Category Archives: literature

former manager suing britney spears

Posted on October 25, 2012 by

britney & lufti: like cocaine & waffles? people magazine reported last week that britney spears’ past nightmares came back to haunt her thursday. her former manager sam lutfi is suing her for the 15 percent of her earnings that he … Continue reading →

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wimp

Posted on January 21, 2012 by

on my show last week, we discussed a clip from the movie no strings attached where ashton kutcher and natalie portman call each other wimps. natalie portman is disgusted with ashton kutcher’s wimpy jacket wimp (wimpy) is an insult that is … Continue reading →

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magic trip

Posted on September 13, 2011 by

in 1962, ken kesey wrote this book the book was made into a critically acclaimed movie starring jack nicholson in 1975 one flew over the cuckoo’s nest was very well-received and made kesey famous. his second novel this book was … Continue reading →

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bail vs boil

Posted on December 24, 2010 by

last week here on richyrocks english the word bail was discussed in reference to julian assange of wikileaks fame.  this week one of my students confused bail with boil.  water boils at 100 degrees celsius boil means to transform from a liquid … Continue reading →

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humbug

Posted on December 23, 2010 by

earlier this month on my ustream show we discussed the gumby cartoon scrooge loose.  gumby and pokey are tracking down ebenezer scrooge, who has escaped from the novel a christmas carol. spoiler alert: it ends up being december dopey’s day for these two poser … Continue reading →

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kanye w & george w

Posted on November 5, 2010 by

the release of former u.s. president george w. bush‘s autobiography decision points has put the hurricane katrina telethon where kanye west told  a national audience that bush doesn’t care about black people back in the news for a few days. … Continue reading →

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tweak

Posted on August 27, 2010 by

in a class last week, i mentioned the word tweak, which is a great word to use to in a situation where you make minor changes (in contrast to a revamp) for example, this story about tiger woods’ golf game … Continue reading →

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realize

Posted on July 19, 2010 by

spanish speakers like to use the word realize to say complete or achieve (like the verb realizar in spanish), which is good usage.  this quote from brazilian writer paulo coehlo circulates widely on twitter: when a person really desires something, all the … Continue reading →

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an important difference

Posted on April 15, 2010 by

in recent classes i have heard students mistake the noun difference with the adjective different and similarly, the noun importance with the adjective important. a great example of different is the phrase different strokes for different folks, which means different types … Continue reading →

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