A euphemism (noun) is a mild, indirect or evasive expression that takes the place of one that is taboo, offensive, unpleasant or embarrassing e.g. words relating to death, sexual activity, bodily functions, and violence.

euphemistic – adjective

euphemistically – adverb

Examples:

terminate – kill

tactical withdrawal – retreat

friendly fire – the accidental killing of soldiers on one’s own side

collateral damage – the killing of people by mistake (especially by the military)

lost their lives – were killed

put to sleep – (an animal) euthanized by a vet

pass water – urinate

spend a penny – urinate

powder room – public toilet for women

sleep with – have sex with

born on the other side of the blanket – born out of wedlock

tired and emotional – drunk

mature – old / elderly

the big C – cancer

The Scottish Play – William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth

pass away – die

kick the bucket – die

let go – fired (from a job)

between jobs – unemployed

Can you think of any more examples of euphemisms?

Image © Christian Heilmann

A palindrome is a word, phrase, sentence, number etc that reads the same backwards as it does forwards.

From the Greek palíndromos / running back again.

Examples:

Eve

kayak

level

LOL

noon

Madam, I'm Adam

radar

refer

solos

November 2nd 2011 was a rare eight-digit palindrome day, if you write the date as 11022011 (in the UK we would write this date as 02112011 so it wasn't a palindrome for us here in the UK )

Tomorrow is also a very rare palindrome day – the time and date will be a same-numbered palindrome at 11.11.11. on 11.11.11.

A backward palindrome is a word that spells another word when reversed:

doom – mood

evil – live

warts – straw

Image © Christina Kekka

An anagram is word or phrase made by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.

Anagrams are often used for fun, and are used mainly in games and puzzles, especially crosswords.

Etymology

From Greek – anagrammatizein transpose letters

Examples of anagrams:

astronomer – moon starer

dormitory – dirty room

eat – tea

evangelist – evil's agent

evil – vile

funeral – real fun

listen – silent

What's your favourite anagram?

Try making some anagrams with English words, with the Internet Anagram Server. What words did you make?

Image © Brett Jordan

1. A prefix (noun) is an affix added to the beginning of a word or word root to form a new word.

The word prefix comes from Latin fixus (fasten, attach) and pre (before, in front, in advance).

If you know what a prefix means, it will help you understand the meaning of a new word.

Examples:

♦ dis – to do the opposite of

dislike – the opposite of like

disagree – the opposite of agree

disappear – the opposite of appear

♦ ex = was, but is not now

ex-wife – no longer a person's wife

♦ in and im = not

informal – means not formal

invisible – means not visible

impossible – means not possible

impolite – means not polite

♦ mis = badly or incorrectly

misread – to read incorrectly

misunderstand – to fail to understand, or to interpret incorrectly

♦ non = not

non-alcoholic – means not alcoholic (it contains no alcohol)

♦ over = too much

overpay – to pay someone too much money

oversleep – to sleep longer than you wanted to

overspend – to spend too much money

♦ pre = before

preheat – to heat (something) before you use it e.g. an oven

prepay – to pay for in advance

♦ re = again

redo – means do again

rewrite – means write again

retake – means take again e.g. I have to retake my English exam.

♦ un = not

unhappy – means not happy

unkind – means not kind

unfriendly – means not friendly

Many prefixes have more than one meaning, and I've only given you a small selection here. A good dictionary will help you learn the meanings of different prefixes, which will then help you understand new words and build your vocabulary.

Image © Alex E. Proimos

An acronym is a word formed when the initial letters, or first few letters, of a name or series of words are combined, and then pronounced as one word. 

Examples:

♦ NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization

♦ NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

♦ AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

♦ Sci-fi – Science Fiction

♦ wi-fi – Wireless Fidelity

♦ gif – Graphics Interchange Format

♦ scuba (SCUBA) – Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

♦ ESOL – English for Speakers of Other Languages or English as a Second or Other Language

♦ TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language

♦ TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language

♦ LOL – laugh out loud

Acronym Finder a comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms.

Image © SteelCityHobbies

Homophones are words that are pronounced the same, but are spelt differently and have different meanings.

From Greek homóphõnos (homo same – phõné sound)

Examples of homophones:

♦ band - My son plays the drums in a band.

♦ banned - She's been banned from driving for a year.

♦ coarse – My dog has very thick, coarse fur.

♦ course – My English course starts in September.

♦ genes – You have thousands of different genes in every cell in your body.

♦ jeans – I'm wearing my favourite jeans today.

♦ heal - It's only a small cut and it will heal quickly.

♦ heel - My new shoes have made a blister on my heel.

♦ he'll - He'll meet you at 7 o'clock.

♦ know – I don't know how to spell that.

♦ no – No thank you.

♦ meat  – I don't eat meat.

♦ meet – We'll meet you after work.

♦ morning – Good morning!

♦ mourning - She is in mourning because her husband died last week.

♦ sauce – I love tomato sauce!

♦ source – The BBC is a popular news source.

♦ sea - I live by the sea.

