Hokudai/Cast

Hokudai/Cast 257: Body and Bread

We have a YouTube Channel at Hokudai/Cast and we'll try to get something new up about Japan, Kanazawa, or Hokuriku University.

Word/Play today deals with bodies, bread, and people. We have five words:

companion
company
corporation
coprse
corps

Companion is made up of two Latin words: Com (with) and pan (bread).

Company is related. You can see the 'com' and 'pan' with a 'y' attached, right?

Corporation is another word for company when we're talking about business. The word 'corporation' has, at the beginning, 'corp.' This is a Latin word meaning 'body'. It usually means the human body.

A more specific word for the human body, especially a dead human body, is Corpse.

Another word for people working together like in a company or corporation is Corps. Notice, please, there is no 'e' at the end. Corps is pronounced 'core' - the p and s are silent.

Music today is

You Kill Only Sad by WAUmesawada from GBUC.net

High Song by Huang Ling from Last.fm

Check out our Blogs at Hokudai/Cast and MiraiSozo

We hope you enjoyed listening to Hokudai/Cast 257: Body and Bread
Hope to see you next week, too.

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Hokudai/Cast 256: From the Ground UP!

We have a YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/hokudaicast
Check it out for new videos.

Today's Word/Play has words related to the ground.

Ground up

1. minced
2. from the very beginning

Ground floor

1. The first floor of a building

Ground breaking

1. a ceremony before building a building.
2. new or innovative

Ground down

1. Very tired.

Today's Music is:

この堺が雪 - Kono Sakai ga Yuki - This World of Snow - by Koo from GBUC.net.

The second song is called 玫瑰玫瑰我爱你 by 黄龄 (Huang Ling). It's from Last.fm and is in 语文 (Chinese).

Check out the videos on our blogs at MiraiSozo (music) and Hokudai/Cast (language).
Just click on the links.

We hope you enjoyed the short but fun Hokudai/Cast 256.

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Hokudai/Cast 255!: Learning a Language

Today's Word/Play has words related to people.

Human Race Racism Racist

All the people on earth are part of the human race. We are all struggling to make it through life happily and healthily.

Some people divide the human race into three or four groups. The groups are based on skin color. The three major groups are:
black
white
Asian
Some people add "Native Americans" as the fourth race. Others include Native Americans with Asians. However, many, many people are not just one race. For example, US President Obama's mother was white while his father was black. What is President Obama? Also, Tiger Woods's mother was Asian while his father was black. What is Tiger Woods?

A person who thinks one race is better than another race is called a racist. A person who believes one race is superior believes in racism.

To ignore a person's abilities or skills and concentrate on that person's skin color is limiting the human race, don't you think?
Rosa Parks fought racism in 1955. She is often called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement in the US. In 1955 she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus so that white people could sit down. Her arrest started a bus boycott that lasted over one year. The bus company almost went out of business. The government decided the law Parks broke was racist and illegal.

Rosa Parks was born February 4th, 1913. She would have been 100 years old today.

Today's Music is:

この堺が雪 - Kono Sakai ga Yuki - This World of Snow - by Koo from GBUC.net.

The second song is called 玫瑰玫瑰我爱你 by 黄龄 (Huang Ling). It's from Last.fm and is in 语文 (Chinese).

We hope you enjoyed Hokudai/Cast 255. ____________________________________________________________

Hokudai/Cast 254: Merry

Word/Play dances happily around the warm fireplace with these words:

Merry Christmas Merry-go-round Merry Olde England Make merry Merry way

"Merry" is an old word that has changed its meaning over the centuries. It used to mean "exciting" or "wonderful." It also meant "pleasant." It was used to describe many things.

For example, people would say "That bird has a merry song." "You're wearing a merry shirt today."

Over the years, however, it has been attached only to Christmas. We can say "Merry Christmas" but it would be unusual to say "Merry Birthday" or "Merry Anniversary."

We can, however, see it in phrases like "Make merry" which means to enjoy yourself and have fun. It is also in the amusement park fixture, the merry-go-round - the ride with animals and fantasy animals (like a unicorn or dragon) that goes in a circle.

And it is often seen in the phrase "The man lead the police on a merry chase."

This means two things:
1. the writer isn't very serious or the crime wasn't very serious ('merry' is not a very serious word to use in connection with a crime) and,

2. The man zigzagged his way around the city before the police caught him.
Generally speaking, though, we use "Merry" only during the winter season. Perhaps someday the word will completely disappear and that wouldn't be very merry at all, will it?

"Two Songs today.

The first is in English & Japanese and it's called Re:Make by One OK Rock. It's from mp3skull.com. You can see their Music Video on our 未来創造 (Mirai Sozo) blog.

The second song is called 喜欢 (Like) by 张悬 (Zhang Xuan). It's from Last.fm and is in 语文 (Chinese).

Feel like singing along? Here are the lyrics (Written and arranged by 张悬. She's also playing the guitar):