All in the family

You father's mother is your grandmother. What do you call these people?

1. Your mother's father

2. Your father's sister

3. Your father's brother's son

4. Your sister's daughter

5. Your mother's second husband
   (who is not your father)

6. Your father's grandmother

7. Your son's wife

8. Your daughter's daughter

Brain teaser

Read the passage below, and then answer the question at the end.

One day a man went into a clothes shop and asked for a T-shirt. The assistant showed him several, and finally he said, “I think I'll have this one. How much is it?”

“That one is ₤8,” said the assistant, and the man gave her a ₤20 note.

The assistant didn't have enough change, so she went to the butcher's shop next door to see if he could change the note for her. The butcher gave her a ₤10 note, a ₤5 note and five ₤1 coins for the ₤20 note, and she went back to her shop and gave the man his change. He left the shop with the change and the T-shirt.

Ten minutes later, the butcher ran into the shop waving the ₤20 note. “Look,” he said angrily, “this note is a forgery. Give me my money back!”

The assistant looked carefully at the note and gave him back his ₤20.

What did the clothes shop lose?

Advertisements

British local newspapers usually contain several pages of advertisements, which are grouped in various categories. Here are some categories and below are some typical advertisements. Choose the category under which every advertisement would appear.

HOUSES FOR SALE	LOST AND FOUND	USED CARS	JOBS
SERVICES	COMING EVENTS	HOLIDAYS	FOR SALE

1. Two weeks on Greek Island from ₤300. Telephone Mediterranean Travel, 0065 165837.

2. ₤10 reward offered for information leading to return of our black and white kitten, which went missing in the Ansty area. Telephone Ansty 48269.

3. Part time waiter/waitress required, White Hart Hotel. 0065 222549.

4. Town centre, semi-detached, three bedrooms, garden. ₤65,000. Phone [phone].

5. Sofa and two chairs. Good condition. Any offer over ₤30 considered. Telephone [phone] after 6 pm.

6. Ten-year-old Ford Fiesta. One careful owner. 45,000 miles only. ₤1200. Tel. [phone].

7. Luigi Bertorelli, Italian pianist, at the City Hall, Wednesday 13th September, 8.15 pm. One performance only. Tickets bookable in advance.

8. Plumber, available 24 hours. 0065 229987.

What are they called?

People who live in the city of Bristol are called Bristolians. Many cities have names for their inhabitants. Choose the correct names from the lists below. (Note: the answer to number 6 is a colloquial expression.)

• Glasgow

• a Glasgower

• a Glaswegian

• a Glascunian

• London

• a Londoner

• a Lononian

• a Londonite

• Liverpool

• a Liverpudlian

• a Liverpoolian

• a Liverpooler

• Manchester

• a Manchesterite

• a Manchesterman

• a Mancurian

• Aberdeen

• an Aberdeener

• an Aberdonian

• an Aberdeenie

• Birmingham

• a Birmenite

• a Birmese

• a Brummie

Descriptive words

English is rich in descriptive words - adjectives. Each of the following sentences is missing an adjective (with a rather negative association). Can you fill them in from the list below? The meaning of each missing adjective is given at the end of the sentence.

lank shady gloomy glum shabby pasty

• I don't think he's very well. He's looking rather …………. (pale and unhealthy)

• Don't do business with him. He's a …………. character. (not to be trusted, slightly dishonest)

• Sarah always look so awful. She wears such …………. clothes. (old and untidy)

• The young man had a spotty face and …………. hair. (long, greasy, unwashed)

• I don't like their new house. It's rather ………….. (dark and depressing)

• What's the matter? I've never seen you looking so ………….. (not happy)

Festivals in Britain (2)

This is the second of two articles in which Nick McIver looks at Britain's national annual holidays, celebrations and festivals. Here he examines those holidays which fall in the second half of the year, from June to December. As you read the article, find out the answers to these questions:

1. What do druids, travellers and hippies have in common?

2. What happens to people who don't give children a “treat” on 31 October?

3. What is a “guy”?

4. What is another name for Father Christmas?

5. What is sometimes the surprise in a Christmas pudding?

6. When and where might you be given a lump of coal?

Midsummer's Eve

Although Midsummer's Eve is not traditionally a widely celebrated festival in Britain, it is celebrated by druids (practitioners of an ancient religion now virtually extinct) at the prehistoric stone circle of Stonehenge. In recent years, groups of travellers - caravan dwellers - and hippies have also tried to claim the right to enter the circle to see the sun rise on Midsummer Day, but they have generally not been allowed, largely because of fears of damage to the ancient monument.

Harvest festival

This is a very old festival, dating from pre-Christian times but nowadays celebrated by Christians. Each October, the churches - particularly in the countryside - are decorated with flowers, fruit, vegetables and other crops, and the local people come to give thanks for the successful completion of the harvest.

Hallowe'en

The name comes from “the eve of All Hallows”, also known in the Christian calendar as All Saints. According to folklore, on the night - 31 October - witches end evil spirits roam the country. These days, people dress up as witches and ghosts and have parties. Groups of children also play “trick-or-treat” on their neighbours, going from door to door and playing a harmless but slightly unpleasant trick on anyone who refuses to give them a sweet or other gift.

