Author Archives: Abbie

English for parents – potty training

Potty training, or sometimes, toilet training. We have to go through it. That time when children must learn to use the toilet and forget about nappies. In British English, potty only means the small pot that children learn to use, like the one in the picture at the top. This is a potty. ‘Do youContinue reading “English for parents – potty training”

English everyday – go on then

Christmas is coming, the adverts are getting fat, please put some money in Tesco’s hat. What I’m interested in is the last scene where the daughter asks: Daughter: Dad, d’you wanna turkey sandwich? Dad: Oh go on then.   So what does ‘go on then’ mean? Does the Dad want a turkey sandwich? Or not?Continue reading “English everyday – go on then”

English everyday – racist words

Did you know it’s offensive to use the word Jap to refer to Japanese people? It might seem like a useful shorter word but actually it’s now considered offensive. There is a long list of ‘ethnic slurs’ on Wikipedia that shows many words that are offensive about people’s nationality or ethnicity or race. So theseContinue reading “English everyday – racist words”