Everyman's English, from language to culture

U.S. First Transcontinental Railroad (1)

By McGovern

The First Transcontinental Railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route") was a railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected Iowa with the Pacific Ocean at Alameda, California, opposite San Francisco....

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U.S. First Transcontinental Railroad (2)

By McGovern

Needing rapid communication, the companies built telegraph lines along the railroad. The linkage made these lines easier to protect and maintain than the original First Transcontinental Telegraph lines In addition to track laying (which typically employed...

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Entente cordiale

By McGovern

Unexpected landmarks.

By McGovern

Did you know about that ? Just a few miles from the Spanish border, right under Mount Canigou there is a Catalan village who has been, for over a century, a haven for visitors from the UK. It boasts a Church of England chapel, and was a usual Spring and...

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Interstellar (2)

By McGovern

Here's my translation into Fench: Ne t'avise pas d'investir en douceur une pareille nuit. Brûler, délirer, ainsi se doit le grand âge d’aller au bout du jour ; Enrage, ivre de rage, contre cette lumière à l’agonie. La raison est toujours du côté de l’obscur,...

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COMPUTER PUNCTUATION (2)

By McGovern

II. Other names are specific to programming } { are braces (or curly brackets) | is a bar (= pipe), while || is a double pipe ] [ are chevrons (= angle brackets) … is an ellipsis / is a slash (or stroke) \ is called antislash (= backlash) ¸ is an obelus...

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COMPUTER PUNCTUATION (1)

By McGovern

What do you call the terms that are used in coding to separate words and phrases ? I. Some names are not typically ASCII and are already found in everyday use: () are parentheses ‘ is an apostrophe : a colon ; a semicolon , a comma ! an exclamation mark...

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Interstellar

By McGovern

Here is the full version of the poem read by Prof. BROWN in Interstellar, the film. These poignant lines were written by Dylan THOMAS (1914 - 1943). Cheers to Anaëlle (2nde 8) thanks to whom I first discovered these lines ! Do not go gentle into that...

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Claudia HUCKLE

Nantes, opera-singer

By McGovern

Here's a a great artist you could see in the streets of Nantes and Angers. This British opera-singer is a contralto who plays Olga in Tchaikovski's Eugen Onegin. Her voice is exceptionally rich in tone and colour, her acting is perfect, mobile and sensuous....

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DJERBAHOOD

Faith47, Fitan Maggie, Swoon, taggers, Tunisia

By McGovern

Maëlle Baudry tells us about “Djerbahood”, a unique experience she has just discovered : Djerbahood is a humanitarian project, based on the houses of Djerba, a Tunisian island. Medhi Ben Cheikh, the director of this project, decided to call street artists...

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