Guy Fawkes' Night

In 1605 a group of Catholic conspirators, led by Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Protestant Parliament of King James I. They succeeded in hiding 30 barrels of gunpowder in the building, but on 5 November the so-called “Gunpowder Plot” was discovered. Fawkes and his associates were caught and later burned at the stake. An old children's rhyme runs:

Remember, remember, the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot!

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Children make a “guy” - an effigy of Guy Fawkes - and burn it on a bonfire, and let off fireworks. Because of recent concern about the dangers of bonfires and fireworks, most local communities now hold, large, organised parties, with the children being kept at a safe distance.

Christmas

Most people in Britain see Christmas as the major festival of the year - an occasion for parties, giving and receiving gifts, eating and drinking, and generally having fun.

The many non-religious traditions associated with Christmas are in fact not very old, dated back only to 19th century. These are mostly for children. On Christmas Eve, children hang stockings at the end of their beds or over the fireplace. They are told that Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, arrives at night from the North Pole on his flying sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, climbs down the chimney and fills each stocking with presents. The children open their presents - put there secretly by their parents - on Christmas morning.

Lunch is the most important point of Christmas Day. The traditional lunch consists of roast turkey with vegetables, followed by Christmas pudding, which is made with dried fruit and brandy. Sometimes a coin is put in the pudding as a surprise.

The day after Christmas Day is called Boxing day (probably after the church alms box which was opened for the poor on that day) and this too is a public holiday.

Religious observance has declined in Britain, but many people still go to church at Christmas - to a midnight mass on Christmas Eve or to a morning service on Christmas Day.

New Year's Day or Hogmanay

People all over Britain celebrate the passing of the old year and the coming of the new. In Scotland, Hogmany - as it is called there - is almost as important as Christmas. The Scots take New Year Eve very seriously, and anyone unwise enough to try to sleep at midnight is likely to be woken up by a band of “first looters”. First looters go from house to house after midnight carrying lumps of coal (seen as symbols of good luck) and they expect a glass of whisky in each house they visit!

Crossword

	^1		^2		^3		^4		^5
^6					^7
^8				^9
^10			^11			^12			^13
^14	^15				^16			^17
							^18
^19							^20

Across clues

6 In a short time

7 Famous British university town

8 You use oars to do this

9 Principal female in a play

10 A man on his wedding day, also a person employed to look after horses

12 Not fresh

14 Make bigger

17 Adam's wife

19 Frayed

20 Faintly-coloured

Down clues

1 Pigment, hue

2 Hardworking insect

3 Base of the tooth

4 Exertion

5 Smile showing teeth

9 Turned-up edge of a garment

11 A citrus fruit

12 Use your eyes

13 Attractive, nice

15 Close by

16 Divine beings

18 Monkey; also, mimic or copy

Answers

All in the family

1. Your mother's father is your grandfather

2. Your father's sister is your aunt

3. Your father's brother's son is your cousin

4. Your sister's daughter is your niece

5. Your mother's second husband
   (who is not your father) is your stepfather

6. Your father's grandmother is your great grandfather

7. Your son's wife is your daughter-in-law

8. Your daughter's daughter is your granddaughter

Brain teaser

₤12 and the T-shirt. The butcher lost (and gained) nothing. The man who had come into the shop parted with nothing except a forged note, and left with ₤12 and the T-shirt. This is therefore what the clothes shop lost.

Advertisements

2. HOLIDAYS

3. LOST AND FOUND

4. JOBS

5. HOUSES FOR SALE

6. FOR SALE

7. USED CARS

8. COMING EVENTS

9. SERVICES

What are they called?

2. b (a Glaswegian).

3. a (a Londoner)

4. a (a Liverpudlian)

5. c (a Mancurian)

6. b (an Aberdonian)

7. c (a Brummie)

Descriptive words

• I don't think he's very well. He's looking rather pasty (pale and unhealthy)

• Don't do business with him. He's a shady character. (not to be trusted, slightly dishonest)

• Sarah always look so awful. She wears such shabby clothes. (old and untidy)

• The young man had a spotty face and lank hair. (long, greasy, unwashed)

• I don't like their new house. It's rather gloomy. (dark and depressing)

• What's the matter? I've never seen you looking so glum. (not happy)

Festivals in Britain (2)

2. They all want to go to Stonehenge on Midsummer's Eve.

3. They have a trick played on them.

4. An effigy of Guy Fawkes, which is burnt.

5. Santa Claus.

6. A coin.

7. Early on New year's day, in Scotland.

Crossword

	C		A		S		E		G
S	O	O	N		O	X	F	O	R	D
	L		T		L		F		I
R	O	W		H	E	R	O	I	N	E
	U			E			R
G	R	O	O	M		S	T	A	L	E
			R			E			O
E	N	L	A	R	G	E		E	V	E
	E		N		O		A		E
R	A	G	G	E	D		P	A	L	E
	R		E		S		E		Y

Contents A_4_1991_120

All in the family

6

A_4_1991_120

---