NEW YEAR TRADITIONS AND V0CABULARY

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Kazue and I wish all our students a happy and successful New Year. We hope you have enjoyed our English classes and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2008.

See Shin nen - New Year

The month of January was named after the Roman god Janus, which was also the Latin word for door. Janus had two faces, which enabled him to look backwards into the old year and forwards into the new year at the same time. The old Roman calendar had only ten months, and the New Year started on I March. Even after January and February were added, the New Year was considered to start on 1 March until about 200 years ago.

Most countries have adopted the Gregorian calendar and celebrate New Year on 1 January. However, many countries celebrate new year at different times of the year, according to older calendars. For example, the Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, can fall any time between 21 January and 21 February.
In Thailand, where I was living earlier this year, New Year is celebrated from 13 April to 15 April with a water-throwing festival called Sonkran.
Wherever you go in Thailand, you're likely to have water thrown on you. April is a very hot month, and the water is thought to be cooling. In New Zealand, the Maori people celebrate New Year - or Matariki - between late May and early June. Matariki is the Maori name for the constellation of
stars called Pleiades by the Greeks, and Subaru by Japanese. Here is a web page about Matariki, with a photo of the stars:

http://www.matariki.net.nz/

The song Auld Lang Syne is traditionally sung on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. In Scotland, where Auld Lang Syne originates, it is also sung on Burns Night, 25 January, to celebrate the poet Robert Burns. The words 'Auld Lang Syne' come from an old Scottish dialect and mean "Old Long Ago", or as we would say in modern English "the good old days".

 auld = old, lang = long, syne = since

The song is about love and friendship in times past. The words "We'll take a cup of kindness yet" refer to a drink shared by men and women to symbolise friendship.

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?   Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?   For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,   We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

(Robert Burns, Scots poet)

This New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, never in want.

• The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul. (G.K. Chesterton, English writer)
• A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. (Author unknown)
• New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.  Next week you can begin paving Hell with them as usual. (Mark Twain, American humorist and writer)
• Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. (Oprah Winfrey - American TV personality)

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet)

MISCELLANEOUS EXPRESSIONS

WHAT'S THE MATTER?

Usually if we are asked how we are, we say I'm fine. But what if we we are not feeling well? Here are some things we can say:

A: How are you?

B: I 'm not feeling too good.

A: What's the matter?

B: I have a..............................

•    cold
•    head ache
•    stomach ache
•    ear ache
•    back ache
•    sore shoulder
•    pain in my chest

TAKE PART IN

This means to participate in. Here are some examples:

•  About 200 people took part in the tennis tournament.
•  Eight countries took part in the trade talks.
•  Tom took part in a TV discussion.

IDIOM: IN A NUTSHELL

A  space inside a nutshell is small. So if you want to fit something into a nutshell, it must be made small. "In a nutshell" means a concise summary, or "in brief".
For example:

• I have read John's school report. In a nutshell, it says he must work harder.

PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE

All the words in the left column have the same "er" sound. This sound doesn't exist in Japanese. Practice saying these word pairs:

person	parson
birth	bath
burn	barn
yearn	yarn
bird	bard
heard	hard
first	fast

  
 
What is the difference between person and parson?
A person is a man or woman. A parson is a priest in the Christian church.

See also Vocabulary and pronunciation

A "bard" is a poet.  The writer William Shakespeare  (1564-1616) is sometimes called the Bard of Avon.
He lived in the town called Stratford-upon-Avon. (Avon is the name of the river near the town.)

Here is Mayumi's recipe for Shimesaba - in English, vinegared mackerel. Fillet the fish. Cover with salt and leave for 2-3 hours. Wash fillets to remove the salt. Marinate the fillets in vinegar sweetened with sugar for 1 hour. Remove the skin before serving and garnish with slices of lemon.

See also Chicken meatballs,

Here are some English color idioms that describe people's feelings.
If we get ANGRY and lose our temper, we could say:

•  I saw RED.

When a person becomes JEALOUS we say:

•  She was GREEN with envy.

If a person is COWARDLY, people say:

•  He has a YELLOW streak.

If I'm feeling SAD, I may say:

•  I'm feeling BLUE.

If a person is IRRITABLE, we say:

•  He is in a BLACK mood.

If someone is BORED, we say:

•  She is BROWNED off.

If I am in very GOOD HEALTH, I can say:

•  I'm in the PINK.

  ---

  
  Return to Home Page