Think in English 152 by Nathan Burkiewicz

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THE END OF THE WORLD

1-hour

EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL

in English DANIEL DAY-LEWIS

THE SECRETS

THE HOBBIT ❯❯ The 25 meanings of “Mean” ❯❯ Education: The USA and Spain Compared ❯❯ Society: The Colour Meme

Anglos in Galicia

8 414090 253369

00152

CONTENTS

THINK IN ENGLISH MAGAZINE

CURRENT AFFAIRS 4 News & Anecdotes 6 Science 7 internet – Kopimism 8 economics – Casino Capitalism 10 Feature – The End of the World (again)......................

EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome to Think 152. this month we consider the End of the World. We look at US Apocalyptic Protestantism on pp. 10-11 and ask why there is so much relish in imagining Armageddon. the improvisation (audio track 12) imagines a sect preparing for the end of the world as supposedly predicted by the Mayans. the travel article visits one of the places that for centuries was considered the end of the known world – Galicia in Spain – and looks for Anglo connections there (pp. 12-14). Finisterra in galicia is just one of half a dozen places that claim to be the end of the world, as we see in the Toponyms article on p. 38. Finisterre used to be the name of a maritime area which is now called Fitzroy, find out why on pp. 24-25. to round oﬀ our galician foray we look at broken english from that region on pp. 40-41. A second theme is J.r.r. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Saskia takes a look at tolkien’s letters on pp. 15-16, while the case against The Hobbit is presented on pp. 16-17. Finally there is a quiz about the names in the book on p. 33. A third theme is history and its relevance to the present and future. on cD tracks 1-7 we debate the question: Does history repeat itself? while on pp. 22-23 we suggest a new role for history as a nexus for computer modelling of our world. the last multi-article theme is The Periodicals – magazines which largely defined middle-class british culture at the beginning of the 18th century. this links into the False Friends article on publications on p. 39. All that is only about half Think 152, which also looks at everything from Children’s Games to Casinos, Daniel Day Lewis to the rise and fall of western racism. if the world survives December 21st, we look forward to seeing you again in Think 153!

Nick Franklin, EDITOR NickAtthink@gmail.com

MagaZinE aBBrEViaTion & syMBols kEy Listening: there is a recording on the cD connected to the text.

ISSUE 152

CULTURE 12 travel – Anglos in Galicia 15 literature – Tolkien’s Letters 16 bullshit – The Case Against The Hobbit 18 Society – The Colour Meme 20 education – The USA & Spain Compared 22 history – Let’s Change History............... 24 geography – The Shipping Forecast 26 cinema – Daniel Day Lewis 28 Media – The Periodicals: Cultural Revolution LANGUAGE 30 Functional – Children’s Games 32 common Mistakes – Quasi-Modal Verbs 33 etymology – Tolkien Quiz 34 Words – The Meaning of ‘Mean’ 36 idioms – The Golden Triangle ................. 38 toponyms – The End of the World 39 False Friends – Publications 40 translation – Broken English in Galicia 41 Miscellany and Answers 42 crossword 43 Subscription form 44 tapescripts .................................................................. 51 Next month bookmark – Anglicizing European Cities

Exercise: there is an exercise in the subscribers’ exercises relating directly to the text.

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Conversation point: these questions prompt discussion on topics related to the text.

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Subject link: there is a related article on the pages given.

Abbreviations:

sth. = something, s.o. = someone, swh. = somewhere

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Culture | How to Bullshit about...

Doomsday The End of the World (again)

Spanish and Italian students often wonder1 why we make such a big deal about2 them adding an extra e- to the beginning of words that start with an s- in a consonant cluster3. It may be true that we can usually understand ‘eschool’, ‘estar’ and ‘eslogan’ but if you want to distinguish eschatology4 /eskəˈtoləʤi/ from scatology5 /skæˈtoləʤi/ you really need to pronounce these words correctly. Having said that, at times eschatology does seem6 to involve a lot of crap7. Apocalypse Now

Waiting for God

In the Judaeo-Christian world eschatology usually means Armageddon and the Apocalypse. However, mainstream 8 Christianity is somewhat embarrassed by The Book of Revelation, which reads9 a little bit like The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings with its references to ‘the enormous seven-headed dragon’, ‘the beast from the sea’, ‘the woman with eagle’s wings10’, ‘the lake of fire’ and ‘the rider11 on a white horse’. The problem is that early Christians expected the Second Coming (and therefore12 the end of the world) to be imminent. When it wasn’t, we were left with a discrepancy between Scripture and recorded13 history. Of course, one could dismiss14 The Book of Revelation as an allegorical dream-vision or even the incoherent ramblings15 of a mentally unstable – if holy16 – man: St. John the Divine. But once you start repudiating sections of the Bible it is potentially a slippery slope17.

