The English Blog

Oil Companies With Attitude

From guardian.co.uk: 

It probably seemed a good idea at the time. But Russia's attempt to create a joint gas venture with Nigeria is set to become one of the classic branding disasters of all time ‑ after the new company was named Nigaz.

The venture was agreed last week during a four-day trip by Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev to Africa. The deal between Russia's Gazprom and Nigeria's state oil company was supposed to show off the Kremlin's growing interest in Africa's energy reserves.

Instead, the venture is now likely to be remembered for all the wrong reasons ‑ as a memorable PR blunder, worse than Chevrolet's Nova, which failed to sell in South America because it translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish.

Alert users of Twitter first highlighted the unfortunate English connotations of Nigaz, which appears to have eluded Medevedev's Russian-speaking delegation. Full story >>

COMMENTS

Firstly, I would like to point out that the Cherry Nova story is an urban myth. I'm surprised that 'quality' newspapers such as The Guardian don't know that by now.

Secondly, neither The Guardian nor the BBC (see below) can bring themselves to explain what the "unfortunate English connotations of Nigaz" are. The English Blog is not so squeamish! In fact, Nigaz is very similar in spelling to the word "niggaz", which is derived from "niggers", an offensive term for people of black African origin. However, the terms "niggers" (and "niggaz") have been reclaimed by African Americans, who use them to talk about each other. (Non-African Americans are asking for trouble if they use these words!) You may have heard of US hip hop group Niggaz With Attitude (aka N.W.A.), who are largely credited with starting the gangsta rap music genre. Read this Wikipedia article for a more detailed explanation of this usage.

Thirdly, Nigaz is, in fact, pronounced "nye-gaz", unlike "Niggaz", which is pronounced "niggers" (of course). So it's only the written form which is a problem. Perhaps they should change the spelling to Nyegas. 

Gazprom is not the first major company to make a naming howler. Powergen's Italian branch named their website powergenitalia.com, while visitors to stationery retailer penisland.net might get less than they bargained for. For more examples of marketing blunders, read this Brand Republic article.  

READ MORE

• Nigaz name sparks racism debate (BBC News)

• Is Nigaz offensive? Have your say (BBC News debate)

Words in the News: Debt

 

The Mirror leads with a claim by Michael Jackson's friend Lou Ferrigno he was killed by the overwhelming pressure of his $400m debt. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
A debt (pronounced "det") is a sum of money that you owe someone. • The average student in Australia finishes university with a $12000 debt, which takes about a decade to repay. • Canceling Haiti's debts will free up about $50 million a year for spending over the next 10 to 15 years.

Naked Friday

You're probably familiar with the concept of "Casual Friday" (aka "Dress-Down Friday"), but some office workers in the north of England have taken things a step further, the Daily Mail reports.

A group of office staff have discovered they work better together when they are NAKED.

Workers at design and marketing company onebestway in Newcastle upon Tyne stripped off at the encouragement of their boss, who thought the move would boost business. 

The ailing company had seen six redundancies since the start of the credit crunch when business psychologist David Taylor was brought in to boost team spirit.

The event, dubbed Naked Friday, was deemed a huge success and is even credited with turning around the firm’s fortunes.

Front-of-house manager Sam Jackson, 23, told The Sun: ‘It was brilliant. Now that we’ve seen each other naked, there are no barriers.’ Full story >>

COMMENTS

The story gives a whole new meaning to the expression "the bottom line". I'm sure the idea will help them to keep abreast of the latest marketing trends. They'll have to be careful when using the office guillotine though.

Video: Disgraced Madoff Jailed For 150 Years

Bernard Madoff, who masterminded one of Wall Street's biggest ever frauds, has been sentenced to 150 years in jail. Some of his victims were in court for the sentencing. Sky's Joel Hills reports.

COMMENTS
Clay Bennet has a nice cartoon about Madoff in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Video: Summer jobs shortage for students

The National Union of Students has warned that young people's chances of getting summer work in the UK this year could be the worst in living memory. It is predicting a squeeze on temporary jobs and there is also growing concern that lack of money could be disastrous for students who are already heavily in debt. BBC's Simon Gompertz reports.

COMMENTS
This is bad news for students from the Normandy Business School, many of whom traditionally head for Brighton in the hope of finding a summer job. I notice that the hard-up students in the video can still afford to drink pints of beer! They don't seem very motivated about finding a job either—20 CVs is nothing. And if you just sit there waiting for firms to reply, you're never going to get a job. Oops, I think I'm showing my age ...

Would You Employ This Woman?

Click to enlarge

From BBC News Magazine:

Office dress codes are loosening, but where do the boundaries lie? Rebecca Knowles-Dixon, 24, is at the edge of what constitutes acceptable work wear. Could she work in your office? Read full article and watch video interview >>

LESSON IDEA
The picture would make a good discussion starter. Here are some possible questions:
• If you were a recruiter, would you employ this woman?
• Should a person's appearance influence an interviewer?
• What is suitable dress for a job interview?
• What would you consider to be unacceptable work wear?
• Have you any examples of unsuitably dressed candidates or employees?
• What dress codes does your company/school have?

Video: Michael Jackson's Finances

Within hours of Michael Jackson's death people were printed T-shirts and auction sites were doing a roaring trade in memorabilia. But there's even bigger sums at stake - with the singer's estate and royalties up for grabs. Sky's David Bowden takes a look. 

