Watersmeet English Group

Words and phrases from my presentation - The relaunch

watersmeet — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:30:36 +0000

I’m in charge of …
To illustrate the need of …
state-of-the-art
We depend on …
letheral thinking
really tough time schedule

ready for rollout at the end of the year
these are the most important things - not “this are …”
HL wants - don’t forget the s
involved in supporting
these applications
this : these - singular : plural
that : those - singular : plural
on those sites
keeping up with - beeing as good as our competitors
project, system - stress 1st syllable
how it looks
how it should look
what it looks
beside me there was a consultant … - without s
more languages besides English and German - with the s
find all the information
It’s rewarding beeing part of this project.

Words from the movie “About Schmidt”

watersmeet — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:04:36 +0000

lasting friendships - continuing to exist or to have an effect for a long time, long living friendship
don’t dilly dally
a lot fo leftovers - Essensreste, positively speaking
R.S.V.P. - stands for a French phrase, “répondez, s’il vous plaît,” which means “please reply.” see howstuffworks.com
cheap casket - a cheap Sarg
Winnebago - a big caravan
Hummels - little figures
help yourself

What the heck? - What the heck / hell does this mean? (WTHDTM) - idiom “Was zum Teufel soll das bedeuten?”
goddamn - gottverdammt
I can’t make this goddamn think work.

Words of today

watersmeet — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:55:30 +0000

plague - die Pest
flees - on the rats causing a plague
the diary of Samuel Pepys - a history book; a journal of plague in London

Kiwi - say w not v; always Kiwi fruit
found it in the Internet, but
I was on the Internet

Didn’t we see … - not saw!
skirt - Rock
shirt - Hemd

rag - a jeans with holes, dirty
from rags to richs - vom Tellerwäscher zum Millionär

ceiling windows - windows from the floor to the ceiling
assessment - evaluation

bare wires - wires with missing insulation
open manhole - Gully

comply with the law - dem Gesetz folgen
the AC - the automatic climate

Sitting Bull’s daughter

Words from the listening trainings

watersmeet — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:38:58 +0000

Checks to be run on racing companies

prospectuses - more than flyer, longer; leaflet with info, on paper, for advertisement
breed - growing and selecting horses, pigs, cows, …
demanding an outlay - investors have to spend
a company goes burst - goes bankrupt
encourage - try other to do sth; try to motivate
compensation = reimbursement
declines to comment - refuse to comment on it
stud - where horses live and breeded

It pays to advertise

lubrication oils - a special kind of oil
emblazoned - highlighted, printed everywhere
paid off - it works, generate a benefit
insists - adamant
apparently quite happy - sems to be quite happy
pursuit - search for it
persuade - influence it, but not necessarily convince sb (überreden)

Up goes the cost of cover

has soared by 600% - has increased by 600%
caravans are clamped - locked with a yellow clamp (Kralle); usually on cars too
slump - slow down, take long
baer the cost - die Kosten ertragen

Foreign office responds to budget cuts

Embassies will be shut - shut, shut, shut; = closed
sharing premises - sharing room or space, here office space
No smoking on the premises except designating rooms.
adamant - insistent, beharrlich

Words from the movie “Good Will Hunting”

watersmeet — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:52:32 +0000

soulmate - sb who challenges you
shepard - observes sheeps
that sucks - that’s bad, horrible
a janitor - a facility manager
Take the best chance you get!

A Men for All Seasons

watersmeet — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:02:32 +0000

A recommendation from D. A historical drama about Henry VIII from 1966. Got 85% on RT.

Raising Victor Vargas

watersmeet — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:49:50 +0000

A movie worth to see, if you read the critics…

Enjoy the music from the movie “Once” live - The Swell Season

watersmeet — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:46:01 +0000

If you liked the music from the movie “Once” you have the opportunity in HH, May 29 in Dt. Schauspielhaus.

See a review together with the possibility to book a ticket.
fle

Bar Stool Economics

watersmeet — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:00:59 +0000

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
“Since you are all such good customers”, he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his “fair share?”
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”
“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

This is of course a light hearted way to poke fun at “the system”, but still yet an interesting look at the North American tax system. It also observes how we can sometimes get caught up in our own worlds such that we lose sight of the forest through the trees.

Older music

watersmeet — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:29:35 +0000

from Donovan the song “Sunshine Superman” (hear teaser) was a big hit 1967 the year I was born

the artist Gary Glitter was in the air, but I don’t know why; hear his famous song Rockand Roll