Learning thru English

 We have done exercises in class, but if you want to revise and practise reported speech, you can click here.

Have a nice time improving your pronunciation …

The expression “blue jeans” comes from the French phrase “bleu de Gênes”, literally “the blue of Genoa”.

 During the Renaissance, denim trousers were made in Chieri, a town near Turin, Italy. Traditionally, they were dyed to a blue colour using natural indigo dye.

They were sold through the harbour of Genoa and they became very popular in the 16th century. They were especially worn by workers and sailors in the Genoese Navy, as they required pants that could be worn wet or dry, the legs of which could easily be rolled up.

Could you imagine people wore jeans so long ago?

You know that I always tell you to speak and read slowly and give a proper intonation to your speech. Perhaps you would like to practice on your own, so why don´t you pay attention to this video?

There are several supposed origins to this word. The earliest recorded use of this expression has been traced to the Boston Morning Post edition of 23rd March 1839. It seems to have been an example of a wrong abbreviation, and supposedly stood for “oll korrect”, meaning “all correct”.

Another story says that in 1840, the Democrats in New York created a body called the Democratic OK Club to support their candidate Martin Van Buren. “OK” here actually stood for “Old Kinderhook”, his birthplace in the state of New York.

But the most common and accepted origin is attributed to a spelling mistake made by Andrew Jackson during the presidential campaign in 1828. He wrote “ole korrek” on a document which contained the acquittal of a condemned man.

In 1932 it was officially included among the international terms for radio broadcasting. Later, during the Second World War, the American army used “O Killed” to refer to “zero killed”.