15 Jun 2026, 14:16 UTC163 views2 reactionsread 8 August 2026 I am a big fan of John Oliver and his show Last Week Tonight. While watching another episode today in the morning, I heard the expression 'to be nipping at someone’s heels'. It is a good one. It means closely pursue or fiercely compete with someone, threatening to catch up, overtake, or replace them.
Example - Although the veteran champion is still winning races, the younger competitors are nipping at her heels.
Le…
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19 May 2026, 09:02 UTC264 views4 reactionsread 8 August 2026 My dear friends, I am gradually relocating this channel to Twitter (X) as a step to stop using Telegram. Occasionally, some posts will still be published here but the bulk of the channel will be available on Twitter. I hope you will follow me there. Have a nice day and see you soon!
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15 May 2026, 06:36 UTC263 viewsread 8 August 2026 Photo
For the past year or so I have been reading the winners of the Pulitzer Prize from 2000 to 2026.
Currently, I am reading this lovely book consisting of 4 separate novels. The book is captivating and a real page-turner.
While reading it, I came across the expression 'in tow‘.
If you have somebody in tow, they are with you and following closely behind.
Examples - She turned up with her mother in tow.
Mr. Bask was …
13 May 2026, 06:21 UTC176 views5 reactionsread 8 August 2026 Mesh is a nice word.
If something meshes with something, it fits together or matches closely, especially in a way that works well.
Example - This evidence meshes with earlier reports of an organized riot.
A synonymous phrase would be 'to tally with’ or 'match up with something‘.
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12 May 2026, 07:44 UTC187 viewsread 8 August 2026 Posted without readable text
12 May 2026, 06:08 UTC175 viewsread 8 August 2026 I know that Mozart was a big fan of scatological humor (connected with human waste from the body in an unpleasant way). He wrote many letters to his friends coming up a lot with scatological jokes.
Yesterday I came across another word that is similar but not quite the same - slapstick humor.
Slapstick humor is the type of humour that is based on simple actions, for example people hitting each other, falling down, e…
11 May 2026, 05:28 UTC168 viewsread 8 August 2026 Posted without readable text
10 May 2026, 13:12 UTC190 views6 reactionsread 8 August 2026 I am now reading a wonderful novel by Paul Auster 4321. I’ve come across a nice idiomatic sentence - His grandmother’s kindness was measured out in teaspoons.
Brilliant, don’t you agree?
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8 May 2026, 07:27 UTC240 views1 reactionsread 8 August 2026 Posted without readable text
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4 May 2026, 06:23 UTC299 views8 reactionsread 8 August 2026 Today my favourite section 'You live and learn‘.
Did anyone of you know the word 'nous‘ before?
I bet you know it from French. Guess what - this word also exists in English, however, its meaning could not be more different.
I am a big snooker fan and today the world championship final is coming to an end. Yesterday, I was watching an evening session of the final and one of the commentators said ‚the Chinese player…
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11 Apr 2026, 16:51 UTC343 views3 reactionsread 8 August 2026 The other day I watched the movie Hamnet. Honestly, for me it was nothing to write home about - a hackneyed plot with mediocre performance by lead actors. However, I did manage to learn a new word from the movie - to be handfasted to someone. It is an archaic form of 'to be betrothed' or 'married' to someone. For example - The young lady was handfasted to a wealthy merchant.
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23 Jan 2026, 13:18 UTC467 views9 reactionsread 8 August 2026 To be on tenterhooks is a nice idiom.
It means being very anxious or excited while you are waiting to find out something or see what will happen.
Example - I've been on tenterhooks all week waiting for the results.
We were on tenterhooks all morning waiting for the phone to ring.
In Ukrainian you could translate it as 'на голках‘.
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