![]() ![]() Now I know that a storm in a teacup is used mainly in Britain, a tempest in a teacup is preferred by Americans. That means it's used by only a relatively small minority of native English speakers, so it's understandable that I might never have heard it.Īs for me Vectra, I have enriched my knowledge of English idioms by learning a new expression - a tempest in a teacup. If you looked at the dictionary entry on it that was posted, you'll have noticed that the "storm" version is British and Austrialian. We grow up reading as much British literature as American, we get a lot of British TV and BBC news on the radio, but "a storm in a teacup" was completely new to me today, and I thought it was an ESL simplification of "a tempest in a teapot". "A storm in a teacup" is not worldwide standard English, so I don't happen to have heard or read it. People where I live (two-thirds of the world's native English speakers) don't generally use British localisms. I've watched one of the movies, and I have these comments: These are the comments I received from one of the participants living in the USA: ![]() Here are the links: revised Sales Manager and ErickĪfter being pushed in the right direction by native speakers, I explained that too many idioms in a text is also not good.' The reason, I think, is my cartoons in which I tried to do the same. ![]() Some of my students try to squeeze as many idioms as possible into a short dialogue. Besides, I always sent them the replies I receive from native speakers. I think you will not string me along with your prices.īut in time, they stop making such funny mistakes and start using idioms the right way. A musical tale of a happenstance vision and its fall from the sky. I hope you do not drag your feet over signing the contract. I offered my own tuppenceworth and wrote 'To be frank, I sometimes make my students use the idioms from the unit we are studying in their speech either during presentations or in dialogues they make beforehand. The whole thing with 'a storm in a teacup' started in the course of an interesting discussion on how best to learn English idioms. Is it possible that people in America have never heard about this expression, I mean 'a storm in a teacup'? These are exchanges of opinion about the idiom 'a storm in a teacup' between an American scholar living in Detroit and some people living in Europe. Since I had never heard the expression said that way outside an ESL context, I assumed it was one of these simplifications. Sometimes people and publishers do simplify the English language for that purpose. With "storm" it sounds to me like someone trying to simplify the real expression for ESL learners. They have also stopped using the participle "gotten" and stopped using "fall" to mean "autumn", both of which came from Britain also, so it's not unusual that they would lose an expression like that. This has to be one of those British expressions that the British have stopped using but that remain in the US and Canada. The word "tempest" is so archaic that it's doubtful that the expression "tempest in a teapot" originated in America. This is fixed as "throw the book at someone". You can't really say that someone will "throw their book at someone". You can see that the alliteration is important in this expression. I have never heard anyone say "a storm in a teacup". Now I find myself branching out and experimenting with short fiction.What would you say to the following comments? I want to try to bring a new focus on poetry and try to make it appealing to a new generation of young people and those who thought they never liked or understood it before.Īfter a lot of procrastinating I have finally self-published my first eBook of poetry "I Laughed a Smile" at. ![]() It saddens me that I wasted so many years not devoting to that, but thinking positively, the experiences gained over those years are now wonderful material for my stories and poems. It has taken me many years of searching and restlessness to realise that my life's passion is to write. I am also finding my services increasingly in demand as a freelance writer and I have ghost-written the text for a number of children's books and educational tutorials. The first "On the Road to Kingdom Come" by Al Wordlaw, and the second, "If I Could Write a Love Poem" by award-winning Israeli/British singer Tally Koren. I have also been fortunate to have two poems chosen to be made into songs and recorded. There is always a message or lesson I want to promote through my writing, for that reason, my poetry generally shies away from the abstract and obscure.Īfter a lot of procrastinating I have finally self-published my first eBook of poetry "I Laughed a Smile" at I find myself branching out and experimenting with short fiction. I enjoy rhyme but like to experiment and dabble in many different forms and maybe even make up some of my own. Longtime poet but not in the traditional technical sense. ![]()
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