Tom Boy

1087 Tomboy

Rebecca talks about growing up as a tomboy and what made her change.  Promote here.

Rebecca	Gareth

Source: www.elllo.org

Gareth: Okay, so Rebecca, we just talked about kids and technology, and you asked me whether or not I should give a cellphone to my son.

Rebecca: Yeah.

Gareth: Now, I would like you to give me a little bit of advice for my daughter. I have a daughter, and she's only seven months old, but I'm worried about when she's older, when she gets a boyfriend, and when she has her first date, and when she'll start wearing make-up, so could you kind of give me some advice about this?

Rebecca: Well, I think maybe I had a bit of an unusual experience. My mom actually made me wear make-up. When I got into high school, it was like -- you know, in middle school, I was the kid with you know braces and glasses, stuck in a book

, and my mom was like you can't do that in high school, you 'll never meet anyone, so she took away my glasses and made me get contacts. And I couldn't do anything about the braces, but you know, as long as you cover mouth or do something weird when you smile.

Gareth: Wow, that sounds quite the opposite to many of my friends, like they all wanted to wear make-up, and their parents wouldn't let them.

Rebecca: No, I was a tomboy

. My mom was actually kind of worried, like, she's like, do you have any interest at all in girlie things

. I was like, no, I don't like shoes, I don't like clothes, I don't need a purse. I'll just go climb a tree.

Gareth: So, do you think it's important as a parent to steer your children

 to like kind of sculpt them

, and make them into more rounded people

, or do you think you should justlet them go

?

Rebecca: At the time, I think I actually resented my mom

 for it, cause like she waxed my eyebrows. My mom removed my eyebrows. She sat me down and was like 'you have a unibrow that is not acceptable' and she pinned me down

 and ripped them out

, and I screamed and I hated her for weeks.

Gareth: Wow, how old were you when she did that?

Rebecca: It was the end of middle school sometime. But middle school, high school, somewhere in that area.

Gareth: So like fifteen?

Rebecca: Fifteenish, yeah. I didn't shave either. My mom actually shaved my legs the first time. She was like you need to shave this now.

padding � : 0 0� � ng-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; ">

, or do you think you should justlet them go

?

Rebecca: At the time, I think I actually resented my mom

 for it, cause like she waxed my eyebrows. My mom removed my eyebrows. She sat me down and was like 'you have a unibrow that is not acceptable' and she pinned me down

 andripped them out

, and I screamed and I hated her for weeks.

Gareth: Wow, how old were you when she did that?

Rebecca: It was the end of middle school sometime. But middle school, high school, somewhere in that area.

Gareth: So like fifteen?

Rebecca: Fifteenish, yeah. I didn't shave either. My mom actually shaved my legs the first time. She was like you need to shave this now.

Family Album, USA 51

Source: Family Album USA.

Everyday I'm here to provide useful English material, Speak Up, Voa Special English, English Exercises, Maganews, Pod English among others, because you, as me we're curious and Self-Taught, Self-Studying is really useful. Thanks for you help, English Tips increase the numbers of Readings, as I mentioned before: You are the most important on my blog, your comment, suggestion is important to me. Have a wonderful night, of for those friends in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea, have a wonderful day. See you tomorrow. 

Hollywood's actor and actrees Screen names

HOLLYWOOD STYLE

Source: Speak Up

Speaker: Chuck Rollando

Language level: Upper Intermediate

In the golden age of Hollywood studios created personas for their stars. They chose names that sounded sexier, more American or simply memorable. These days actors are not owned by studios, but still make adjustments to the names they were born with. Why?

SEXY

Frances Gumm sounds ordinary and boring, but Judy Garland is adorable, Virginia McMath doesn’t sound like a dancing sensation, but Ginger Rogers does  (a child’s mispronunciation of Virgina, plus her stepfather’s surname). Lauren Bacall was a wonderful femme fatale, but would she have won Humphrey Bogart’s heart if she was still Betty Joan Perske? The sexiest improvement was surely from Norma Jeane Baker to Marilyn Monroe.

It works for men, too. Archibald Leach sounds like a tired old shopkeeper. Cary Grant is much more sophisticated. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV makes little impression, but we all know Tom Cruise.

SIMPLICITY AND STYLE

Simplicity is crucial for all actors, from comedians to romantic stars. Stan Laurel, of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, sounds funnier than Arthur Stanley Jefferson. Maurice Micklewhite might be a great actor, but his iconic status is helped by the name Michael Cain.camille Javal sounds interesting, but surely not as memorable as Brigitte Bardot.

Sometimes a small change does wonders. Jodie foster, Sigourney Weaver an Meryl  Streep have a movie magic about them that Alicia Foster, Susan Weaver and Mary Louise Streep do not. Frank cooper could not be the western hero that Gary Cooper became.

The starts of My Fair Lady both simplified their names: Reginald Harrison became the archetypal English gentlemen  Rex Harrison; Edda Van Heemstra Ruston disguised her European origins with the name Audrey Hepburn.

EXOTIC/

Many stars hope to hide ethnic origins –or just want their names to be easier to pronounce. The Graduate’s Anne Bancroft had to change form Anne Italiano. Alan Alda, from M*A*S*H, created his surname from initial letters of his real name, Alphonso D”Abruzzo. Would comedy partners Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin have been as popular as Joseph Levitch and Dino Crocetti?

Al Jolson sounds more American than Asa Yoelson. Woody Allen and Mel Brooks are easier to recognize than Allen Kronigsberg and Mel Kaminsky. Walter Matthau is memorable, but would you remember Walter Matasschanskayasky:  Doris Kappelhoff lacks the girl-next-door magic of Doris day. Freeric Austerlitz hid his German roots by becoming Fred Astaire. Issur Demsky’s Russian family turned him into heroic Kirk Douglas. Charles Buchinksky sounds tougher as Charles Bronson, while Martin Sheen won star roles by changing from Ramones Estevez.

