21.10.

2020

SHHI.02.007 British Studies

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The Prince of Wales trying his hand at presenting the weather

during a visit to the BBC Glasgow studios. Photo: Getty

Weather is unpredictable
and it changes frequently.
It’s influenced by the
country’s geography.
“Because if it stayed the
same we wouldn't have
anything to talk about.“

According to recent research, 94% of British

respondents admit to having talked about the
weather in the past six hours, while 38% say
they have in the past 60 minutes. “This means
at almost any moment in this country, at least
a third of the population is either talking about
the weather, has already done so or is about to
do so,” says social anthropologist Kate Fox.
BBC.17 Dec. 2015

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The average person spends the equivalent of

five months of their life - talking about the
weather, a study has revealed.
The average adult will post at least one
weather-related comment a week on social
media and spend 11 minutes a week
checking the forecast either on TV or an app.

The Telegraph.02 Oct. 2015

Conversations about the weather aren’t

always about the weather.
“Weather talk is a kind of code that we have
evolved to help us overcome social inhibitions
and actually talk to one another.” (K.Fox)
The topic is almost always introduced as a
question (Nice day, isn’t it?).
The person answering must agree.
Use appropriate vocabulary.Watch
Be careful as a foreigner!

…in the English language, there are over ten

different words for rain but the Inuits, living in
the frozen North of Canada have over 50 words
for snow.
Think how many words for ‘rain’ you know
Check from
https://www.lexico.com/synonym/rain

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be on cloud nine – be extremely happy

be snowed under – have loads of work
get wind of sth – hear about a secret
chase rainbows - try to do sth that is hard to
achieve
break the ice - say or do sth to make
someone feel relaxed
Every cloud has a silver lining - There is
always sth positive
save for a rainy day - save for the future
be under the weather - not feeling well

Study the tongue twister:

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

John: Nice weather for ducks.

Steve: It could be raining for weeks. I'm sick of
it.
John: Me too. I hope it clears up soon. I need to
cut the grass.
Steve: At least it's not too windy. That's
something.
John: Fancy a pint later? At least the pub is dry.
Steve: Great idea.

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Steve: Turned out nice again.

John: It's lovely. I think we might have a
barbecue this weekend.
Steve: That's a great idea.
John: Last time I had a barbecue it rained all
night.
Steve: Typical.
John: I'll keep my fingers crossed for this
weekend.

Weather forecast was invented in 1860s by

Admiral Robert FitzRoy.
The first forecast was published in The Times
in 1861.
Weather forecast
Go to https://lingid.ee/Forecast
and do the tasks

Do the task „What is weather“. Choose a date

and fill in the bubbles about weather in
different regions of the UK.
You can go to different nwspaper websites, e.g
https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/weather
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/uk_weather
/index.html
or just Google UK weather.

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Funny Weather Pictures and Stories-

http://www.guy-
sports.com/funny/funny_weather_climate.htm
Ice breakers: Brits spend 5 months of their lives
talking about weather. The Telegraph.02 Oct. 2015.
Why do the British talk about the weather so much –
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151214-why-
do-brits-talk-about-the-weather-so-much
Weather idioms. Retrieved from
https://www.vocabulary.cl/english/weather-
idioms.htm