This month on #offthecuff we explore the similarities that many religions do to prepare for their celebrations, such as fasting, but most importantly, we discover that February is really just a month of Tuesdays. Listen to find out what we mean and check the long list of vocabulary below.
- Nippy – when the air is cold.
- A different ballgame – an American phrase meaning that two things are very different from one another
- If you say so – Here this expression is being used to say that since the speaker doesn’t know the answer, they trust what the other person has said.
- Savory- Salty or spicy, but not sweet.
- Pancake Tuesday – A holiday in Ireland that is the day before Ash Wednesday where people eat a lot of pancakes in preparation for their fast during Lent.
- Ash Wednesday – A Roman Catholic holy day where palm ashes from the previous year are put on the forehead in a shape of a cross to mark the beginning of Lent.
- Lent – a six week period leading up to Easter. This usually involves fasting and giving something up in preparation for Easter.
- Shrove Tuesday – The name given to the day before Ash Wednesday by the Christian community which is usually used for prayer or confession.
- To fast – to not eat a certain food for a period of time
- Judaism – The name of the religion of Jewish people
- Cleansing – to clean yourself emotionally or rid yourself of something unpleasant.
- Stuff yourself – to eat too much
- To give up something – to stop doing something
- Amnesty – a fixed period of time where you are not punished for doing something wrong.
- Saint Patrick’s Day – A holiday to celebrate the life of Saint Partick (March 17th) who is Ireland’s Patron Saint who was thought to have brought Christianity to Ireland.
- To be gypped – To be cheated, to get less than you paid for.
- Dry January – A fast where people give up alcohol for the month of January.
- Trendy – modern and with the latest fashions
- Fad diets – a diet that is very famous for a short period of time.
- To impose something on someone – to force someone to do something
- Burnout – having no energy or enthusiasm because you have been working too hard or living in a stressful situation for a long time (in a pandemic, for example)
