Most Common Baseball Idioms

Keep the idioms coming! Last month, we had a post on boxing idioms that are often used in the real world. As we are halfway through the baseball season, it would only be fair to point out that many frequently used idioms also come from baseball. Let’s take a look at some of them.

1.  “Throw (someone) a curveball” – to do something unexpected, usually something unpleasant

Baseball scenario – When the pitcher throws a curveball, the ball will dive downward instead of flying in a straight line. Usually, this is done in order to trick the batter into thinking that he will be able to hit the ball, when actually he will probably fail to do so.

Real world scenario – During a presentation at school or work, you expect others to ask questions that relate to your presentation. However, when someone asks you about something you were completely unprepared to discuss, that person has just thrown you a curveball.

2.  “Step up to the plate” – to accept a challenge or responsibility for something; to rise to the occasion

Baseball scenario – The batter gets into position to hit the ball. He stands at the right or left of the plate depending on which feels more comfortable.

Real world scenario – Natural disasters, like hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes, can wreak havoc and cause significant damage. People who want to help rebuild destroyed neighborhoods should step up to the plate and begin working with each other to help these communities.

3.  “Strike out” – to fail at something

Baseball scenario – A batter is given three chances to hit the ball and run to first base. If he fails all three times, he has just struck out and has lost an opportunity to score a point for the team.

Real world scenario – If a man is attracted to a woman, he should seize the chance to ask her out on a dinner date. If he takes too long to do this and somebody else ends up asking her out first for dinner, then he has struck out and will not be having dinner with her.

4.  “Play hardball” – to play tough/act aggressively; to be unwilling to compromise

Baseball scenario – In baseball, a hard ball is used while in softball, a softer ball is used.

Real world scenario – If two major companies are trying to come to a certain agreement, but one refuses to cooperate in the deal, then that company is playing hardball. The company will not compromise until it gets what it wants.

Have you heard of any other idioms that might come from baseball? What about other sports?

Source: voxy.com

We Think More Rationally In A Foreign Language

prussiahasinvaded:

One of psychology’s major contributions has been to document the myriad ways our thinking is sent haywire by a series of biases. Investigations into the ways and means to combat these biases have lagged behind, but that’s starting to change. Now a team of researchers at the University of Chicago has reported that people are immune to two key biases when they think in their second, less familiar language… 

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(via bellalinguista)

Source: bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk

3 Great Songs for English Learners: Hip-Hop Edition

In the previous blog post published by Voxy, we learned 5 reasons why music is an excellent and low-cost way to learn a second language. Today we’ll suggest our favorite rap songs for English learners and explain the lessons behind them. This is your chance to bust a move in English!

Run DMC – “It’s Like That” 

Beginner

  • For hip-hop, this song is pretty slow and repetitive, making it suitable for learners who need a lot of listening support

  • Vocabulary and idioms relating to suffering and bad economies, such as “to make ends meet”

  • If you’re a speaker of a Latin-based language (Spanish, French, etc), you’ll be happy to find many recognizable cognates

Blackalicious – “Deception” 

Intermediate

  • Many examples of regular and irregular past verbs, perfect for those who are just learning them or who need a review

  • Words and phrases relating to the universal theme of greed

  • Natural pronunciation of “you”

Beastie Boys – “Intergalatic” 

Advanced

  • A variety of verb forms, including past, present, present perfect and the future verb tenses

  • Conditionals with “if”

  • Each line from a verse has the same rhyme, making it easier to remember

  • A lot of American pop cultural references

Source: voxy.com

FREE LESSON: “I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but…”

You and your boyfriend disagreed about when to arrive at the airport to catch a flight. You thought that you should go earlier, but he wanted to go later. Now you’ve missed your flight. You’re annoyed, so you say this to him.

I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but…

I hate to (do something), but…
When people have to tell someone something negative, they often start with “I hate to ___, but…” For example:
I hate to have to tell you this, but your job has been eliminated.
I really hate to ask, but is there any way I could stay with you for a couple of weeks, until I find my own place?
When you start the conversation in this way, it sounds like you don’t want to say these things, but you are doing it because you have to.
I told you so.
“I told you so” is a set expression in English that means “I was right, and you were wrong.” You say “I told you so” when:
you disagreed with someone about a choice
the other person didn’t listen to your advice
the other person’s choice turns out to be wrong
“I told you so” sounds a little mean, so if you’re really trying to be polite, you should avoid saying it. People also introduce it like this:
I hate to say it, but I told you so.
I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but…

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Source: voxy.com

Study: Bilingual Mandarin Speakers Repress Negative Words in English

A new research study revealed that a bilingual study group did not respond to negative words in English charged with potentially disturbing emotions.

According to the study conducted with bilingual Mandarin-English speakers,  words such as “anger” in the non-native language were not assimilated in the same way as words with no emotions attached to them, such as the word “position.” This may mean that our brain can unconsciously process meaning of words, while consciously eliminating some information.

Study researcher Yanjing Wu, a psychologist at Bangor University in the United Kingdom, stated:

“We devised this experiment to unravel the unconscious interactions between the processing of emotional content and access to the native language system. We think we’ve identified, for the first time, the mechanism by which emotion controls fundamental thought processes outside consciousness. Perhaps this is a process that resembles the mental repression mechanism that people have theorized about but never previously located.”

The findings include the fact that when using their second language, bilinguals have a much less emotional response. And that was the case of swear words and usually awkward topics in English for the Mandarin speakers.

Wu and his colleague, Guillaume Thierry, recruited 15 native English speakers, 15 native Chinese speakers, and 15 native Chinese speakers who were also fluent in English, all of them with English knowledge sinc 12 years of age. Study subjects saw word pairs on a screen, being one of the words neutral, while the other variable between positive, negative, or neutral. The first syllable of each word at each pair of words was chosen with the intention to sound the same in Mandarin compared to its counterpart. Negative words, such as failure, war, discomfort and unfortunate, were chosen for the pairs. Every time the words had some connection meaning-wise (and in fact, some of them were), participants were requested to press a button. Electrodes were attached to the scalps of study subjects to measure the electrical response in the brain when they were confronted with the pairs.

Findings were that the bilingual subjects, without knowing, were translating the positive and neutral words into Mandarin, but they did not show the same response when reading negative words. Thierry stated that he was extremely surprised by their finding and that they expected to find a heightened reaction to the emotional word but what they found was the complete opposite — “a cancellation of the response to the negative words.”

The reason why the brain acts this way is not yet clear, but the researchers suspect it is a protective mechanism. Thierry adds:

“We know that in trauma, for example, people behave very differently. Surface conscious processes are modulated by a deeper emotional system in the brain. Perhaps this brain mechanism spontaneously minimizes negative impact of disturbing emotional content on our thinking, to prevent causing anxiety or mental discomfort.”

Source: voxy.com

Train your English watching the videoclip “TV has gone to the dogs” and reading the transcript below! 

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: Sport …outdoor adventure - it’s a new TV channel and it’s just for dogs. Dog TV’s creators say the channel entertains canines when their humans are at work. Dr. Nicholas Dodman explains. 
DR. NICHOLAS DODMAN, DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR, TUFTS UNIVERSITY CUMMINGS SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE: “There are numerous dogs, 80 million in the United States, many of whom are spending long hours alone, up to and even more than eight hours a day. And in that vacuum, devoid of human company, they have pretty much nothing to do.”
REPORTER: Dodman says sound, colors and content are especially tailored for dogs. 
DR. DODMAN: “We know that dogs are kind of red-green color blind. So the colors have been adjusted and augmented. Auditorily, we know that they appreciate more melodic sounds and music. And content, we know they like looking at other dogs. They like looking at people. They like motion, like balls being kicked around, frisbees and stuff.” 
REPORTER: Dog TV claims it can reduce your best friend’s angst and relax them. Dodman says about 15 percent of dogs in the U.S. show signs of clinical separation anxiety. 
DR DODMAN: “The cardinal signs being vocalization and destructive behavior. You often don’t know about vocalization until a neighbor reports your dog barking or disturbing them and howling and otherwise. And then destruction, sometimes clawing at the back of a door or microblind, other times chewing on pillows or entering trash cans. So these are clinical separation anxiety cases.” 
REPORTER: Dog TV streams from its website and also has plans to broadcast nationwide. Making millions of dogs jump for joy. Tara Cleary, Reuters.

COMMENTS
1. No, it’s not April 1st. Dog TV really exists—just check out their website. 
2. Cat lovers may be wondering if there’s a channel for moggies. Well, not yet (it’s only a matter of time), but you can buy DVDs for cats to watch.

IDIOM
Note the punning title of this report. If you say that something has gone to the dogs, you mean that it has become weaker and worse in quality. • The country is going - or indeed, has already gone - to the dogs, and there’s probably nothing we can do about it.

Source: englishblog.com

Is Language More than a ‘Tool’ to Communicate?

We have been conditioned to think that language is only a tool we use to describe and communicate the world around us, and you can use many different tools (languages) to describe only one world. But does the world change in accordance with the ‘tool’ you use?

That’s an interesting topic brought up by a study published in 2007 by Jonathan Winawer (MIT) et al. Such study involved a group with native English speakers and a separate group with native Russian speakers. They were presented with blue squares that differed in shades from light to dark blue, with one of them being used as the main matching reference to the others, just like shown in the main picture of this article. When prompted, participants had to quickly choose which shade of blue matched the reference square. Seems very easy, doesn’t it? Well, one fact worth mentioning is that, in Russian, light blue and dark blue are actually considered to be two totally different colors, with two completely different names (lighter blues are “goluboy” and darker blues are “siniy”), much like if you were to compare orange to red.

As you would expect, Russian speakers found it very easy to distinguish between light blue and dark blue and were faster than English speakers when doing so. English speakers treated comparisons between different color categories (shades of light and dark blues) and comparisons between same color categories (shades of light blues only/ shades of dark blues only) with the same level of difficult, while Russian speakers showed some advantage in the first type of comparison. Even though language was a determinant factor, the study did not involve language at all. We can also generalize it and say that the way people use language determines how they perceive the world and changes their conscious.

Subjects were additionally analyzed for their ability to perform the same task described above with an extra distraction of silently rehearsing an specific string of numbers, such as “1,8,6,7,2,5,4…” As such a task demands linguistic attention from the individual (digit strings are not easily memorized without linguistic help, hence the way we memorize telephone numbers), the advantage shown in the first trial was not mirrored on the second one. A third control trial was performed to make sure that this effect was not only caused by “having to do two things at the same time,” but rather caused by the fact that these two tasks mentioned above overlap linguistically.

This study suggests that, after all, language may not only be treated simply as a code or a tag we put on elements and established concepts. Language may also create these elements and establish itself new concepts and how Humans perceive them. It may also serve as an explanation of why there are so many untranslatable expressions between languages.

Source: voxy.com