Fill in the…

A while back we posted this lovely video on the many meanings of words in English.  As a follow-up, check out these internet browser ads, with the tagline “Browse the web as fast as you think.”  Do you know your English idioms?  As you read the beginning of these English phrases (“raining cats…“), your brain should supply the ending for you (“…and dogs“).  Watch the video below and see how many idioms you know.

Check your answers and see more videos below.

R.I.P. Octo-Paul

Magic 8 Paul: Just one of the many pieces of merchandise inspired by Paul the Octopus. Image by Articulate Matter via Flickr

Today was a sad day for the world soccer community: Paul, the oracle octopus who predicted the results of the World Cup, has died.  Paul’s humans discovered him dead in his octopus enclosure this morning.  In his life he predicted the results of soccer matches by choosing food from boxes decorated with national flags.  He correctly predicted the results of all of Germany’s matches in the World Cup and Spain’s victory in the championship game.  Before his death he made a final prediction: that England will host the 2018 World Cup.

Read more about Paul’s life and death in this short news story.

Then listen to this humorous radio interview between an American radio host and a British reporter.  Listen for the answers to these questions.  All of the answers are numbers.

1. As part of being an ambassador, Paul made _______ last prediction.

2. Paul predicted ___________ games in a row correctly.

3. The odds of his predictions being correct were one in _________________.

4. An octopus of Paul’s species tends to live no more than about _____________.

5. Paul hatched from an egg in the south coast of England in the year ___________.

Can you guess the meanings of these idioms?

“one last legs-acy”

“passed away”

“fingers crossed… tentacles crossed”

“foul play”

“find fame and fortune”

“six feet under and two feet still above”

“pull yourself together”

 

"Paul Oktopus must go into the pot today." Some German fans were not happy about Paul's prognostications. Image by JMC Photos via Flickr.

A word is worth a thousand pictures

Fall. Fall down. Waterfall. Fall in love.  A single word in English can be used to describe many things.  This video captures the multiple meanings of a string of words.  The word “blow” is represented by a man blowing his nose, a blow to the head from a boxer, and a blowfish, among other images.  Watch and see how many words you can identify.  Hint: some of the images represent phrasal verbs or idioms.