If you have listened to many of our episodes, you know that I am a big baseball fan (see English Café #50, for example).  However, I know there are some of you who are fans of other popular American sports, including professional basketball.  Since fall and winter are the seasons when basketball is typically played in the US, I thought I would answer a question from Renzo in Italy about the meaning of the names of some of the professional sports teams in the National Basketball Association, or NBA, as it is known here.

We’ll start with the Los Angeles Lakers.  What, you may be asking, is a “Laker”?  The name of the team is even more confusing if you know that Los Angeles is located in a very dry area with very few natural lakes.  So why the Lakers?  Well, as has happened with many US professional sports teams over the past 100 years or so, the Los Angeles Lakers moved from a different city to Southern California several years ago.  Before they were in Los Angeles, they were in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is the city next to where I grew up (in St. Paul).  Minneapolis is known as the “City of Lakes,” because it has so many lakes.  (In fact, the state of Minnesota is known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” because there are so many lakes in Minnesota.  There are actually more than 15,000 lakes, but Minnesotans are known for their modesty (not bragging or being too proud).)  So the word “Laker” referred to all of the lakes in Minneapolis.  When the team moved to Los Angeles, it simply kept the old name and changed the city.

Here are some other sports teams and the meanings of their names in the NBA:

New York Knicks: The word “Knicks” is short for “knickerbockers” which is actually the official name of the team, the New York Knickerbockers.  Knickerbockers are a type of pants that were worn by the people who settled New York many years ago, the Dutch (people from the European country of The Netherlands).  During the 19th century, the word knickerbocker was closely associated with New York City, and so it was used when the team was first formed back in the mid-1940s.  The Knicks are one of only two teams in the NBA that have not moved cities.  The other one is the…

Boston Celtics:  The word Celtic refers generally to a certain ethnic group in Europe, the Celts.  The Celts lived in different parts of Europe, including Ireland.  During the 19th century, there were many Irish immigrants who moved to Boston, and even to this day Boston has a very large and influential Irish-American population.  It is no coincidence (it is to be expected) that the most famous Irish-American politician, our late President John F. Kennedy, was elected first as a senator from the state of Massachusetts, where Boston is located.

I’ll talk about some more teams next week.

~Jeff

The new year is fast approaching (arriving soon). We use the expression to ring in the new year to mean to welcome or to celebrate the new year. We usually use this expression like this:
– “We’re ringing in the new year with a party at our house.”
– “Let’s ring in the new year with a bottle of champagne (a type of wine with bubbles)!”

Traditionally, people go to parties on new year’s eve (December 31st) to be with friends and other people to ring in the new year. They go to parties at people’s houses or go to one of the many restaurants and bars that have special new year celebrations. Many people dress up, especially women, wearing formal party and evening dresses. When 12:00 a.m. approaches, there is a countdown (10…9…8…7…etc.) to midnight. When the clock strikes 12:00, people drink champagne and kiss their spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, or date, or maybe even a stranger (someone they don’t know). And the party continues…

How will you ring in the new year?

To all of our listeners, happy new year to you, and we hope that you’ll have a fantastic 2009!

~ Lucy

ESL Podcast wishes you a very happy holiday season from beautiful Los Angeles, California – the “City of Angels.”  In the Christian tradition, the angels greeted (said hello to) the shepherds (those who take care of sheep in the fields) near Bethlehem (the small town where Jesus was born), beginning with the words, “Peace on earth.”

This is our wish for the world, and for you and your families: That we may all have peace in our hearts and homes.

~Jeff

This is the time of year when many people are thinking of giving and receiving gifts. A popular short story about gift-giving is “The Gift of the Magi” published in 1906, written by American writer O. Henry (whose real name was William Sydney Porter). It’s a classic story that most Americans know from childhood, and there are many versions of this story today. Here’s a summary of the story:
….

There once was a young married couple named Jim and Della Dellingham. They were very much in love and they were very poor. For Christmas, Della wanted to buy her husband a chain (a long, flexible piece made of many small metal parts connected at one end, one to the next, like a necklace) for this pocket watch (an old-fashioned watch worn in a pocket, not on the arm), a watch that his father had given him and that he cherished (loved very much). The trouble was, Della didn’t have enough money. The only thing she had that was valuable was her beautiful long hair. She decided to cut it off and sell it to a wig-maker (maker of fake hair) to get the money for the watch chain.

Jim Dellingham loved his young wife very much and wanted to give her something special for Christmas. He, too, had little money and certainly not enough money to buy a set of beautiful combs for Della’s long hair, hair that everyone admired. In the end, Jim decided to sell his much-loved pocket watch to buy Della the combs.

