Internet Grammar of English: original or Chinese version

The Internet Grammar of English (IGE) provides a good way to review basic grammar. If you have trouble reading the English original from University College London (UCL), the translated version from the Chinese University of Hong Kong is quite good.

"Make my day!"

.44 Magnum bullets are very big (from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Magnum)

"Make my day!" is a famous sentence from Sudden Impact, a movie with Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood plays Harry Callahan (nickname "Dirty Harry"), a policeman who shoots a gang of bad guys in a small restaurant. One of the robbers grabs a waitress, holds his gun near her head, and dares Harry to shoot. Harry says "Go ahead, make my day!" He means "if you try to hurt this woman, I will be happy to shoot you!"

Harry's big gun, a .44 magnum made by the Smith & Wesson company, became very famous because of this movie. Many Americans think that the police are too nice with criminals, so they enjoy watching Dirty Harry kill bad guys (real policemen rarely do such things because they would lose their jobs and maybe go to jail). Click below to see a 3-minute video clip (with all the words).

Potluck Lunch

A potluck dinner is a meal where many people bring different dishes that they share. Some people bring hot food [1] or cold, some bring sweet dishes, some bring savory, some bring soup or pasta, some bring crackers/cookies [3] or drinks. Somebody needs to bring paper plates [4] or utensils.

Usually each person brings enough food for two or three people. That way, most people can find something that they like, and you can even go back for seconds. The word "luck" reminds us that nobody knows exactly what they will eat. The meal is full of happy surprises.

Potluck -- Annotated (Nehrams2020 CC BY-SA)