Single issue voters

Hi Shirley

Your last couple of posts have been diverse and very interesting. Talk about from one extreme to the other. First is was the light and fun-filled joy of shopping, next it was the moral maze of relativism and the key to eternal happiness!

I think you're right about people today living much more by their own standards than by the externally imposed standards (of religion or society) of yesteryear.

You can see this each time an election comes round. People are becoming more and more single issue voters. I can relate to that because, as you know, I'm a cyclist, and each time I have to cast my vote, I find myself asking, 'Now what has this party done for bikers lately?'



What's your single issue Shirley?

I love the idea of midnight shopping. I'm pretty rubbish at shopping. I always say it's because I don't have enough time. But if the shops were open till 12, what excuse would I have then?

Your writing is very clear and easy to understand Shirley. I loved your expression consumerism seduction. I'd never heard of it before but I know exactly what you mean!

There was just one expression you used that I couldn't quite understand:

my favourite boot was still standing snob on its original prize

I think you might mean The boot was still standing stubbornly at it's original price but I'm not really sure. Do let me know!

Let's also take a quick look at some of your prepositions and a tricky pair of verbs.

First prepositions. Can you see what the problem is with these three?

People living in their own rules
the chance of living in Mars
some of them would be in your favourite list

And secondly, here's a pair of verbs that students often find confusing: lay and lie

lay means put down flat, or horizontal, usually for a specific purpose
After the baby fell asleep, she laid him gently in his cot so as not to wake him
Will you lay the table while I make the rice?

lie means be or move into a horizontal position
I'm going to lie down for a bit. I've got a terrible headache
We spent the whole holiday lying on the beach, relaxing

Which verb would you use in this sentence if you were writing it again?

Three of his latest books are still laying peacefully in my cupboard

And all time favourite books? I always find it so difficult to come up with top anything lists. I really have no right to be a blogger! But if I had to, off the top of my head, I'd say Franny and Zooey (J. D. Salinger) and Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier) would need to be on the best books list for sure.

Much easier for me is to come up with good books I've read lately. I liked The Danish Girl (David Ebershoff). Apparently, it's going to be made into a film soon with Nicole Kidman. She plays the role of Einar, who became Lili - the world's first male-to-female post-operative transsexual in the 1930s.

I also thought The Reader (Bernhard Schlink) was fantastic, and thought the film with Kate Winslet was very good too. And that's a first for me. There are so few films that are ever a patch on the book. Are there any films you've seen that you think are better than the books they're based on?

Talk to you soon,

Nuala
Vocabulary
diverse - different
from one extreme to the other – going from one thing to something very different from it (from boiling to freezing, for example)
moral maze – puzzle or problem about how you should behave
eternal happiness – content forever (religious people believe after they die they will find eternal happiness)
yesteryear – in the past
single issue voters – people who vote for a party or political because of their stand on one particular issue (e.g. environmentalism)
to cast my vote – to take part in an election
party - organised political group
pretty rubbish – not very good at
off the top of my head – without thinking too hard about something, spontaneously coming up with
a patch on – as good as (this expression is usually used in the negative - not a patch on, or as here, There are so few films that are ever a patch on the book

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