As you can imagine, when Christmas day arrived and the gifts were exchanged, Jim and Della were surprised and also disappointed that the gift that each had bought the other was now useless. However, they each realized the self-sacrifice (giving of oneself so another person could benefit) of the other and loved each other all the more.
…

Why is this story called “The Gift of the Magi”? Here is O. Henry’s explanation from the last paragraph of his story.

“The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe (Jesus Christ in the Christian religion) in the manger (the open box that was the baby’s bed). They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones… And here I have lamely (poorly) related to you the uneventful chronicle (story from beginning to end) of two foolish children in a flat (apartment) who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest (showing the best judgment). Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they (like they do) are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”

You can read O. Henry’s entire story here. I hope that your gift-giving experiences this holiday season are full of joy, for you and the ones you love.

~ Lucy

The United States is known for its many low-cost (inexpensive, cheap) restaurants called fast food restaurants.  The idea is that you can get your food within a few minutes after you order it.  The most common food is hamburgers at restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King, although tacos are now becoming popular at restaurants such as Taco Bell and others.  Unfortunately, much of this food is unhealthy and is probably one reason why so many Americans are obese (seriously overweight).

Does the average American eat at restaurants more often than people in any other country?   The answer is no.  In the U.S., according to one study that was discussed in the New York Times Magazine recently, the average person living in the U.S. eats at a restaurant about 120 times a year.  That means that one out of every three days the average American eats a meal outside of their home.  This doesn’t necessarily mean they are eating fast food, although that is probably the most popular type of restaurant here.  But the number one country for eating meals at restaurants is Japan, where the typical person eats almost 200 meals every year in a restaurant.  The U.S. is second, followed by Spain, where the average person eats just over a hundred meals per year in a restaurant; Italy, Germany and Great Britain, where the number is around 80 meals per year; followed by France, the Netherlands, and Belgium.  (I’m not sure how many countries the study looked at, however.)

With the declining economy, my guess is that some of these numbers will go down in the United States as people look for less expensive ways of eating.  I would say that I am probably about the same as the average American, perhaps eating out (eating at a restaurant) a little bit more than the average.  I have a good reason, however: I am a terrible cook.

~Jeff

Today is a national holiday in the United States, known as Thanksgiving Day.  I talked about Thanksgiving in a couple of podcasts here and here.  To give thanks means to be thankful for something, to appreciate and be grateful for the good things in your life.  Interestingly enough, being appreciative and thankful has been found by psychologists to make people happier.  People who stop frequently and think about all of the good things that they have are usually happier and more positive about the future.  Some psychologists recommend doing this on a daily basis, stopping for five minutes each morning or evening and thinking about three or four things you can be thankful for – your health, your job, your house, your family, and so forth.

We at ESL Podcast are thankful for you, our listeners, and especially our members and donors, who support us and make it possible for us to produce the episodes each week.  We are thankful for all of those who post comments to the blog, who email us with comments and questions, and who spread the word (tell other people) about our website.

For those of you who live here in the United States, the entire ESL Podcast Team wishes you a very pleasant holiday.  For those of you who live elsewhere, well, go out and get some turkey and celebrate your own little day of thanks.  You’ll be happier if you do!

~Jeff

An interesting website that is often mentioned in the media is The Smoking Gun. This website gets interesting and often confidential (secret) documents from the government, police, and the courts by using the Freedom of Information Act. The Freedom of Information Act is a law that was passed in 1966, which allows ordinary (normal) citizens to request information controlled by the government.

What does “The Smoking Gun” mean? It’s an expression that means that someone has indisputable (cannot be wrong) proof (evidence) that someone did something wrong, usually a crime.

One thing you’ll find on The Smoking Gun website are contract riders. A contract rider is used by performers who sign a contract (legal agreement) to speak or to perform. The contract rider includes the details on how the stage, sound, and lighting should be set up (arranged). It also includes what the performers want backstage in their dressing rooms ready for their arrival. This can include many things. For example, Jane’s Addiction, a rock group, wants clean boxer shorts (men’s underwear that look like shorts) to be in their dressing room, and Janet Jackson specifies (tells in detail) that she wants several different types of flowers in her dressing room, including tulips, gardenias, and lilies. Singer Amy Winehouse, who has had a lot of problems with addiction (wanting and needing a drug very badly) recently requested 48 bottles of whiskey for her dressing room. Let’s hope it’s for her entourage (the people or friends who are always around a famous person).

You can check out contract riders of the stars yourself at The Smoking Gun’s contract rider website.

~ Lucy