Today's Study Material

Phrasal Verb: Keep at (transitive)

1. To continue doing something: to persevere with something, especially something difficult or strenuous. "You should keep at your studies." "Keep at those potatoes. We need 50 pounds peeled for the salad for the family picnic".
2. To pester somebody: to persist in asking somebody to do something ( informal ) "My boss kept at me to put in longer hours". "My wife keeps at me to lose weight".

Idiom: To Steal Someone's Thunder

Meaning: To take the credit for something someone else did.Someone 'steals your thunder' when they use your ideas or inventions to their own advantage.

Origin: This common idiom has an interesting history. It comes from the theater, particularly British theater, circa 1704. It is about how the sound effect of thunder was produced for the stage. Devices that produce the sound of thunder have been called on in theatrical productions for centuries. The methods used include: rolling metal balls down troughs, grinding lead shot in bowls, and shaking sheets of thin metal. The latter device, called a thunder sheet, is still in use today.

However, there was a playwrite by the name of John Dennis who, as the story goes, was not the greatest of dramatists. However, he invented a new method for creating the sound effect of thunder. We don't know now what this method was, but it is suggested that it was a refinement of the technique of rolling metal balls in a wooden bowl. It is reported that after his play failed and closed, the method was soon afterwards used in a production of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Dennis was less than pleased at having his idea stolen and his response was recorded: "Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder."

I have to laugh. Ha! Thanks, John Dennis. That's great...

Funny Story of the Day: Hostage Released for Pizza

An Australian prison guard held hostage for two days was released after a ransom demand for pizzas was met.

Up to 20 inmates at the Risdon Prison in Hobart, Tasmania, seized the guard in a protest over conditions in the maximum security jail. Initially they made 24 demands to authorities, but eventually gave up their hostage after agreeing to 15 pizzas, Coke and garlic bread instead.

"At midnight, the final sticking point with the inmates was that they were requiring pizzas to be delivered. Our staff member was negotiated out with the delivery of 15 pizzas," Graeme Barber, Tasmania's director of prisons, told The Advocate newspaper.

The guard is recovering from his ordeal at home.