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Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern English. English words of French origin, such as art, competition, force, machine, and table are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French, and are commonly used by English speakers without any consciousness of their French origin.
A double entendre is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially awkward, sexually suggestive, or offensive to state directly.
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language.
This is a list of British words not widely used in the United States. In Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and Australia, some of the British terms listed are used, although another usage is often preferred.
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold over 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish, and Yemeni parentage.
Signing Off is the debut album by British reggae band UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Dudley-based independent label Graduate Records. It was an immediate success in their home country, reaching number 2 on the UK albums chart, and made UB40 one of the many popular reggae bands in Britain, several years before the band found international fame. The politically-concerned lyrics struck a chord in a country with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, the policies of the recently elected Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, and the rise of the racist National Front party, while the record's dub-influenced rhythms reflected the late 1970s influence in British pop music of West Indian music introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean after the Second World War, particularly reggae and ska – this was typified by the 2 Tone movement, at that point at the height of its success and led by fellow West Midlands act The Specials, with whom UB40 drew comparisons due to their multiracial band line-up and socialist views.
Wanker is slang for "one who wanks (masturbates)", but is most often used as a general insult. It is a pejorative term of English origin common in Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world, including Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is synonymous with the insult tosser.
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blunt, ironic, laconic, or apparently unintentional.
In political science, the term polyarchy was used by Robert A. Dahl to describe a form of government in which power is invested in multiple people. It takes the form of neither a dictatorship nor a democracy. This form of government was first implemented in the United States and France and gradually adopted by other countries. Polyarchy is different from democracy, according to Dahl, because the fundamental democratic principle is "the continuing responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens, considered as political equals" with unimpaired opportunities. A polyarchy is a state that has certain procedures that are necessary conditions for following the democratic principle.
"Can't Help Falling in Love" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley for the album Blue Hawaii (1961). It was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and published by Gladys Music, Inc. The melody is based on "Plaisir d'amour", a popular French love song composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini. The song was initially written from the perspective of a woman as "Can't Help Falling in Love with Him", which explains the first and third line ending on "in" and "sin" rather than words rhyming with "you".
"Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967 that appears on his second studio album, Just for You. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who finds that drinking red wine is the only way to forget his woes.
"A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Originally recorded for Simon's 1965 UK-only debut, The Paul Simon Songbook, it was recorded soon after by Simon and his partner, Art Garfunkel, for the duo's third album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
Rat in the Kitchen is the seventh album by UB40, released in July 1986. This album contained two UK hits, "Sing Our Own Song" and "Rat in Mi Kitchen". The album itself reached 8 in the UK album charts in 1986 staying in the charts for twenty weeks. The album provoked a positive reception from critics.
"I Got You Babe" is a song performed by American pop and entertainment duo Sonny & Cher and written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from their debut studio album, Look at Us (1965). In August 1965, the single spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States where it sold more than one million copies and was certified Gold. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Hatred is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Hatred is sometimes seen as the opposite of love.
Alistair Ian Campbell is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer of the British reggae band UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records worldwide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008, Campbell left UB40 due to a dispute with band management and embarked on a solo career. In 2012, Campbell was announced as one of the three judges on the panel of the TV show New Zealand's Got Talent. In August 2014, Campbell announced he had reunited with former UB40 bandmates Astro and Mickey to record a new album, Silhouette, released on 6 October 2014.
Traditionally, born in the purple was a category of members of royal families born during the reign of their parent. This notion was later loosely expanded to include all children born of prominent or high-ranking parents. The parents must be prominent at the time of the child's birth so that the child is always in the spotlight and destined for a prominent role in life. A child born before the parents become prominent would not be "born in the purple". This color purple came to refer to Tyrian purple, restricted by law, custom, and the expense of creating it to royalty.
Wog is a racial slur in British English – and, to a lesser extent, in Australian English – applied to people from the Mediterranean region such as Southern Europeans and North Africans. In British English, it more typically refers to people from the Indian subcontinent and certain other parts of Asia, such as the East Indies. Whilst it is extremely derogatory in British English, in Australian English, it may be considered non-offensive depending on how the word is used, due to reclamation and changing connotations.
Jack Tar is a common English term that was originally used to refer to seamen of the Merchant Navy or the Royal Navy, particularly during the British Empire. By World War I the term was used as a nickname for those in the US Navy. Members of the public and seafarers alike made use of the name in identifying those who went to sea. It was not used pejorative, and sailors were happy to use the term to label themselves.
Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities, such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for some ideas of the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and slavery reparations for African Americans.
References
- ↑ Sarah Cassidy and Richard Garner (2006-04-12). "Thatcher blamed for lack of respect in classrooms". The Independent.
- ↑ Lynsey Hanley (2016-07-03). "High status, high income: this is Britain's new working class". The Guardian.
- ↑ See the UB40 album For the Many .
