To the left is an illustration of a "message magnet" that was distributed by the Office of English Language Programs at the international TESOL conference in Baltimore, Maryland in March.
Below are the four opening measures of a famous song recorded by many famous jazz singers including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Nat King Cole. Need some clues? The title is four words. The first word is a southern state that is famous for peaches, peanuts, and a president elected in 1976. The last three words of the title are a slang expression that means thinking about something.
The first 100 readers who send in the correct answer and their
postal address will receive a message magnet from the Forum. Please send your
entries by post, fax, or email to:
What's That Tune?
English Teaching Forum
U.S. Department of State
301 4th St. SW, Rm 312
Washington, DC 20547, USA
Fax: 202-401-1250
e-mail:
[email protected]
Many English dictionaries have more than one definition for the word jazz. In addition to the form of music, there are two other meanings of the noun jazz, plus the phrasal verb jazz up and the adjective jazzy.
jazz, noun miscellaneous, unspecified things
"Oh, no!" cried Bill when he opened the picnic basket. "We brought the buns, cheese, pickles, lettuce, onions, mustard, ketchup and all that jazz to make hamburgers, but we forgot to bring the meat!"
The Scoutmaster warned the young Boy Scouts, "Remember that you will have to carry everything on your back during our camping trip. So bring only the essential equipment and not a bunch of extra jazz that you won't need on the trail."
jazz, noun nonsense, silliness, empty talk
"The curriculum planning meeting was a waste of time," the teacher complained, "because the consultant just talked about tests and a lot of jazz about assessment. She never mentioned anything about course design."
"You can forget all that jazz they taught you at the university," the old farmer told the young irrigation expert. "Here we just hope for plenty of rain to grow the crops."
jazz up, verb to make more interesting or appealing
The university rector used a few quotations from Shakespeare to jazz up his speech to the professors and students from the English department.
For the second edition of the book, the designer jazzed it up by replacing the black-and-white illustrations with colorful photos and creating an attractive new cover.
jazzy, adjective fancy, elaborate, flamboyant
The pop star hired a well-known costume designer from Hollywood to create a jazzy new wardrobe for her upcoming concert tour.
The software company had the jazziest booth at the conference.
While the book publishers were giving away free pens and catalogs, the
software company was handing out free CDs, hats, calendars, and note pads.