♦ see – I can see the sea from my window.

♦ their – Their car is blue.

♦ there – It's parked over there.

♦ they're – They're going to buy a new car soon.

♦ threw – She threw the ball.

♦ through – She threw the ball through the window.

♦ to – We're going to the cinema.

♦ too – Do you want to come too?

♦ two – We have two spare tickets.

♦ your - Your breakfast is ready.

♦ you're – You're late for work.

It's important to remember that there are many varieties of English, and words may be homophones in one variety of English but not in another.

Examples:

♦ father / farther and for / four are homophones in Received Pronunciation (RP), but not in American English and Scottish English.

♦ whether / weather are homophones in England, but not in Scotland.

Can you think of any more homophones?

Over on the Facebook page, I was asked to explain how to use "up to".
 

Because "up to" has so many different uses and meanings, I thought I would write about them here where there is a little more space

1. If you are up to something, you are occupied with it.  

Example of use:

Eleanor: 'What are you up to today?'  (What are you doing today?)

Miranda: 'I'm going to see my grandmother.'

This expression is often used when talking about something suspicious.

a) He always looks like he's up to something illegal.

b) I'm sure they are up to no good. They have been sitting in that car for two hours.

2. To be up to something, is to be able to do or deal with something.

Examples of use:

a) Do you think the new Manager is up to the job?

b) Pierre: 'Are you sure you're up to carrying those bags?'

    Marie: 'Yes, I'm fine. Thank you'

This expression is often used negatively. For example:

a) I don't feel up to going out tonight. Can we stay in?

b) He wanted to go swimming but we weren't up to it because we had been working all day..

4. Up to also means until, as far as, or to a certain point or limit. 

a) You have up to two hours to finish your exam.

b) I've been walking up to six miles a day on holiday.

c) When our village was flooded, the water was up to a metre high.

d) The snow was almost up to our windows.

e) I can eat up to 1800 calories a day on my diet.

f) He smokes up to twenty cigarettes a day.

5. If something is up to you, you are the one who has to decide what to do.

Examples of use:

a) Anna: 'What subjects do you think I should study at college?'

    Francis: 'I don't know. It's up to you!'

b) Akos: 'Shall we go to the cinema tonight?'

    Kamila: 'It's up to you. I'll go if you want to.'

There are also some phrasal verbs with "up to", including:

add up to

live up to

look up to

make it up to

Please join us on the Online English Lessons on Facebook page. You can ask questions and discuss English there.

Image © Steve Johnson

Angelika Davey is a qualified teacher and native German speaker who offers German tuition and translation, and who also teaches English. Angelika has very kindly written a guest post about a day in her life.

Thanks, Angelika

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Until a few years ago I taught full-time. I had a regular good income, taught some lovely children, had lots of great experiences and lots of fun!

I also had long working days, leaving home at 7.45am, getting back at 5pm, and still working in the evenings, at weekends and during school holidays…. and I hated it!

Now I don’t have a regular income, some weeks I earn extremely well, others I earn hardly anything. I don’t get holiday pay and unless I decide not to work, I don’t get holidays. Oh, and sometimes I still have long working days.

So why do I work as a freelance German tutor?

Simply, because I love it!

I now teach a huge variety of people. My youngest student at the moment is 5 years old and the oldest was 80. Every student I teach wants to learn German; they give up their free time and come to my lessons after work, after school and even on Saturdays.

I also have business clients who want to learn German or need a translation, others I teach via Skype. Recently I also started teaching English as a foreign language. It’s going very well, apart from when we need to practise spelling – I want my students to spell in German, forgetting it’s an English lesson

Within reason, I can choose my working hours and, although I sometimes have really long days, on other days I am free do to do my own thing. For example yesterday I started teaching German at 10am at one of my client’s business premises, one beginners’ group followed by an intermediate. After a quick lunch I gave a 2hr English lesson at the same place. That was followed by a quick meeting and then I had to rush home as a GCSE student was waiting for me for a German lesson. As soon as she left, I then taught German via Skype. I finally finished at 7pm. Luckily, not every day is like this. And today, I am not teaching. I have spent this morning planning some lessons, but as it’s a beautiful day today, I am now off to work in the garden. I couldn’t do that when I was working full-time!

Angelika Davey, Angelika's German Tuition and Translation

Image © Will Palmer

If something is a piece of cake it is very easy to do.

Informal English.

Examples of use:

a) My English exam was a piece of cake.

b) I thought buying a new car would be a piece of cake, but there are so many to choose from!

c) Stopping smoking cigarettes was a piece of cake for me.

d) Learning to ride a bike is a piece of cake.

The expression 'as easy as pie' has a very similar meaning.

Example of use:

My English exam was as easy as pie.

Image © nerissa's ring

A square meal is a substantial and healthy meal: one that is nourishing and fills you.

Examples of use:

a) I've been eating salad all week: I need a square meal!

b) You're looking thin. What you need is a good square meal.

c) You must eat three square meals a day.

Image © Rick Audet