to buy guns! Take a look here.

The article has difficult words highlighted in yellow and a list of definitions on the left side. On the right side are some comments to help you understand the article better. You can also listen to the article by clicking on the MP3 link (below the article’s title).

If you want to read the article first without seeing the vocabulary list, just click on the first box on the top, right of the yellow vocabulary list box. That will close the box for you. To open it again, click that same box again.

To annotate means to give additional information about something, to give more detail. Here I am using the word to indicate that I am adding information (background and definitions) to the article. This is a very traditional form of language instruction, useful mostly for text that you want to read but is too difficult. Normally I recommend people wanting to improve their English to read things that they can understand without extra definitions or dictionaries, but for articles that are just too difficult, this use of a glossary (list of word definitions) can sometimes be helpful.

~Jeff

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, the national day of the country of Ireland. A saint is considered a very holy person in the Christian religion. St. Patrick (notice the abbreviation for “saint” is St.) was a famous priest who worked and lived in Ireland more than 16 centuries (1600 years) ago. There are many stories told about St. Patrick, some of them true, some of them not. One famous story says that he drove (got rid of, eliminated) all of the snakes from Ireland. (But Ireland didn’t actually have any snakes in that period! The Irish are famous for telling good stories, however.)

During the 19th century, there were many Irish who left their country and came to the United States. The Irish in America became powerful in government and in the leadership of the Catholic Church. Even today, more than 150 years later, there are many Irish-Americans in these two areas. One of the most famous Irish-American politicians, John F. Kennedy, became president in 1960. Most of the Catholic leaders today are still Irish-Americans, including the leader of the church in Los Angeles and other big cities.

Many Irish immigrants settled (moved to and lived) in large American cities such as Boston, New York, and Chicago. St. Paul, Minnesota, was also a popular place for the Irish. When I was growing up in St. Paul, many of the leaders of the city were still Irish-Americans. My great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Mary McQuillan, came to St. Paul in the 1840s, and there have been McQuillans there ever since (since that time). I remember growing up, there was always a parade (a celebration with people walking through the streets) on St. Patrick’s Day. My family always went downtown to march (walk) in the parade representing the McQuillans of St. Paul. Everyone would wear green (the color of Ireland) and those old enough would drink beer and have a good time. (Even those not old enough would sometimes drink at times!)

At my elementary (grade) school, about half of the students were Irish-American. There were also a lot of German-Americans who lived in St. Paul, and many students came from German-American families. So on St. Patrick’s Day, we would have the Irish-German Games, a competition between the Irish and German students. (If you were not German or Irish, you could choose which team to play on.) I think the Irish usually won, but perhaps that is because I was always on the Irish team :).

I don’t do much to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day here in Los Angeles, but my brothers back in St. Paul usually get together at a bar owned by one of my cousins to have a drink. The Irish are considered to be very lucky (fortunate), and we sometimes speak of the “luck of the Irish.” I feel lucky being able to be part of ESL Podcast, so I guess the saying (expression) is true.

~Jeff

Yesterday, Sunday, March 9, at 2:00 a.m. was the beginning of Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Like many other countries, Daylight Saving is used to save energy (electricity, fuel) by adjusting (changing) the hours of the day to better match the hours when the sun is out. One way Americans know whether to turn the clocks ahead or set them back is to remember: We “spring” ahead in the spring, and we “fall” back in the fall. “Spring” is not just a season; it also means to jump. “Fall” isn’t just a season; it also means to move backwards. This is a very useful way for many people, including me, to remember.

In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time began during World War I. Since there are later hours of daylight between April and October, it made sense to take advantage of (to use for the best results) that daylight for war production (making things useful for the war). The same thing happened during World War II. The federal government again required the states to observe (to obey) Daylight Saving Time to save energy. After World War II, each states decided whether or not to observe Daylight Saving Time. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act which standardized (make the same) the length of Daylight Saving Time.

However, not all states observe Daylight Saving Time. Arizona (except some Native American Reservations) and Hawaii are the two states that do not. (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa also do not observe Daylight Saving Time.) This decision does make sense (have good reason) for the states and areas closer to the equator (the horizontal (side to side) line in the middle of the globe/Earth). The daylight hours there stay more consistent (the same) throughout the year.

