The icing/frosting on the cake: differences between British and American idioms

About Words - Cambridge Dictionary blog


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by Liz Walter

Differences between US and UK English are particularly pronounced in informal and idiomatic language. There are lots of idioms that are used in one variety but not the other, for example go pear-shaped (to fail or go wrong) is used in British but not American English and strike pay dirt (discover something valuable) is American but not British.

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Hora do Planeta: 27.03.2021 das 20h30 às 21h30

Apague as luzes e participe! A Hora do Planeta, conhecida globalmente como Earth Hour, é um ato simbólico no qual todos são convidados a mostrar sua preocupação com o aquecimento global. É uma iniciativa mundial da Rede WWF para enfrentar as mudanças climáticas.

Durante a Hora do Planeta, pessoas, empresas, comunidades e governo são convidados a apagar suas luzes pelo período de uma hora para mostrar seu apoio ao combate ao aquecimento global.

https://www.wwf.org.br/natureza_brasileira/especiais/horadoplaneta/

Bubbles and a breakthrough: the language of COVID (update)

About Words - Cambridge Dictionary blog


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by Kate Woodford

In February of 2020, my colleague Liz Walter wrote a post on the language of COVID-19: Quarantine, carriers and face masks: the language of the coronavirus. Today, I’m looking at some of the many COVID-related words and phrases that we are using almost a year later.

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Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2020

About Words - Cambridge Dictionary blog

Our Word of the Year 2020 is… quarantine. Our data shows it was one of the most highly searched words on the Cambridge Dictionary this year.

Quarantine was the only word to rank in the top five for both search spikes  and overall views (more than 183,000 by early November), with the largest spike in searches (28,545) seen the week of 18-24 March, when many countries around the world went into lockdown as a result of COVID-19.

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Going forward, sooner or later (Expressions to talk about the future)

About Words - Cambridge Dictionary blog

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by Kate Woodford

This post takes a look at a group of phrases that we use when we talk about the future.

Some of the phrases that we use when we talk about our future plans and ideas simply mean ‘at some time in the future’, (without mentioning a particular time), for example at some point: At some point, we’ll look into buying a new laptop.

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Off-colour and on the mend (Talking about health)

About Words - Cambridge Dictionary blog

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by Kate Woodford

On one thread of this blog, we look at the phrases that people use in daily conversation. This week, we’re focusing on expressions that people use to talk about health – both their own health and that of their family and friends. We won’t be looking at individual symptoms. These were covered by my colleague, Liz Walter, in her post My leg hurts:Talking about illness. Instead, we’ll consider the phrases that people use in conversation to talk more generally about health.

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