Cartoon: Bonuses Are Back

This cartoon by Steve Bell from The Guardian (SB1) shows a fat cat shooting himself in the head with a champagne cork as he says: "Good news! Bonuses are back!" We can see the City in the background.

COMMENTARY

According to The Guardian, the City has a new buzzword—BAB:

BAB stands for Bonuses are Back, and its arrival in the lexicon of the Square Mile is evidence that bankers are once again looking forward to bumper payouts, just eight months after the sector faced meltdown and governments worldwide were required to prop them up. Full story >>

The cartoon suggests that a return to the pre-crisis City culture of huge salaries and even bigger bonuses would be nothing less than suicidal.

Video: Making Money Out Of Wimbledon

London homeowners are preparing to rent their flats and homes during the Wimbledon tennis tournament. CNN's Ayesha Durgahee reports.

VOCABULARY
If you let your house to someone, you allow them to use it in exchange for money. When talking about accommodation, let is a synonym for rent, but whereas a property can be rented by the owner or the tenant, only the owner can let a house, flat, etc. Compare We are letting (or renting) our house to holidaymakers this summer with We're renting (not letting) a cottage in France this summer. And while you can rent (or hire) a car, TV, wedding dress, etc., you cannot "let" these things.

LINKS

• Tennis London letting agency

• Official Wimbledon Championships website

• Wimbledon, London (Wikipedia article)

Words in the News: Freebie

The UK’s bailed-out banks have provoked new fury after it was revealed they are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on entertaining at Wimbledon, The Mail on Sunday reports. Full story >>

VOCABULARY

1. A freebie is something that you are given, usually by a company, without having to pay for it. • For many businesses, giving away freebies is an increasingly common strategy for drawing recession-weary consumers.

2. RBS is an abbreviation of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

3. If you blow a large amount of money, you spend it quickly on luxuries.

Monster YouTube Channel

 

MonTube is a YouTube channel with videos from the UK's leading job board, monster.co.uk offering career advice and much more. This clip covers general job interiew skills.

Portsmouth The New Malta

The Daily Telegraph reports that Portsmouth has been hailed as the "new Malta" in a bizarre summer advertising campaign from Southern Railways. 

In a bid to attract tourists, Southern Railways has tried to compare the city – recently described as one of the most "depressed" in the south of England by Boris Johnson – to the sun-kissed Mediterranean island.

Posters put up at all 169 stations run by the operator depict various destinations covered by its services. It calls London 'the New Europe', Brighton in East Sussex 'the new Barcelona', and dubs Chichester, West Sussex, 'the new Copenhagen'. 

But most striking is the comparison between Portsmouth, which has an average summer temperature of 20 degrees, and Malta, which has an average of 31 degrees.

The city was famously described by London mayor Boris Johnson a "a place that is arguably too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs". Full story >>

COMMENTS
I know Portsmouth very well as there's a ferry service between Portsmouth and Le Havre. It used to have one of the ugliest shopping centres in the world (the infamous Tricorn Centre), but that's been demolished now. It still may not be the most attractive city in the world, but there's plenty to see and do, what with the dockyard & historic ships, Spinnaker Tower, Gunwharf (some great pubs), and the nearby seafront with funfair at Southsea. A great place to spend a weekend, I'd say (just don't stay in the awful Portsmouth Travelodge). If you're seeking sun, sea and sand, however, you'd be better off hopping on a flight to Malta.

READ MORE

• Portsmouth, the New Malta (Daily Telegraph)

LESSON IDEAS
1. Get students to re-brand their own town and pitch the resulting campaign to the class.

2. Get students to compare their town with other towns or cities around the world. This would involve some internet research.

Video: Airline Asks Staff To Work For Free

British Airways is asking its staff across the UK to work for free. The airline wants employees to follow the example of their boss Willie Walsh and give up a month's salary. He says the company is in a fight for its. Sky's David Bowden reports.

Video: Student Invents Paper Water Bottle—Or Does He?

A high school student has invented a new concept, the "CYKLE", a paper water bottle. KING's Rob Piercy reports.

COMMENTS
It seems that CNN have got it all wrong. On his CYKLE website, Jordan has this disclaimer:

Today CNN ran a headline, "Student Invents Bottle Made with Paper." This is a mis-representation of my Cykle Water concept and does not accurately reflect the information I have provided to the media about my company. I have in no way claimed to invent or develop the carton used to package Cykle, which is a Tetra Pak technology. Tetra Pak is the carton of choice I decided upon after much research into various paper carton options.

So it looks like Jordan hasn't invented anything after all. He's just selling water in a carton.

BNET: Business English Resources

BNET is a CBS site which aims to provide working professionals with the tools, advice, and insight they need to succeed in today's workplace. However, much of BNET's impressive collection of resources would also be suitable for advanced learners of business English. Here are a few resources which I think would be particularly useful:

• Management articles

• Work life articles (e.g., Five Ways to Speak Like Obama)

• Business Library (Browse millions of business articles from thousands of trade and general-interest publications.)

• Dictionary (use search box at top of page)

• Video (advice, presentations, book reviews, business concepts)

Here's a video about dressing for business success.