Two pieces of news about animals and one word: lifespan.

Today, among many other stories, The Times published two pieces of news about animals, one about genetic manipulation and how it might help developments on ageing research. The other is about sexual abstinence and how it makes some birds more attractive.

In both of them, the word "lifespan" is used. Read the articles to see how and to find which of them was done by a Spanish University. Can you guess?

The Urban Dictionary: defo.

This is an interesting dictionary where you can find terms used by people everyday which are not easily found in more formal dictionaries. It works like Wikipedia and I find the definitions very helpful.

Try with these words: defo, oi or uber. I have heard them and seen them written very often, in the last case in articles and reviews in magazines.

I will add a link for easy access under the Vocabulary and Grammar entry in the column on the right.

Oxford Street and Christmas lights.

Well, I have to say that they had to cover patches with tarmac here and there, as the works have not been completely finished yet. We thought this only happened in Spain, but here it is the same.

Today is the day the Christmas lights will be lit up in Oxford and Regent Street and this attracts crowds in the same way "el alumbrado" does in Seville for the opening of the April Fair, so it had to be ready by all means.


It is a great improvement, though, and it is fully functional in spite of the patches I mentioned.

And I thank the Mayor of London as I always come out of the underground station on the wrong side (I am that silly) and it is crazy trying to cross the street at this point, fighting masses of people in all directions.








Here you are some information about Xmas lights in London, with the calendar for the different areas, as they are not lit up at the same time.


This year and thanks to Disney, Regent Street and Oxford Street will be lit up at the same time (the crossing of these streets is Oxford Circus, above).

Oxford Circus has been decorated with references to Disney's adaptation of Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol, showing today the world's premiere.

Ken Lee

If you are still alive after Halloween and the Day of the Dead, here is something to kill you. Just how far bad English can take you: the "Ken Lee" phenomenon. And the Bulgarian protagonist lives in Spain. Just in case, don't copy her pronunciation:

In the next video you can read (using the subtitles, unless you speak Bulgarian, of course) how the singer managed to achieve such pronunciation. In spite of everything, I would not reject the method, but I would suggest you refine it a little bit after the first steps (phonetics might help here). Oh, and watch out for some mistakes in the subtitles (at least they do not affect communication):

By the way, here is the original song with the "right" pronunciation. Please, learn this if any:

The Day of the Dead at the British Museum

Coinciding with the exhibition about "Moctezuma, Aztec Ruler", the British Museum will celebrate the "Day of the Dead" on Sunday 1st November, just after Halloween, in the way Mexicans do. Click on the picture to see how: