My blackberry is not working!

Hi everyone!

I bet you´ve been missing videos from Funny English! I also bet you´ve missed your Blackberrys on those three horrible days, my condolences to the victims.

Here you have a video from BBC about the issue. It´s a funny video. The jokes are based on puns/ play on words (juegos de palabras) and double meanings so listen carefully. Enjoy it!





-It´s completely frozen: está totalmente colgada.
Frozen as a slang is also described as "the inability to articulate words, phrases,... as a result of an extreme state of intoxication from too much alcohol consumption or beacuse of the consequent hangover (resaca)".


- It might be well worth waiting a couple of weeks: Igual te merece la pena esperar un par de semanas.


- Can you give me a date (fecha/ dátil)?


- I tried to put my dongle in it and it won´t fit. (Joking about Apple and it tendency to incompatibility with other operating systems).
Dongle: dispósitivo de seguridad para software.


- Well, I don´t know much about these things: Bueno, yo no sé mucho de estas cosas.


-Let me try a bootleg.
Bootleg:
- patada.
- a pirate copy of something.


-That is crashed!
Crash:
- roto, estrellado (adjetivo).
- (applied to a computer or program.) to shut down, cease to work.



- Anything else I can help you with?



- Yes, my grandson birthday is due, you see (Sí, es el cumpleaños de mi nieto dentro de poco, ¿sabe?) He already has an apple and a blackberry. 



- Well, I do, I have an special offer on this. The kids seems to like it: Egg box (X-box) 3.60 (pounds)

Similar but not the same: By and Until.

Both "until" and "by" indicate: any time before, but not later than.


Until tells us how long a situation continues until it finishes. 
If something happens until a particular time, it means that at that time you stop doing it.


i.e:
They lived in Oxford Road until September 2003.
(They stopped living there in September.)


I will be away until Wednesday.
(I will be back on Wednesday.)




- We also use "until" in negative sentences.


i.e:
Details will not be available until January.
(January is the earliest date you can expect to receive the details.)






If something happens by a particular time, it happens at or before that time. It is often used to indicate a deadline (fecha límite).


i.e:
You have to finish by August 31.
(August 31 is the last day you can finish; you may finish before this date, but no after.)




-We also use "by" when asking questions.
i.e:
Will the details be available by December?




Got it?? Here you have an exercise to check if you understood. Good luck!

http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-45609.php

Similar but not the same: Between and Among.

The difference between the words “between” and “among.”

Ambas significan "entre", pero existen diferencias entre ellas. Lo que hasta ahora nos habían enseñado era a usar una u otra en función del número de opciones o sujetos involucrados.

Between, para referirnos a algo que está situado entre dos cosas. Among para referirnos a algo situado entre mas de dos sujetos.

Esto es cierto pero si queréis ir más alla (go the extra mile), seguid leyendo.


BETWEEN.

You use “between” when:

-you are talking about distinct, individual items, even if there are more than two of them.
For example, you can say, "She chose between Harvard, Brown, and Yale" (because the colleges are individual items.)


-talking about relationships, be it [ya sea] one to one relationships (Let's keep this between you and me.) or between more than two items, groups, or people as in these sentences:

i.e: The negotiations between the cheerleaders, the dance squad, and the flag team were going well despite the confetti incident.

i.e: The differences between English, Chinese, and Arabic are significant.


AMONG.

You use “among” when:

-you are talking about things that aren't distinct items or individuals.

-if you are talking about a group of people, you also use “among”.

i.e: Fear spread among the hostages.

i.e: The scandal caused a division among the fans.

i.e: Brian and Rob are among the residents featured in the newsletter.


-“among” can also indicate that someone is part of a group or has been left out of a group, as in these examples:

i.e: He was glad to find a friend among enemies.

i.e: She felt like a stranger among friends.

i.e: Ben was later found living among the natives.



For location.

“Between” and “among” can also tell the reader different things about location or direction. Think about the difference between these two sentences:

Ben walked between the trees.

Ben walked among the trees.

“Ben walked between the trees” gives you the idea that he stayed on the path; he either walked between two trees or was on a route that was surrounded by trees.

While "Ben walked among the trees” gives you the idea that he wandered around a park or forest. He may have had an endpoint in mind, but it doesn't sound as if he went from point A to point B on a defined path.