Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

Quite often times, we mishear what others say or song lyrics. This is called “ Mondegreens ”, which refers to misheard/ misinterpreted song lyrics. Mondegreens originated from the American writer Sylvia Wright. According to Wright, her mother used to read aloud to her from Thomas Percy's reliques of ancient English poetry. One of her favorite poem “The Bonny Earl of Murray” read by her mother sounded as follows: (source:   https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/mondegreen.html ) Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, Oh, where hae ye been? They hae slain the Earl Amurray, And Lady Mondegreen. But the actual words of the ballad are as follows: Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, Oh where have you been? They have slain the Earl o' Moray And laid him on the green. (Picture source:  https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mondegreen) Being a creative writer, Sylvia Wright coined a term for that form of error: Mondegreen...

70 years have passed since the Korean War broke out. Countless soldiers from allied nations came to Korean peninsula to fight for South Korea at the risk of their precious lives. I remember my mom sadly reminiscing the traumatic scenes that had been deeply engraved in her memory. She said those painful days when she had to step over piles and piles of her dead fellow soldiers in the war zone would never disappear from her heart. Seven decades have passed, but not a single soul of the lost or missing soldiers will ever be forgotten. Here is an excerpt from the poem titled Forgotten Wars by the Korean War veteran and poet Samuel B. Fielder Jr. Forgotten Wars by Samuel B. Fielder Jr. When we came home, we ran into our friends. They’d say “I haven’t seen you for a while. Tell me, where have you been?” And went to Heaven we should go To St. Peter, we would tell “Just another forgotten warrior, sir I served my hitch in hell.” *picture sourc...

On-air challenge from NPR Sunday Puzzle created by Will Shortz. (June 21, 2020):   For each one, change the initial consonant or consonants to a new consonant or new consonants to get a new word that looks like it should rhyme with the original but doesn't . Every answer is unique. (You can listen to this puzzle on  https://www.npr.org/2020/06/21/881226297/sunday-puzzle-new-start) Example: Cord --> Word 1. howl 2. golf 3. brave 4. toad 5. gasp 6. green 7. pooch 8. goose Answer Keys   1.   bowl   2.   wolf   3.   have   4.   broad   5.   wasp   6.   been   7.   brooch   8.   choose *picture source: https://www.thoughtco.com/voiced-and-voiceless-consonants-1212092

Irregular plural nouns make it harder for English language learners to get them down pat. (Quite a lot of the words are loaned vocab originated from other countries.) Those are the ones that simply need to be learnt and remembered.  Test yourself how good you are at making the plural nouns. (picture source: https://birdgei.com/2011/08/30/list-of-100-irregular-plural-nouns-in-english/)        1.    aircraft: _____________    2.    axis: _____________    3.    bacterium: _____________    4.    bureau: _____________    or   ______________    5.    index: ________________ or _______________    6.    calf: _______________    7.    roof: ______________    8.    graffito: ________________  ...

When I teach communicative English classes, there is one thing I have always tried to remind me of:   ‘Are you sure you totally understood what your students were meaning to say?’ However, it was not in the first few years of my EFL teaching that I made it a strict rule to remember as a teacher. In those years of a novice EFL instructor in South Korea, I had felt satisfied myself correcting or paraphrasing my students’ less-than-perfect (in terms of grammar and word choices) English sentences in class on the basis of how I interpreted what they said. Most of the time, my students showed me a gesture of agreement or appreciation by nodding…or taking a moment of thinking before the nods. I was such a naïve teacher that took their docile responses as a wholehearted acceptance or having no other opinions. picture source: https://www.tes.com/lessons/Jif-bYKcIYQ6PQ/studio-advanced-4-31-32-spirit-mask Then one day, one of my colleagues who was a native English s...

(Source from NPR Sunday Puzzle created by Will Shortz, which was aired this last weekend: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/14/876570406/sunday-puzzle-replacement-ids ) This is a follow-up puzzle to previous "Lost ID's" puzzle. It's called "Replacement ID's." I'm going to give you some words. Each word contains the consecutive letters I-D somewhere in it. Change the I-D to two new letters to get a new familiar word. Example: Stride --> Stroke or Strafe 1. Fidget 2. Ideate 3. Bridal 4. Rancid 5. Fiddle 6. Afraid (hyph.) 7. Collide 8. Provide 9. Humidity 10. Consider 11. Diffident 12. President Answer Keys        1.   forget    2.   create    3.   brutal    4.   rancor    5.   fondle    6.   a-frame    7.   collage    8.   provoke    9. ...

Quite a lot of people feel confused in using empathy and sympathy. Although it might be impossible to draw a clear cut demarcation line between the two words, here’s the difference between the most commonly used meanings of these two terms is: S ympathy is feeling compassion, sorrow, or pity for the hardships that another person encounters. E mpathy is putting yourself in the shoes of another, which is why actors often talk about it.   (image source: Photo by Kevin Laminto on Unsplash )    1.    When I saw my friend having to greet her ailing mom at the nursing home through the window since the pandemic, I found myself deeply saddened and ___________________ with her in her sorrow.        2.    As an actor, he had to learn about the importance of feeling ___________________ with the individual's situation.        3.    In an argument about police brutality today, ...

Let us have fun word puzzles by Will Shortz aired on NPR Sunday challenge. today's puzzle is "Lost ID's." Clues for two words are given: The first word has the consecutive letters I-D somewhere in it. Drop the I-D and what's left will spell a new word that answers the second clue. (You can listen to the following puzzle on https://www.npr.org/2020/06/07/870610245/sunday-puzzle-lost-ids) Example: Opposite of narrowest / Direction for sunsets --> Widest, west    1.    End of the workweek / Disorderly fight        2.    Box for cigars / Jokes and such    3.    Partition / One jumping in a pool    4.    Mints that are said to be "curiously strong" / Voices below sopranos    5.    Mishap on the highway / Stress    6.    Chief executive / Gift     7. Capital of ...

An anagram means a word or phrase made by transposing/ rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. give you some words. Anagram each one to make a new word. And as a help, the first three letters of my word will be the first three letters of your answer.  (source from NPR Sunday Puzzle made by Will Shortz)  You can listen to the puzzle by clicking on this link: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/31/865351458/sunday-puzzle-anagram-all-the-way   Ex. Sublet --> Subtle 1. Platen 2. Thereat 3. Declaim 4. Parleys 5. Magnate 6. Trained (into a hyphenated word) 7. Martial 8. Chorale 9. Senescent 10. Pedantries Answer Keys 1.   Planet 2.   Theatre 3.   Decimal 4.   Parsley 5.   Magenta 6.   Trade-in 7.   Marital 8.   Cholera 9.   Sentences 10.       pedestrian