Cultural English

Topics: Ask an American – Beards and facial hair; sin versus transgression; totally versus definitely; “I ever go there”

Topics: Lau v. Nichols; vaudeville; finally versus ultimately; trickle versus drizzle; coincidence

Topics: Famous Americans – Amelia Earhart; Prom; ethics versus morals; on the very first day versus on the very day; to warrant and to address

Topics: Movie – The Shawshank Redemption; The Pentagon; to go ahead versus straight ahead; cheesy and quirky; a few quarters short of a buck

Topics: American Presidents – James Monroe; to oppress versus to suppress versus to repress; fruit and vegetables versus fruits and vegetables; file not sent/file not supported

Topics: Ask an American – Offensive mascots; capacity versus capability; to punch in versus to punch out; to put the cat among the pigeons

Topics: Famous Songs – “Mack the Knife”; Monument Valley and the Valley of the Gods; stem versus stalk versus shoot; using one’s middle name as one’s first name; indeed

Topics: Miranda v. Arizona; Famous Americans: Rube Goldberg; to heal versus to cure; to give up versus to give in; no way

Topics: The Scottsboro Boys Trial; The Grammy Awards; so versus too; to bash; to whip the crowd into a frenzy

Topics: American Musicals and Movies - Grease; Workers’ Compensation Laws; whirl versus swirl versus eddy; to be curious versus to wonder; beloved

Topics: The Basics of Basketball; Flea Markets; grass versus herb; delectable versus palatable; be my guest

Topics: Movies - Singin’ in the Rain; Famous Authors – Clare Booth Luce; to exchange versus to change versus to switch; to walk off; margin

Topics: American Presidents – George H. W. Bush; “architects let rip with a wave of ambitious and beautifully crafted buildings”; to keep (someone) out of (one’s) hair; pronouncing dead versus debt

Topics: The Roaring Twenties; The Empire State Building; Indians (Asians) versus Indians (indigenous peoples); to blow up versus to explode; staging ground

Famous Songs – “If I Had a Hammer”; How to Become a Social Worker; to dismantle versus to disassemble; guilt versus blame; to cross the great divide

Ask an American – Being a twin; to revoke versus to nullify versus to rescind; waste; bon voyage

Topics: Movies – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Famous Americans – Babe Didrikson Zaharias; to deliver versus to distribute versus to ship; describing the loss of hair on a man’s head; to ward off

Topics: The Jonestown Massacre; Square Dancing; perspective versus prospective versus prospect; scheme versus schema; heart condition

Topics: American Presidents – Grover Cleveland; to understand versus to grab versus to grasp versus to get (it); the suffix –hood; pronouncing words with the first letter “e”

Topics: Famous Americans – James Fenimore Cooper; The Farmer’s Almanac; in favor of versus in (one’s) favor; feat of strength, raw human strength, and to be forced against table’s edge; to multitask

Topics: Famous Americans – John Brown; High School Reunions; phantom versus soul; coast versus shore; plug nickel

Topics: Movies – Amadeus; The Adelsverein; neither and nor: earworm; badass

Topics: Famous Buildings/Structures – The Brooklyn Bridge; The Minimum Wage; to speculate versus to deliberate versus to contemplate; holy moly; down-and-dirty

Topics: How to Become a Dentist; The Guano Island Act; classic versus classical; to be there for (someone) versus to take (someone) there; after full deliberation

Topics: American Presidents – George W. Bush; I beg to differ, Would it kill you to (do something)?, ashes to ashes (dust to dust); worth more than; hodge podge, gazillion, and tons of

Topics: Ask an American – Drought and a new gold rush; vendor versus salesman versus pitcher; to clinch versus to breeze into versus to blow away; pronouncing bird versus beard versus bear

Topics: The American Indian Movement of the 1970s; Famous Buildings – The Sears Tower; inception versus conception versus to beget; to get back; cash on the barrelhead

Topics: Famous Musicals – All That Jazz; Winter Carnivals; irony and metaphor; pronouncing routed and data; hopefully

Topics: American Presidents – James K. Polk; beach versus shore versus coast; concept versus conception

Topics: American Musicals/Movies – The Sound of Music; Public Housing and “The Projects”; to soak versus to immerse versus to dip versus to pickle; so-called versus so to speak