According to my calendar, today in China was Huā zhāo jié (花朝节) – literally meaning “flower morning festival“. Today is the 15th day of the 2nd lunar month – in other words, the middle of the second month, …
Category Archives: Culture
Santa and Coke
Before I begin this post proper, I feel I need to point out that “Coke” is the most common abbreviation in the UK used for Coca-Cola. As far as I understand most other countries (including English speaking ones) tend to …
Bonfire Night
In case you are new to England and don’t know what the Fireworks are about that usually start around the end of October until early November, here is a video explaining the history of the reason for this tradition. (By …
April Fool’s Day
Word of the day, 1st April 2015
April Fool’s Day /ˈeɪprəl fuːlz deɪ/
Don’t believe everything you hear today – if there’s a news story that sounds a bit strange, or too good to be true, it may well be …
Mothering Sunday
Word of the day, 15th March 2015
Mothering Sunday
Here’s a bit of cultural information, rather than a new word itself.
Today in the UK it is “Mothering Sunday”.
In recent years this has become called “Mother’s Day”, so it …
Liquorice
Word of the day, 14th March 2015
liquorice /ˈlɪkərɪʃ/ (noun)
I was doing a bit of shopping in Godalming today (a quaint town on the River Wey, about 8 kilometres, or 5 miles, south of Guildford). In the high street …