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| "...a sneer curled Casey's lip..." (Wikipedia) |
Note: In the early days of baseball, a humorous poem captured the imagination of fans and gave us an anti-hero, the "mighty" Casey.
Get Ready: Do you like baseball? Have you ever seen a game, whether live or on TV? Have you ever played? If so, what is it like to be up to bat? (If not, how do you imagine it would be?)
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| A Super Bowl party (Wikipedia) |
Note: Some silly-seeming celebrations actually support good causes, like awareness of women's heart disease and domestic violence. Read on!
Get Ready: How does wearing red or purple, for example, (or pink, for breast cancer awareness) help educate the public about important causes?
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| The horse on the right has the inside track. (Wikipedia) |
Note: This column and the three others (#01-094, #01-095, and #01-096) were written as the Olympic Torch toured the world in 2008. It seemed fitting, then, that we again turned to sports-inspired idioms.
Get Ready: Have you ever been to a horse race? Have you ever betted on one (or anything else)?
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| Someone has been fouled. (Wikipedia) |
Note: This column and three others (#01-094, #01-095, and #01-097) were written as the Olympic Torch toured the world in 2008. It seemed appropriate at that time to examine some sports-inspired idioms.
Get Ready: Do you play basketball? Or watch it on TV? What do you like about it? What don't you like?
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| A quarterback is about to receive the ball. (Wikipedia) |
Note: This column and three others (#01-094, #01-096, and #01-097) were written as the Olympic Torch toured the world in 2008. It seemed fitting to look at some sports-inspired idioms at that time.
Get Ready: Have you ever watched a game of American football? What can you say about it?
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| All kinds of balls (Wikipedia) |
Note: This column and the following three (#01-095, #01-096, and #01-097) were written as the Olympic Torch toured the world in 2008. It seemed fitting, then, that we again turned to sports-inspired idioms.
Get Ready: Do you play any sports? Do you know any idioms that come from sports you play (or used to)?
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| Muhammad Ali, three-times heavyweight champion of the world (Wikipedia) |
Note: A final lesson on terms used in boxing, the so-called "sport of kings." Here's a mixed bag of various idioms. See Lessons #01-079 and #01-080 for more boxing idioms.
Get Ready: Why do you think a brutal sport like boxing was called "the sport of kings"?
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| Famous boxing announcer Howard Cosell gave "blow-by-blow" coverage. (Wikipedia) |
Note: American English is filled with a surprising number of idioms drawn from the world of boxing. Here are some about hitting people. The following two lessons, #01-080 and #01-081, will also be about boxing.
Get Ready: Have you ever punched somebody, or been punched? Why?
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| The seven continents, as usually taught in English-speaking North America (Wikipedia) |
Note: In discussing the continents, we're actually leaving out the homelands of millions of people! Three of the world's largest countries--Indonesia (#4), Japan (#10), and the Philippines (#13)--are located entirely on archipelagos, meaning strings of islands, with no presence on any of the continents (though all are located near Asia). Together they add up to nearly 510 million people, making up nearly 6.5% of the world's population!
Get Ready: What continent do you live on (or near)? Do you know the origin of its name?
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| The four-or-seven continents (Wikipedia) |
Note: In late 2007 all of China was in the grips of the "Olympic fever," since the Beijing games were coming in August of 2008. I used this as a "hook" for an article about the continents.
Get Ready: How many continents are there?
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