Growing up in Arizona, it didn’t seem strange to me that half of the year, I shared the same time with family and friends in other states, and half of the year, I was an hour ahead or behind. In fact, to this day, I still find Daylight Saving Time strange. The worst parts? Losing an hour of sleep in the spring and changing all of the clocks around the house!

~ Lucy

As many of you probably know, the U.S. economy is doing poorly right now, with some economists saying that we are going into a recession, a period of major economic decline. The major reason for this downslide (decline) is that the number of home foreclosures is way up (increased a lot). A foreclosure happens when a homeowner cannot pay his or her mortgage (the money he or she owes the bank for the purchase of a home).

Why are we in this mess (bad situation)? Beginning six or seven years ago, the U.S. had a housing boom (big increase in activity). Interest rates (the fee a bank charges for people to borrow money) were low, so many people got home loans (money borrowed from a bank) to buy a home. Unfortunately, the banks were too eager (wanting to do something very much) to lend money and gave loans to a lot of people who could not really afford it. In addition, many of those loans had adjustable (able to change; able to go up or down) interest rates which automatically go up after a period of time. Between people who were either unrealistic (not practical or sensible) about their home-buying ability, and banks being too eager to make money, a crisis (big problem; great difficulty) has resulted. Companies are laying off (firing; dismissing) employees. The stock market is generally down and unpredictable (difficult to guess if something will happen).

California was one of the hottest (most active) housing markets in the country. For this reason, it’s not surprising that California is one of the hardest hit (most affected) states in the country: In 2007, there were nearly 85,000 California house and condo foreclosures. That’s six times more than in 2006, which had about 12,500.

Most economists agree: Things will get worse before they get better.

~ Lucy

This is not just a big week for American football or the U.S. presidential elections. There are at least three other major world events that happen this week. The first is Mardi Gras (”Fat Tuesday”), which marks (celebrates, commemorates) the last day before the 40 days of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days in the Catholic Church where Catholics are supposed to prepare for the greatest celebration of the Christian religion: Easter. Part of the tradition of Lent is to fast (not to eat very much) and abstain from (avoid, not eat) certain kinds of food. This 40-day period always begins on a Wednesday, so the day before Lent begins is a time for celebrating and partying, because you won’t be able to celebrate for another 40 days again! In many places, this is called Carnival, and is a party/celebration that lasts several days before the beginning of Lent. Brazil, for example, has a famous Carnival celebration, with large parades and beautiful women dancing in the streets (I guess there may be some handsome men, too, but I never noticed!). Here in the U.S., the city of New Orleans, with its French Catholic heritage (history), also celebrates Mardi Gras, but it is not celebrated in very many other U.S. cities.

I said that Mardi Gras is on a Tuesday before the beginning of Lent. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (today). Ashes are the black material that is left after you burn something, such as paper or plants. In the Catholic tradition, followed still by many in the U.S. and other countries, you go to church today to have ashes put on your forehead (the part of your head between your eyes and your hair, on top of your face). These ashes are a sign of your participation in this 40-day period of fasting and abstinence (the noun from “to abstain”).

Finally this week, we have the Lunar New Year, celebrated tomorrow (Thursday) widely in many countries in Asia and cities in the U.S. and elsewhere that have large Asian American and Asian immigrant populations. Lunar refers to the moon, since the actual date of this New Year changes every year to follow the cycles of the moon. (Tonight is a full moon, meaning you can see the entire moon. The opposite would be a new moon.) Lunar New Year (sometimes called in the U.S. Chinese New Year) is also a period of celebration, with parades in the streets. Los Angeles has a Lunar New Year celebration every year, as does San Francisco, since both cities have a large number of Asian Americans. This is the year 4706 in the Lunar calendar, traditionally observed. This lunar calendar has an animal for each year in a 12 year cycle. This year is the Year of the Rat (an small animal that looks like a large mouse).

So…much to celebrate this week!

~Jeff