The Book of Revelation was definitively accepted into the Bible in the 4th Century. However, once Christianity became the state religion across Europe it was largely18 ignored by

to wonder /ˈwʌndər/ – ask oneself to make such a big deal about (make-mademade) – put so much emphasis on 3 consonant cluster – group of consonants together (e.g. sl-, scr-, sp- and str-) 4 eschatology – the study of theological concepts of the end of the world 5 scatology – the study of excrement 6 does seem – (emphatic) seems 7 crap – excrement; nonsense, rubbish 8 mainstream – established, conventional 9 to read (read /ri:d/ -read /red/-read /red/) – (in this context) sound, seem

eagle’s wings – rider – s.o. who rides a horse, horseman 12 therefore – thus, for this reason 13 recorded – chronicled 14 to dismiss – (in this context) reject, repudiate 15 ramblings – illogical and verbose discourse 16 holy – venerable, saintly 17 slippery slope – process which once started is difficult to stop 18 largely – mostly, more or less 19 fringe – peripheral

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the established church as an embarrassment. However, fringe19 groups took Revelation very seriously. It talked about a period of a 1000 years between the Ascension of Christ and the last days and, as a result, millennialism became very popular around the time of 1000AD20. Rather21 illogically, it also explained some of the excitement around the year 1500 and the year 2000. An alternative view sees Doomsday22 as not being determined by the date but by certain events that have supposedly been prophesied. Bizarrely, the formation of the United Nations and of the European Union 23 are often cited as evidence that the end is nigh24. Another key event from this vantage point25 was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 since26 this could be a link27 to Mount Megiddo28. Other signs that the Great Tribulation is about to29 take place30 include earthquakes,

Skeptics at Rapture

Photo by Sgerbic

AD – Anno Domini, CE (= Common Era) rather – somewhat, surprisingly 22 doomsday – the end of the world, the Apocalypse 23 the idea is that the EU is the Roman Empire re-founded! 24 the end is nigh /nai/ – the Apocalypse is imminent 25 vantage point – perspective, point of view 26 since – (in this context) given that 27 link – connection 28 40km south of the Sea of Galilee, it is the origin of our word ‘Armageddon’ 29 to be about to – be going to imminently 30 to take place (take-took-taken) – happen, occur

Think in English Issue 152

Culture | Society

The Colour Meme The Rise & Fall of White Racism Prejudice against minorities with distinct cultures is no doubt as old as history. Certainly, there is nothing new about racism. For instance1, anti-Semitism has been common in Europe for nearly2 two thousand years, though the idiocy of Christian anti-Semitism is almost beyond comprehension3.4 However, the idea that intelligence and moral character are related to skin5 pigmentation6 is surprisingly recent. The First 199,000 Years So, what is the history of colour-based racism. Well, for the first half of the existence of our species Homo sapiens was African and dark brown. From 200,000 to 80,000 years ago while living in Africa we needed a lot of eumelanin7 in our skin to protect us from the sun. After leaving Africa 80 millennia ago, some groups of humans suffered mutations in their skin and became lighter as they entered less sunny climates. This was necessary because blocking out all ultraviolet radiation in sunless climes leads to8 vitamin D deficiency.

A few thousand years ago with the advent of civilization people began to trade9 and became aware10 that there were radically different skin colours. For instance1, the Ancient Egyptians came across11 Nubians and described them as ‘burnt’. However, nobody seems to have related pigmentation to ‘inferiority’. The Ancient Greeks thought they were superior to everyone else but defined their superiority in terms of language – speaking Greek – not colour. Slavery12 existed in the Ancient World but it was rooted in13 war and conquest, not skin pigmentation.

Ira Aldridge as Othello

Just 500 years ago Europeans suddenly found themselves better equipped militarily and organizationally than other peoples and able to travel almost anywhere in the world. Even at the beginning of this period of Caucasian expansion there wasn’t the idea of colour superiority. Shakespeare’s Othello (1602) is intelligent, honourable and a brilliant general who is manipulated by an evil envious white man, Iago. Significantly, the roles are exactly reversed in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (1594), in which the manipulator is Aaron (who is black). For Shakespeare personality traits14 were evidently independent of skin5 colour.

