English as a beauty - Telegram Channel

I am a big fan of John Oliver and his show Last Week Tonight. While watching another episode today in the morning, I heard the expression 'to be nipping at someone’s heels'. It is a good one. It means closely pursue or fiercely compete with someone, threatening to catch up, overtake, or replace them.

Example - Although the veteran champion is still winning races, the younger competitors are nipping at her heels.

Let me remind you that I am gradually transferring this channel to X (formerly known as Twitter) under my name - Serhii Sviatenko. 

Will be glad to see you there!

My dear friends, I am gradually relocating this channel to Twitter (X) as a step to stop using Telegram. Occasionally, some posts will still be published here but the bulk of the channel will be available on Twitter. I hope you will follow me there. Have a nice day and see you soon!

For the past year or so I have been reading the winners of the Pulitzer Prize from 2000 to 2026.

Currently, I am reading this lovely book consisting of 4 separate novels. The book is captivating and a real page-turner.

While reading it, I came across the expression 'in tow‘. 

If you have somebody in tow, they are with you and following closely behind.

Examples - She turned up with her mother in tow.

Mr. Bask was followed by Helen’s mother in tow.

Mesh is a nice word.

If something meshes with something, it fits together or matches closely, especially in a way that works well.

Example - This evidence meshes with earlier reports of an organized riot.

A synonymous phrase would be 'to tally with’ or 'match up with something‘.

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I know that Mozart was a big fan of scatological humor (connected with human waste from the body in an unpleasant way). He wrote many letters to his friends coming up a lot with scatological jokes.

Yesterday I came across another word that is similar but not quite the same - slapstick humor.

Slapstick humor is the type of humour that is based on simple actions, for example people hitting each other, falling down, etc.

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I am now reading a wonderful novel by Paul Auster 4321. I’ve come across a nice idiomatic sentence - His grandmother’s kindness was measured out in teaspoons.

Brilliant, don’t you agree?

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Today my favourite section 'You live and learn‘.

Did anyone of you know the word 'nous‘ before?

I bet you know it from French. Guess what - this word also exists in English, however, its meaning could not be more different.

I am a big snooker fan and today the world championship final is coming to an end. Yesterday, I was watching an evening session of the final and one of the commentators said ‚the Chinese player has the nous to win this final‘. 'Nous‘ here means intelligence and the ability to think and act in a practical way.

Like I said, you live and learn.

The other day I watched the movie Hamnet. Honestly, for me it was nothing to write home about - a hackneyed plot with mediocre performance by lead actors. However, I did manage to learn a new word from the movie - to be handfasted to someone. It is an archaic form of 'to be betrothed' or 'married' to someone. For example - The young lady was handfasted to a wealthy merchant.

To be on tenterhooks is a nice idiom.

It means being very anxious or excited while you are waiting to find out something or see what will happen.

Example - I've been on tenterhooks all week waiting for the results.
We were on tenterhooks all morning waiting for the phone to ring.

In Ukrainian you could translate it as 'на голках‘.

I watched a wonderful movie the other day called The Holdovers (now available on Netflix), starring Paul Giamatti.

In one of the scenes the main character, upon seeing an acquaintance of his from long time ago, says ‚As I live and breathe‘. This phrase is normally used when you are surprised at encountering someone you may not have seen for a very long time (a blast from the past).

The mercury is way below zero in Ukraine, so I hope you all try to stay warm!🧣

After a long break I am finally back😍

I am a big fan of Richard Burton, a very handsome Welsh actor known for his enunciation and beautiful baritone.

Recently, I watched Hamlet (filmed in 1964) with him playing the Danish prince. Wonderful performance!

In one of the interviews for Dick Cavett (American TV host) he used the word 'chat someone up‘.

Interestingly, I had never heard this phrasal verb before, so, naturally, I turned for my dictionary for help.

To 'chat someone up‘ means o talk in a friendly way to somebody you are sexually attracted to, perhaps hoping to start a relationship with them

Example - She went straight over and tried to chat him up.

John was busy chatting up the new girl in his class.

Arrant is a weird word. It is used to emphasize how bad something/somebody is.

Example - arrant nonsense, arrant coward, arrant lie.

While reading Hamlet by Shakespeare, I chanced upon the word harp on.

If you harp on something, you keep talking about something in a boring or annoying way.

Example - Don’t keep harping on about my age!
He is always harping on about the war.

In Hamlet, Ophelia’s father lamented Hamlet’s constant harping on his daughter.

If you wrap someone around your little finger, you persuade somebody to do anything that you want.

Example - She has always been able to wrap her parents around her little finger.

Truth is stranger than fiction is a nice phrase. It is used to say that things that actually happen are often more surprising than stories that are invented. In Ukrainian we would probably say 'такого в кіно не знімеш’.

If you are shorn of something, you have something important taken away from you.

Example - Shorn of his power, the deposed king went into exile.

The team, shorn of its star players, struggled to win games.

If you squeal on someone, you give information, especially to the police, about something illegal that somebody has done.

Example - Someone must have squealed on him for he was arrested in no time.

The synonymous word would be to snitch on or rat on someone.