In this episode Patricia & Teresa answer some learner questions and euphemisms.

Q1: I wanted to ask you something pretty short. What is the correct preposition to ask using been? Like have you been in China or have you ever been to China. What I am trying to say is what should be used in or to?

Q2: How do you pronounce this word neither?

Q3: What is the difference between toilet, bathroom, and restroom?

Want to know more about Teresa? Here’s your chance! Listen to Teresa tell a little bit about herself!

Today Patricia and Teresa discuss linking in English, focusing specifically on linking question words with the word or words that immediately follow.

examples:

What are you having for lunch?

Where are you going?

What did you do yesterday?

 

This episode was recorded April 21, 2020.

Want to know more about Patricia? Here’s your chance! Listen to Patricia tell a little bit about herself!

Today Patricia and Teresa discuss linking in English, focusing specifically on combining the final consonant with the next initial consonant when they are the same sound.

hot tea

feel like

stop pushing

phone number

hit to

some money

good day

more rice

enough for

Today Patricia and Teresa discuss ways to help each other during the pandemic.

This is a link to the face mask Patricia mentioned!

This is a link to the Joanns Fabric program Teresa mentioned!

Be the change you want to see!!

In this episode Teresa & Patricia talk about what books they are reading.

Books mentioned: Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia (2019) [Note the Salem Witch Trials were 1692-1693.]

 

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013)

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mary Hartnett, & Wendy W. Williams (2016)

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik & Maria “TooFly” Castillo (2015)

We mentioned LeVar Burton Reads. If you want to listen, click this link.

This episode was recorded on April 10, 2020.

In this episode Patricia & Teresa answer some learner questions.

 

Question #1: Why don’t Americans wear face masks? 

Updates:

We recorded this on 3/31/20 and on 4/3/20 the CDC said Americans should wear a cloth face mask in crowded public places.

https://theconversation.com/making-masks-at-home-what-you-need-to-know-about-how-to-reduce-the-transmission-of-coronavirus-136122

On April 13, 2020 my local grocery store requested that customers wear a face mask or face covering when shopping to protect the staff and other customers.

Wearing masks might be a dangerous choice for people of color in the US, especially black men, because there are a lot people afraid of black men and there’s a long history in the US of people hurting or killing black men and other people of color out of fear not out of danger. Here’s an article talking about this danger. https://www.wvxu.org/post/black-americans-following-cdc-mask-guidelines-can-be-fraught-decision?utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social#stream/0

Question #2: I was taught to say supermarket in school, but I heard grocery store when I was in America. Which one should I use?

Question #3: Pizza and pie- are they count or noncount?

Listen for our answers!This episode was recorded on April 6, 2020.

In this episode Teresa & Patricia talk about learning new words as they read and misheard lyrics to songs.

 

The new word they talk about is mondegreen. Mondegreen means a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of the lyrics of a song.

 

If you’re interested in unusual words check out this link!

https://mobile.twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/1240727915500888067

 

Songs Mentioned in this episode: 

Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix Blank Space by Taylor Swift Grease by Frankie Valli Walking in a Winter Wonderland by Felix Bernard & Richard Bernhard Smith

 

Extras:

Songs with literary references!

https://www.altpress.com/features/songs-with-literature-references/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Today%20in%20Books&utm_term=BookRiot_TodayInBooks_DormantSuppress

Shelter in Place and Misheard Lyrics:

https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/g12yfj/what_was_the_last_lyric_you_had_to_look_up_online/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

This episode was recorded on April 6, 2020

Q1: Why don't Americans wear face masks? (We recorded this on 3/31/20 and on 4/3/20 the CDC said Americans should wear a cloth face mask in crowded public places.)

Q2: I was taught to say supermarket in school, but I heard grocery store when I was in America. Which one should I use?

Q3: Pizza and pie- are they count or noncount?

Listen for our answers!