Happy New Year

As the new year is about to be born, I invite you to paint it the color you want the next 365 days to be, for no one else can do it for you.

Mine will be golden, what about yours?

Happy New Year, y’all!

It’s a lost battle

The proverbial leap of faith

Never give up

1. 

Confusing words: ON sale x FOR sale

Now that’s a word most women know, regardless of their mother tongue: SALE.

But what’s the difference between ON sale and For sale?

Basically, FOR sale means that something is available to be bought, especially from the owner. Look at the photo below, and the accompanying sentence:

Look, honey, that house is for sale. Let’s have a look at it!

Now, can you see the difference in meaning on the photo and sentence below?:

The shoes in that store are on sale! I’m sure I can find some good ones!

ON sale here means that the price of the shoes is lower than usual.

However, look at this example, and see if you can figure out the meaning of the expression on sale here:

– I’d love to go to the game, but I’m not sure the tickets are already on sale…
– Yes, they are! I’ve just seen an ad on TV!

Does that mean the tickets are being sold for a cheaper price? Actually, it means that they are available to be bought, but from a store/ agency, not directly from the owner.

Here’s one more example, just to make things clear:

Got it?

When creativity is not a plus

Nobody’s perfect

What’s your take on strikes?

What’s your take on strikes? And I’m not talking about bowling.

Workers go on strike when they refuse to work and even prevent other from working in order to draw attention to a specific situation they’re not happy about, such as salary, benefits, working conditions, discrimination, etc, supposedly when they have exhausted all other forms of negotiation with employers.  The refusal to work may cause employers to cave in, for the longer the strike, the higher the losses.

 

We have seen a series of strikes lately, involving essential services such as the mail and banking services, as well as air transport and even medical services. I’m sure these workers had their justifiable reasons to go on strike. However, the sad truth is that the ones who suffered the most from the effects of this legal and democratic manifestation of citizenship were the citizens themselves.

It’s a shame that human beings, with their exceptional power of communication, cannot seem to agree on something as basic as working conditions…

Well, you can read these articles to know more about the recent labor strikes:

Qantas:      article 1        article 2     article 3

Brazil Postal workers:     article 1         article 2      article 3