Business English

An email from a business-like chappy just now, saying that he is "solutions orientated", started me thinking. I, too, am solutions-orientated, my favourite one being malted barley in water drawn from the Dubh Lochan up the hill behind Ardbeg, on the isle of Islay, Scotland.

Can any reader tell me by what name that "solution" is more commonly known?

Useful English expression, no. 37

When you see something as hopeless as this advertisement, you say, "They're really scraping the barrel now!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5hDxerZjWU

That means they have totally run out of resources - in this case imagination about ways of utilising Russian cliches (nothing inherently wrong with that if done with a bit of humour) to sell a product.

Important link

https://www.facebook.com/Cassiescreateabilities/photos/a.116449505207597.1073741825.110036232515591/386247291561149/?type=1

You have been warned!!!

  

Extreme English: some amusing puns for "sublety training"

New word of the day: "factological" !

From the Website Politico:

The news comes after the Russian Federation failed to meet a Monday deadline set by the  European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which it was supposed to present with a distribution plan for the €1.9 billion it owes to some 55,000 shareholders of Yukos Oil Company. No such plan was produced.

Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov told Interfax that Russia was unlikely to honor the ruling.“We have no certainty that Russia will be able to comply with this decision because, in our view, it runs counter to the case-law practice of the court itself and is not based on real, factological circumstances,” he said. “We will write to them that we have not drawn up the plan.”

What, one wonders, might real circumstances be which are not "factological"?

And what sort of circumstances might be "factologocal" but not "real"?

Read the full article at this link: http://www.politico.eu/article/yukos-oil-russia-khodorkovsky-mikhail-putin/ 

A beautiful and inspiring example of how to write English simply, clearly therefore interestingly

Here is a totally fascinating programme that is, on the surface, about Stephen Hawking, a most interesting man, even if you are not involved with science. 

However, to readers of this blog it has a deeper significance. Much of it is narrated by Hawking himself and, possibly because it takes him so long to write, or perhaps because he thinks so clearly, he has learned the precious art of writing SIMPLY. 

Anyone wanting to understand how to write English properly should listen to Hawking's text in this film. Every sentence is simple, but all the thoughts are crystal clear. This is how all Russians should strive to write English, as I never tire of telling my students and the people whose prose I correct. It is not the only way to write, but it is the best if English is not your native language

Now at last, I have a reference that is contemporary and I will be scattering this link in all directions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxEtofitkuE

Another useful English expression

Good English expression:

"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=462909923875507&set=pcb.462909940542172&type=1

Click on the link and, if you can guess what the original was like, you have understood the meaning of "sow's ear" and hopefully, by extension the inference behind "silk purse".

An interesting link for all book-buyers

http://thebookinsider.com/the-one-website-book-lovers-need-to-know-2/?source=tabtbi4_uk

That is the article. This is the site itself:

http://landers.bookbub.com/

Useful English expressions explained for Russian-speakers - no. 36

I hope Russian speaking readers will understand what I mean when I say that I think "on a wing and a prayer" is the correct English expression to describe this way of investigating the causes of accidents to spacecraft (see picture) 

Never "shoot" your rifle

Polite grey man not shooting rifle,
or indeed anything else

"I shot my G-98 rifle with live ammunition for the first time. I thought it would have more kick, but it was still awesome," says Franz Koberger on Facebook this morning.

Herr Koberger should be careful. A man in the United States was recently arrested for shooting his computer because it consistently failed to respond to the  Cntrl-Alt-Del command. (See story here, complete with picture of the six bullet holes in the системный блок.) 

And what did Herr Kozberger shoot his rifle with? His pistol, perhaps? Or the old howitzer he keeps in his garage? If he had "live ammunition" for that, he could well pose a threat to local public safety. I think we should be told.

The problem, though, is really one of language. 

What Herr Koberger really meant to say was "I FIRED my rifle..." - if, that is, he meant to say that he shot it AT something (even a target). If he "shot his rifle" then it means that the rifle was the target.