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Large parts of our region have recently had their first real snow this winter. With several centimetres of snow lying on the ground, we are going to take a look at words relating to SNOWY weather 🌨.Show more

Like rain, snow can be LIGHT or HEAVY. Each of the tiny pieces that falls is a SNOWFLAKE ❄. When the snow stays on the ground and does not melt, we say it SETTLES. On the ground, it forms a COVERING. If the covering is thick, we may call it a BLANKET OF SNOW. If it is a very thin layer of snow, we sometimes call it a DUSTING: a light dusting of snow. The word SNOWFALL is used especially to talk about how much snow falls: Heavy snowfalls are expected tonight and tomorrow.

When a lot of snow falls during a storm, we talk about a SNOWSTORM 🌨. If that snowstorm is extreme, we may describe it as a BLIZZARD, especially if the wind is very strong. During a blizzard, there may be so much snow and cloud that we cannot see properly. This set of conditions is called a WHITEOUT. Light snow that falls suddenly and is blown in different directions by the wind is often referred to as a FLURRY: The forecast said it was going to be a very cold day with snow flurries in the east.

When a strong wind blows snow into a pile, we say the snow DRIFTS. A pile of snow which has been blown in this way is a DRIFT or a SNOWDRIFT.

POWDERY snow is snow that has just fallen and is dry and loose. Less appealingly, snow lying on the ground that has begun to melt (or thaw) is SLUSHY:  The snow on the roads was slushy and grey. Snow that is wet when it falls – a mixture of snow and rain – is called SLEET.  On the weather forecast, sleet is sometimes referred to as WINTRY SHOWERS.

If there is so much snow that people cannot get out of their house, they are SNOWED IN. Children who cannot go to school because heavy snow has caused their school to shut may enjoy a SNOW DAY. They might use that day to build a SNOWMAN ☃ or have a SNOWBALL FIGHT  (= throwing balls of snow at each other). They may even form SNOW ANGELS by lying on their backs in the snow and moving their arms and legs in and out. (The shape left in the snow should look like an angel!). If they live near a hill, they may be out SLEDGING  or TOBOGGANING🛷  (= travelling over snow while sitting on a sledge or toboggan).  Of course, if they’re lucky enough to live near mountains, they may GO SKIING ⛷ or SNOWBOARDING 🏂 Mountains that have snow on the top of them are often described as SNOW-CAPPED 🏔

Everyone likes snow. Still, while some people look out of their window in the morning at the NEW-FALLEN SNOW and see a WINTER WONDERLAND  (= a beautiful snowy scene), others see freezing temperatures, travel problems and general misery. What about you?
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We all might feel some sort of embarrassment from time to time, feeling ashamed or shy especially in a new company,
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AWKWARD and UNCOMFORTABLE mean ‘rather embarrassed and anxious’.
😬 There was an awkward silence, and then, thank goodness, someone spoke.
😬 Ten seconds passed in uncomfortable silence.

The informal, shortened forms of ‘awkward’ – AWKS or AWK  – are also used:
🤭 I called him ‘Dylan’, which was the name of her previous boyfriend, so that was a bit awks.

If you are extremely embarrassed, you can say that you are MORTIFIED:
😳 She was mortified to have made such a public error.

A very emphatic adjective that describes extreme embarrassment is EXCRUCIATING:
🙈 I’ll never forget the excruciating embarrassment of getting her name wrong in front of all those people.

If you CRINGE, you feel very embarrassed, often about something you have said or done. The informal adjectives are  CRINGEWORTHY  and, in UK English, CRINGE-MAKING:
😬 I still cringe when I think of what I said to him.
😬 His attempts to engage the youth are frankly cringeworthy.
😬 There were some cringe-making moments when she made jokes and no one laughed.

The informal adjective TOE-CURLING describes things that are extremely embarrassing, usually for someone else:
🤭 There were some truly toe-curling moments when the main actor forgot his lines.
🤭 The whole scene was toe-curlingly awful.

Finally, someone who is so embarrassed that they wish they could disappear might say they WANT THE GROUND TO OPEN UP AND SWSLLOW THEM. Alternatively, they might say they want to CURL UP AND DIE:
🥵 I couldn’t believe I’d said such a stupid thing. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me!
🥵 I immediately realized I’d said the wrong thing, and I wanted to curl up and die.

