Cultural English

Topics: Ask an American – Guardian Angels; blunder versus stumble; oh my God; keep doing what you’re doing

Topics: American Presidents – Lyndon B. Johnson; foreigner, alien, and other terms for people from other countries; provided (that) versus assuming (that); urgency versus emergency

Topics: Movies – The Silence of the Lambs; The Erie Canal; recession versus depression; if you will; all-in-one tax adviser/advisor

Famous Americans – Geronimo; The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race; amiable versus amicable; biases

Topics: American Musicals - Hello, Dolly!; The National Rifle Association; to take a stab at (something) versus to take a chance; if you will; to walk a dog

Topics: Ask an American - Art conservation; bravery versus gallantry; to escape versus to abscond; how to communicate time

Topics: Famous Authors - E.B. White; Name change after marriage; appliance versus utensil; to jibe (with) versus to be at odds with; I’m here versus I’m in here

Topics: Famous Americans - Jim Thorpe; United Code of Military Justice & Common Crimes; pre-paid cell phones; abbreviation versus acronym; a matter of form

Topics: Cajun Culture; The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show; to preserve versus to reserve; yada, yada, yada versus blah, blah, blah; Dear Sir/Madam versus To Whom it May Concern

Topics: American Musicals – My Fair Lady; Chautauquas; to reply versus to comply versus to meet; mild versus tender; to have the munchies

Topics: Ask an American – Firefighter inmates; catastrophe versus calamity versus disaster; can’t hardly wait versus can hardly wait; so that

Topics: Presidential Libraries; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; people versus peoples; officer versus official; to continue versus to carry on

Topics: Famous Americans – Carrie Nation; The Beach Boys; to pump up versus to balloon versus to beef up; historic versus historical; vigilance

Topics: Famous Songs – “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”; Niagara Falls; assessment versus evaluation versus appraisal; sympathy versus empathy; to take (one’s) time and to take a load off

Topics: American President – James Madison; function versus reception versus banquet; worthy versus worth it; all of a sudden versus out of the blue

Topics: Ask an American – Crowdsourcing; inn versus motel versus resort; to captivate versus allure; to leave versus to go away versus to go out

Topics: American Authors – William Faulkner; Soap Box Derbys; to deceive versus to cheat versus to lie; to appreciate; to go green

Topics: Movies – A Streetcar Named Desire; Bryce Canyon National Park; lockout versus walkout versus strike; Sweet Sixteen, Elite Six, and Final Four; to dote on

Topics: Panama Canal; Famous Songs – “Fever”; to squander versus to lavish versus to waste; self-conscious versus self-confident versus self-aware; as tough as they come

Topics: Famous Americans – Typhoid Mary; The National Hot Rod Association; complex versus complicated versus intricate; needle hit the groove; to lampoon; loner; pastime; to clean versus to cleanse

Topics: Ask an American – Saving the oldest photograph; law versus rule versus policy; to stem from versus to be derived from; bring it on; infomercial; hawking; exercise fad

Topics: American Presidents – Woodrow Wilson; junction versus intersection versus interchange; proprietary versus patent; to bluff (one’s) way into a secure area

Topics: American Musicals – Fiddler on the Roof; How to Sue Somebody (How Civil Lawsuits Work); reporter versus journalist versus correspondent; expense versus expenditure versus cost; bottom line; to run (something) by (someone)

Topics: American Authors – J.D. Salinger; Comedy in Print – Mad Magazine and The Onion; scanty versus inadequate versus deficient; inquiry versus investigation versus research; so-called

Topics: Movies – Titanic; The Ford Motor Company and the Model T; holiday versus feast versus celebration; impunity versus retaliation versus notoriety; to think of versus to think about

Topics: Ask an American – La Brea Tar Pits; until versus till/‘til versus by; to restore versus to recover; CCU (coronary care unit)

Topics: Famous Americans – John Philip Sousa; Confidential Magazine and the Criminal Libel Suit of 1957; developer versus programmer versus coder; describing a person with a good character

Topics: Famous Songs – “Que Sera Sera”; Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown; demand versus request versus requirement; discrimination versus segregation; a great deal

Topics: American Presidents – William Henry Harrison; fringe benefits versus benefits package versus compensation package; teacher versus professor

Topics: Famous Americans – Charles Schultz and Peanuts; The Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve; to be pleased to versus to be happy to versus it’s (one’s) pleasure to; to sit versus to seat; willy-nilly