Kant, Recant15

Photo by Nic McPhee

for instance – for example nearly – almost, just under 3 beyond comprehension – unbelievable, incredible 4 Jesus Christ was Jewish and he was executed by European (i.e. Romans) 5 skin (adj.) – cutaneous 6 which are admittedly almost as illogical as Christian anti-Semitism

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Egyptian and Nubians eumelanin – the darkest form of the melanin skin5 pigmentation 8 to lead to (lead-led-led) – result in, cause 9 to trade – practise commerce 10 aware – conscious 11 to come across (come-came-come) – encounter 12 slavery – servitude 13 to be rooted in – be based on 7

All this changed in the mid-18 th Century when the taxonomist16 Carl Linnaeus divided humanity into four skin colour types and associated these with the different continents. Indeed17, he went further defining ‘white’ Europeans as sanguine18, ‘yellow’ Asians as melancholic, ‘red’ Native Americans as choleric and ‘black’ Africans as phlegmatic19. It didn’t seem to matter20 that trait – characteristic, attribute to recant – change one’s mind, renege on one’s opinions 16 taxonomist – s.o. who organizes fauna and flora into groups 17 indeed – (emphatic) in fact 18 sanguine – positive, optimistic 19 phlegmatic – unemotional 20 to matter – be important, be significant 14

Think in English Issue 152

Culture | History

Let’s Change History

continue to present history as the art of telling a good story. They delve deep17 into their area of study to demonstrate how special it was. They are not trained to see patterns1 in the bigger picture18.

Is history a mass of anecdotes or a coherent social science? Are there historical patterns1 that can be quantified and used as a basis for A Climate for Change predicting the future or is each culture unique to its place and time? Climate determinism has A New Role

worldview. However, just as12 we should not reject13 genetics simply because it was misused14 by the Nazis, determinism isn’t invalidated by its totalitarian associations. Early historians saw history as a pool15 from which to extract moral lessons. The moral lessons came first and the exempla16 were selected to confirm them. Many historians

Photo by Alex

Most historians blanch at the idea that history can be reduced down to a quantifiable social science. They will point out 3 that the mere presence of Napoleon Bonaparte on the battlefield improved the chances4 of a French victory as much as having 30% more troops 5. Individuals no doubt play some role in making history. However, closely related disciplines – from demographics to climatology to epidemiology to economic history – are developing6 ever more sophisticated models based on numerical data. For decades data processing has been used to predict the age structures and total populations of the future. Even more complex models measure weather patterns1 and climate change to predict the future of the world’s environment. Isn’t it about time that history became 7 the nexus for economic, political, demographic and climate models in order to become an instrument for predicting the future? 2

suffered especially by association. 19th-century racial theorists said that tropical climes resulted in indolence, while the cooler European climate led to19 intelligence and the work ethic. Nobody wants to be associated with this nonsense 20 and so progress in climate determinism has been slow. Nevertheless, there is mounting 21 evidence to confirm models that place climate at the heart of historical change:

Napoleon Bonaparte

The Khmers

The Political Factor Political considerations represent the missing link8 in complex social modelling through time. Ironically, it has also been politics which has limited the appeal 9 of historical determinism. Famously, Karl Popper10 linked historical determinism with totalitarian ideas. It is certainly true that Marxism, Fascism and Nazism each reinterpreted history to fit into11 their pattern – (in this context) sequence of events that repeats itself in general terms 2 to blanch – become pale because you are horrified by sth. 3 to point out – draw attention to the fact 4 chances – probability 5 troops – soldiers 6 to develop – create, generate, design 7 isn’t it about time that X became...? – hasn’t 1

The English Civil War the moment arrived for X to become...? link – connection 9 appeal – attractiveness 10 (1902-94) Viennese philosopher. Confusingly, he called historical determinism ‘historicism’ 11 to fit into – correspond to, harmonize with 12 just as – in the same way that 13 to reject – repudiate, not accept 8

to misuse – use badly pool – reserve 16 exemplum (plural ‘exempla’) – anecdote used as a moral example 17 to delve deep – investigate intensely 18 the bigger picture – the wider perspective 19 to lead to (lead-led-led) result in 20 nonsense – idiocy, rubbish 21 mounting – accumulating, more and more 14

Think in English Issue 152

Language | Functional English

Children’s Games 3 2

Tagging Games

Another very popular game is tag9. The player who is ‘it’5 chases10 the other players in an open space and tries to tag11 them. When someone is touched, he or she becomes ‘it’5. Usually the new ‘it’ cannot tag the previous ‘it’ immediately.

Mª Angeles from Galicia has written in to ask if children’s games in Britain and America are the same as those in Spain. I am tempted to answer, “Yes, we have both GameBoy and Nintendo” but I don’t think that is what she is referring to! This article offers a list of the 10 most common traditional group1 games of the sort2 that children organize and play on their own3 without adult supervision and without the need for elaborate equipment.