The next time a situation makes you feel so embarrassed just remember : 'this too will pass' ... and quite soon.

#randomWords
#akwardAndASHAMED
#shyAndSelfconcious
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As Christmas! is getting nearer I'd like to get into the Christmas spirit as well and have a look at festive phrases with a round-up of idioms that contain a word that we often associate withShow more Christmas.

☃ Let’s start with snow. Most Christmas cards often show beautiful snowy scenes. If someone has too much work to do, we say they are SNOWED UNDER:
❄ She’s completely snowed under at work.

'Snowball’, (=a ball of snow for throwing) features in two idioms. The SNOWBALL EFFECT refers to the way that once something has started, its size or effect keeps getting bigger: 
🎿 Because of the snowball effect of social media, the publicity around the case grew and grew.

If someone or something has absolutely no chance of achieving something or getting something good, we sometimes say they DONT'T HAVE A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL: 
🏂 Without a good lawyer, she doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. (The idea here is that in hell, the heat would immediately melt a snowball.)

Focusing now on typical Christmas food rather than weather, a bird that is often eaten at Christmas is the turkey. If someone chooses a course of action which will have negative consequences for them, we sometimes say it’s LIKE TURKEYS VOTING FOR CHRISTMAS: 
🦃 So why would people vote for a party that’s going to make them poorer? It’s like turkeys voting for Christmas!

Geese are also traditionally eaten on Christmas day. The singular form ‘goose’ features in two nice idioms. 
🪿 THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG(S) is the thing that makes you the most money.
🪿 If you KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG(S), you destroy that valuable thing: Like most companies, you trade on your reputation. Spoil your reputation and you kill the goose that lays the golden egg(s).
🦆 A WILD-GOOSE CHASE, meanwhile, is a search for something that is completely unsuccessful because what you are looking for doesn’t exist or cannot be found: Honestly, I think we’re on a wild-goose chase trying to find the document. I suspect she threw it away years ago.

🍮 Christmas pudding often follows the main course. (It’s a dark, sweet food containing lots of dried fruit.) People sometimes say THE PROOF OF THE PUDFING (IS IN THE EATING), meaning that you can only judge the quality of something after you have tried it yourself: 
🍮 As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so here are some reviews from our customers for you to read.

😇 Finally, angels are very much part of Christmas. When we accept that a person isn’t perfect and sometimes behaves badly, we sometimes say that they ARE NO ANGEL:
😇 I’m the first to admit that my son is no angel, but he’s certainly not a bully.
Someone who is ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS supports the side that is moral and good in a situation: 
😇 He’s a committed environmentalist and very much on the side of the angels.

#randomwords
#christmasphrases
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VAGUE LANGUAGE is a common way to talk about something without directly saying about it:
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1. Avoiding unnecessary details
✅ I threw out old clothes, books, THAT KIND OF THONG/THINGS LIKE THAT (= more things of this kind).
✅ Bob’s dog  is a cross between a poodle and a Labrador, OR SOMETHING. ( = I don’t really know)
✅ Are you a teaching assistant? - Yeah, SOMETHING LIKE THAT (= normally used when you can’t be bothered to explain something)
✅ Jane had A SORT OF/ KIND OF X-ray, THAT THING WHERE /WHAT DO YOU CALL IT WHERE they put you in a tunnel (= used when you don’t know the exact word or expression)

2. Being imprecise using -ISH
💚 He’s got brownish hair.
💚 Let's meet at 7ish

3. Being imprecise about quantity and time:
❄ Shall I come (at) AROUND/ABOUT  seven / sevenish?
❄ MORE OR LESS, LOADS OF, A FEW/ A COUPLE/ ROUGHLY

4. WHENEVER/ WHOEVER,  etc as one word answers to show indifference, but
WHATEVER! is probably the most common.

✅ at (the) most =  not more than a particular amount or number (самое большее, не более) The journey will take an hour at the most.
✅ at least =  as much as, or more than, a number or amount (по меньшей мере) You'll have to wait at least an hour.
✅ 50-odd (APPROXIMATELY) = used after a number to mean approximately (немногим больше) There are thirty-odd kids in the class.
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