English actor William Pratt is the exception. He became screen legend Boris Karloff a middle European name, perfect for horror movies.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Some try to avoid accusations of nepotism. Emilio Estevez his father’s real surname, while Brother Charlie Sheen kept the screen name. Would Nicholas Cage have succeeded sooner if he had still been Nicholas Coppola, nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola?

Others changed embarrassing names: Marion Morrison, a woman’s name was no good for the epitome of masculinity John Wayne.

The strangest story is that of Yul Brynner. He often claimed he was Taidje Khan, of Mongolian-Japanese origins, but his name was really Yul Brynner and has parents Russian.

SCREEN NAME	REAL NAME
Joan Crawford	Lucille Fay LeSueur
Cher	Cherllyn Sarkisian
Dirk Bogarde	Derek Jules Caspard Ulric Niven Van den Bogaerde
Lou Costello	Louis Francis Cristillo
Tony Curtis	Bernard Schwartz
Bette Davis	Ruth Elizabeth Davis
Marlene Dietrich	Marie Magdalene Deitrich
Mia Farrow	Maria de Lourdes Villers-Farrow
Jean Harlow	Harlean Carpentier
Rita Hayworth	Margarita Carmen Cansino
Bob Hope	Leslie Townes Hope
Rock Hudson	Roy Harold Scherer Jr.
Buster Keaton	Joseph Frank Keaton VI
Michael Keaton	Michael John Douglas
Natassja Kinski	Nastassja Naksyzns
Hedy Lamarr	Hedwig Eva Maria Kiester
Bruce Lee	Lee Jun Fan
Vivien Leigh	Vivian Hartley
Sophia Loren	Sofia villani Scicolone
Bela Lugosi	Bela Ferenc Dezso Blasko
Shirley MacLaine	Rosmarie Magdelena Albach
Barbara Stanwyck	Ruby Stevens
Rudolph Valentino	Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina
Gloria Swanson	Gloria Svensson
Shelley Winters	Shirley Schrift.

Words and Their Stories: Hold Your Horses!

Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/words-stories/Words-and-Their-Stories-Hold-Your-Horses-118296964.html

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today, we tell about "horse" expressions.  In the past, many people depended on horses for transportation, farming and other kinds of work.  A lot of people still like to ride horses.  And, horse racing is also popular.  So it is not surprising that Americans still use expressions about the animals.

Long ago, people who were rich or important rode horses that were very tall.  Today, if a girl acts like she is better than everyone else, you might say she should get off her high horse.

Yesterday my children wanted me to take them to the playground.  But I had to finish my work, so I told them to hold your horses. Wait until I finish what I am doing.  My two boys like to compete against each other and play in a violent way.  I always tell them to stop horsing around or someone could get hurt.

We live in a small town.  It does not have any exciting activities to offer visitors.  My children call it a one-horse town.

Last night, I got a telephone call while I was watching my favorite television show.  I decided not to answer it because wild horses could not drag me away from the television.  There was nothing that could stop me from doing what I wanted to do. 

Sometimes you get information straight from the horse's mouth. It comes directly from the person who knows most about the subject and is the best source.  Let us say your teacher tells you there is going to be a test tomorrow.  You could say you got the information straight from the horse's mouth.  However, you would not want to call your teacher a horse!

You may have heard this expression: You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.  That means you can give someone advice but you cannot force him to do something he does not want to do.

Sometimes a person fights a battle that has been decided or keeps arguing a question that has been settled.  We say this is like beating a dead horse.

In politics, a dark-horse candidate is someone who is not well known to the public.  Sometimes, a dark horse unexpectedly wins an election.

Another piece of advice is, do not change horses in midstream. You would not want to get off one horse and on to another in the middle of a river.  Or make major changes in an activity that has already begun.  In the past, this expression was used as an argument to re-elect a president, especially during a time when the country was at war.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust.  I'm Faith Lapidus.  You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our website, voaspecialenglish.com.

Lyrics, Billy Joe

The River of Dreams by Billy Joel Author of This Exercise:ESL Teacher Judith Jékél Source: English Exercises www.englishexercises.org Watch the video and do the following exercises. Write in the missing prepositions.  the middle   the night I go walking   my sleep  the mountains   faith  the river so deep I must be looking   something Something sacred I lost But the river is wide And it’s too hard to cross Choose the words that you can hear And even doughthroughthoughthought I know the river is widewhitewildwind  I waketaketalkwalk  down every evening and stand on the showshorestoresore  I try to cross to the opposite sideslidesightsite  So I cancan'tcanecannal  finally find what I’ve binbeanbeenbee  looking for Write in the missing words. The images may help . In the middle of the   I go   in my sleep Through the   of fear To a   so deep I’m a   for something Taken out of my soul Something I’d never   Something somebody   Match the beginning and the end of the following lines. I don’t know why                A  the rest of my life But now I’m tired and             B  I go walking at night     Hope it doesn’t take                      C   I don’t wanna walk anymore Until I find what it is              D   I’ve been looking for Unscramble the words in brackets. In the   (lieddm) of the night I go walking in my  (elesp) Through the   (lejung) of doubt To the river so   (edpe) I know I’m   (hcaengsir) for something Something so undefined That it can only be seen By the eyes of the  (inldb) In the middle of the night Write in the missing words. The images may help. I’m not sure about a life after this  knows I’ve never been a spiritual man Baptized by the , I wade into the river That is   to the promised land In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep Through the   of truth To the river so deep We all end in the   We all   in the streams We’re all carried along By the river of    In the middle of the night