Words and their origins: Often not what you thought

The Case of Soccer and Football

The European Championchip is in its last week, the English team is still playing and it is high time that I write my football/soccer related post before the tournament is over and football talk will rest for two years before it resumes with the World Cup 2026. Taking place in North America and Mexico, there will probably then be more soccer talk than football talk, at least among the hosts.

Why DO Americans call what (almost) everyone else calls football ‘soccer’? And why do they call a game pretty obviously hardly played with any feet ‘football’. American football comes across as a (rougher) version of rugby, so why wasn’t it called American Rugby?

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We thought we would never have to talk about ‘You know …..’again

Update 2024: Read all about the DNC in Chicago 2024 Democratic National Convention – Wikipedia Also: Democratic Convention 2024 – Videos ; The DNC in five minutes; 11 hours of DNC (highlights from Day 3)

Is it arrogance of the educated and privileged? Or deep-rooted feelings of decency and of moral and ethical beliefs so badly violated by Mr T. that we cannot understand how any American can support him?

After the election of Joe Biden in 2020, we probably all believed the topic of Trump would be history. We had wasted enough of our time, and emotional and intellectual energy and were happy to move on.

Ooops, no such luck. So here we are again, trying to understand.

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The Biggest Obstacle to Learning

Much of what I believe about learning – through experience and studies – I have already written about elsewhere (for instance in my post: ‘The Best Curriculum in the World’). But the topic regularly pops up in classes, often in connection with questions concerning memory – memorizing and forgetting – or when talking about ‘grammar’, where I still hear things like: “I hate grammar, I’m bad at grammar etc.”. Even from course members whose English is on an advanced level.

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The best school curriculum for a peaceful world

The topic of schools, schooling, and education is one that frequently comes up. The reason is simple: education is of the utmost importance and many agree that our school systems do not always provide the best environment for learning. The whole structure is unnatural (large same age groups with one adult) and forces kids and adults (the teachers) into a strait jacket that might fit some, but many it doesn’t.

There have been educators who try to fight for better educational concepts, better schools, for approaches to education that consider the psychological and cognitive nature of humans. For concepts that cater better to our minds: our brain’s fascinating capability to figure things out, to recognize patterns, to be curious about our surroundings – and enjoy the whole process.

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NPR: National Public Radio

A great website I first found in 2014. And rediscovered in 2023. It has short podcasts you can listen to repeatedly for great learning effect.

NPR Podcasts and Shows

Some I’ve listened to lately (updated May 12, 2024)

Related to BĂ©yonce’s new album ‘Cowboy Carter’, there are several great podcasts. For instance: What her cover of ‘Blackbird’ means to a member of the Little Rock Nine. 

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