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chill english
22 сент., 12:01изменён
Why do Americans say car while many Brits say "cah"?According to Why We Talk Funny, a book by Valerie Fridland, Londoners started dropping R after vowels as early as the 1500s. We can actually see traces of it in old spellings: first occasionally appeared as fust, parcel as passel.At first, IRONICALLY ENOUGH, R-dropping was considered low-class. Educated upper-class speakers were actually taught to pronounce their Rs more strongly 🔪🔪🔪However, as industrialization blurred class boundaries, more R-dropping speakers moved up the social ladder. Soo... eventually the pronunciation went from "vulgar" to prestigious 💀Meanwhile, English colonists had sailed to America in the 1600s, when the R was still pronounced, so most Americans ✨simply kept their Rs✨Why We Talk Funny is the book about accents we're discussing this week at Chill Hour!#chilletymologychill english
21 сент., 11:22
Overwhelmed? Overworked? Over it?There’re more specific ways to express the feeling!🤎up to my ears (in work) = have an enormous amount of work to doWow, you just don’t imagine being THIS up to your ears in work until you’re there🤎be snowed under (with studies/work) = be so overloaded with work that it’s difficult to copeGirl, I’d love to see you this week, but I’m completely snowed under with assignments 😣🤎be stretched thin = have so many demands on your time and energy that you can’t give enough attention to everythingLet’s take a look at my schedule, hmm 🤔 So first I work, after that — aha — work, and then I work some more. No wonder I’m feeling stretched thin…🤎keep my head above waterchill english
19 сент., 14:12
You know I’ve crossed over to the dark side and now use an e-reader… But look at THIS.I’ve been hunting for this edition for two falls now, I am so happy to finally hold it in my hands!!!I have other things to read atm, but in a week or two I’M IN.What are you up to, reading-wise?#chillread
chill english
18 сент., 13:03
I’ve finally cracked the mystery of lb/lbs (abbreviation for pound) 🤨Surprisingly enough, it comes from the Latin LIBRA (a balance / a pair of scales), as in constellation ♎️ (cause it resembles scales ⚖️)In Ancient Rome there was a unit of measurement called the “libra pondo”, roughly a pound of weight. And while the English word “pound” came from “pondo”, the abbreviation came from libra!!£ — I mean, look at this, an L with a line through it! LIBRA.What’s more, this is why Italian currency used to be called the lira! And if you are thinking about Turkish lira now… Yes 😈#chilletymologychill english
17 сент., 10:16
sorry for this posting drought guys, I am surprised by how overwhelmed I am by the start of classes…. guess I’m not getting younger 💀I do have lots of cool things to share, I’ll come back to regular posting tomorrow 🫡chill english
14 сент., 19:26
personally, I clocked it when Gracie Abrams released “Men Like You”: GIRL I know men like you#chilltokchill english
11 сент., 13:14
It's always satisfying when something you know intuitively is backed up by research... 💅In "How work makes families more equal" The Economist takes a look into how much bargaining power women with and without jobs wield in their marriage/family.What makes the article especially interesting is that much of the evidence comes from societies with varying degrees of conservatism!Hope you enjoy it — and I'd love to hear your thoughts!#chillread #chillieltschill english
10 сент., 12:34
It’s a good day to love knitting AND folklore! 🧶🔮The word clue was originally a variant spelling of clew, meaning “a ball of thread or yarn.”Our modern meaning of clue, something that helps you solve a mystery, comes from a very familiar mythological motif: 🌟 the ball of thread that helps you find your way out of a maze 🌟 Like Ariadne giving Theseus a thread so he could find his way back out of the Labyrinth after killing the Minotaur!So a clue went from being the actual thread that leads you out of a maze to anything that helps lead you towards an answer.And here's my fall knitting project, now that I have an excuse to share 🥰#chilletymology
chill english
9 сент., 12:55
this is so real and yet I keep forgetting about it 🫠
chill english
7 сент., 13:45
even sentences are out to confuse us 🪑 constant vigilance!#chilltokchill english
6 сент., 11:38
I agree with every word of his! Very few of us can reliably feel motivated before we start doing something.Ofc there’re times when getting started feels a little easier, like New Year’s, the beginning of a new academic year, a Monday full of promise…But most of us mere mortals often get motivated only after we’ve taken action.So start today, start this academic year, start on Monday — but START. Do something! Get yourself a chance! Motivation will catch up with you later.