Hide-&-Seek

Probably the best known children’s game is hide-and-seek4 . Typically, the player who is ‘it’5 has to count to a hundred with his/her eyes closed while the other players hide6. ‘It’ then looks

for7 them. Either the round8 ends when the first person is found (who will be ‘it’5 in the next round) or this person (and those successively found) then helps ‘it’5 to find the others. The last person to be found is the winner.

A variant on tag is blind man’s buff. This involves the person who is ‘it’5 being blindfolded12 and often turned around several times. He or she then has to catch one of the other players, who then becomes ‘it’5. This game seems to be pretty13 universal; it was played in China 2,500 years ago and there is an illustration of it by Goya from the end of the 18th Century.

Kick the can is a tag-type game in which the people who have been tagged have to stand14 inside an area representing a jail15. If one of the people who is still ‘free’ kicks16 a specific can17, he or she frees the prisoners.

Blind man’s buff I have excluded games involving only two players such as cat’s cradle or rock-paper-scissors 2 sort – type, kind 3 on their own – by themselves, alone 4 sometimes called ‘hide-and-go-seek’ in the USA 5 it – (in children’s games) the person whose turn 1

it is to try to touch or catch the others to hide (hide-hid-hidden) – conceal oneself, place oneself out-of-sight 7 to look for – try to find 8 round – turn, part/section of a game 9 often called tig in the UK and chasey in Australia 10 to chase – pursue, run after 6

Hide-and-seek to tag – (in this context) touch with one’s hand to be blindfolded – have one’s eyes covered 13 pretty (adv.) – more or less 14 to stand (stand-stood-stood) – be on one’s feet 15 jail – prison 16 to kick – hit sth. with one’s foot 17 can – (in this context) metal container 11

Think in English Issue 152

lANguAge | worDs

The Meanings of ‘Mean’ ‘Mean’ is a terribly overworked word in English. In this article we look at its 25 meanings. 1. the verb ‘mean’ can express the idea of ‘signify’ or ‘denote’: e.g. What does the word ‘waistcoat’1 mean? e.g. If the red light starts flashing it means that something is very wrong. e.g. When the cows sit down in the field it means it’s going to rain. 2. the verb can also mean ‘signify’ in the sense of be of greater or lesser importance in one’s life: e.g. Does winning the competition really mean that much to you? 3. the verb can mean ‘refer to’ too: e.g. No, that’s not the book I meant.

Photo by chAD ruNge

4. ‘Mean’ can be used when planning: e.g. The plane leaves at 6.42 and we have to be there two hours before. That means leaving the house at four o’clock, OK? 5. ‘Mean to’ can also mean ‘intend to’2 or ‘want to’: e.g. I don’t mean to be rude3 but what do you actually4 do in this company? e.g. I didn’t mean to wake5 you. Sorry. 6. ‘Mean well’ means that the subject’s intentions are good even though the consequences of his/her actions may be bad: e.g. She means well but she puts everything

in the wrong place and I can never find anything afterwards. 7. ‘be meant to’ is a frequent alternative to ‘be supposed to’: e.g. You were meant to be here an hour ago. 8. ‘Mean’ can also convey6 the idea of saying something in earnest7: e.g. I meant what I said. If you don’t finish your homework you’re not watching TV. e.g. Don’t wind me up8 . I mean it. I’m not in the mood9. 9. “Does the name _____________ mean anything to you?” asks if the name sounds familiar: e.g. No, I’m afraid that name means nothing to me. I’ve drawn a blank10. 10. “See what i mean?” is used to point out11 something that you consider evidence to support12 what you have said previously. 11. ‘mean business’ means that somebody is determined to do something: e.g. You should take what she says seriously. She means business – she will sack13 you if you arrive late for work again.

Photo by MAriNA cArrreSi

The buses are the cheapest means of transport in the city.

waistcoat (UK English) – vest (US English) to intend to – have the intention of (+ -ing) 3 rude – (false friend) discourteous, impolite 4 actually – (false friend) really, in fact 5 to wake s.o. (up) – interrupt s.o’s sleep 1

to convey – (in this context) express in earnest – not joking, in a serious way to wind s.o. up /waind/ (wind-wound-wound) – provoke s.o. for fun 9 to be in the mood – be in a receptive frame of mind, have an appropriate mental state 10 to draw a blank (draw-drew-drawn) – have 6

12. “i’ve been meaning to ask you” is a polite (and somewhat hesitant14) way of introducing a question: no idea to point out – draw attention to, identify to support – back up, strengthen, lend weight to 13 to sack s.o. – fire s.o., dismiss s.o., make s.o. unemployed 14 hesitant – tentative, irresolute

Think in English iSSue 152

Don’t be foxed by authentic English! Photo by MAriNA cArreSi

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