chill english
5 сент., 11:32
Little phrases that do a lot of heavy lifting in conversational English, part 2!Steal away 🐱💡 I’ve got just the thing! = I have exactly what you need / I know something that would be perfect for this. - I need something to stop me checking my ex’s Instagram. - I’ve got just the thing: SELF-RESPECT.🤩 Hold that thought = don’t forget what you were about to say, I need to interrupt you for a second, but we’ll come back to it. - And then he told me he’d been— - Hold that thought. The cat is suspiciously quiet...🐱 You don’t have to ask me twice! = I’m VERY willing to do that / yes, absolutely. - Do you want to cancel our plans and stay at home? - You don’t have to ask me twice!👻 Search me! = I have absolutely nochill english
4 сент., 11:37
Be honest, I won’t judge. Do you dog-ear your books?You know, when you fold down the corner of a page because there’s no actual bookmark at hand?Well, fun fact: the etymology of the expression is as straightforward as one could hope: the folded corner resembles a dog’s floppy ear!But the cool thing is that the expression is hella OLD. The term was already being used for folded book pages in the early 17th century. In a 1627 play, one character is even sentenced to spend a year smoothing out the “dogs eares” in his classmates’ books 💀So historically speaking, if you dog-ear pages, you are part of a centuries-old tradition 😏🐶 a dog-ear — a folded-down corner of a page 📖 to dog-ear a page — to fold its corner over 📚 a dog-eared book — a well-used book with bent or worn page
chill english
3 сент., 18:23
what did I just read
chill english
3 сент., 11:14
This academic year I'm taking my reading very seriously — but not just what I’m gonna read, but how I’m gonna read it 😏So let me present you with two cool books I'm currently reading which will help you take your reading up a notch:🍂 Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor 🍎 Terry Eagleton, How to Read LiteratureBoth are very accessible and aim to deepen and enrich your reading experience, teaching you what to pay attention to and how to get more our of a book than "well, I liked it"!#chillread
chill english
2 сент., 20:25
chill english pinned Deleted message
1 сент., 16:44
chill english
31 авг., 12:15
Why go for a mini-group rather than one-on-one IELTS classes?My personal preference is studying like a medieval monk (poring over a book I struggle to understand by candlelight, with a quill in my hand). However, my second favorite format is a mini-group (3-4 people). Why?To preface, I don’t think group classes are automatically better than individual lessons. For instance, if your English needs a lot of fixing first, you have a very unusual deadline/target, or your schedule is super unpredictable, I'd vote for individual lessons for sure!However, for almost everyone else, I think a mini-group has more to offer:🤎Your teacher is trained and predisposed to understand you however little sense you might sometimes make (I'm sorry, it's true!). In a group, you constantly have to listen to different people, react to different ideas and formulate yourchill english
30 авг., 12:38
the exact pep talk I have with myself when I start making excuses
chill english
29 авг., 12:28изменён
Today I bring you little phrases that do a LOT of heavy lifting in conversational English 🐱Nothing fancy but they sure make you sound less textbook-y and much more natural!🌰Why the long face? = why do you look so sad? - Why the long face? - They cancelled my fav show 😩🌼You name it = whatever you can think of / all kinds of things Scarves, beanies, sweaters, toys — you name it, I've knit it!🎃That’s rich (coming from you) = ironic: that’s a ridiculous thing for YOU of all people to say me @ me: - You really need to stop wasting the last days of summer, girl... - That’s rich coming from you!🌰Try me 😎 = go ahead, tell/ask/challenge me — I can
