Every month, we take a look at a word in the headlines, in English, for your English. See more at The Word of the Month.
Definitions:
Scandal: A controversial, immoral and often corrupt incident that offends the public; a disgraceful action or event.
Scandalous scandals of note:
– Roman Polanski’s teenage sex scandal
– The Clinton — Lewinsky sex scandal
– Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme
– The French Football team and Zahia
– The Bettencourt Affair
Examples:
Scandalous quotes that may or may not be real:
– ‘I’m really glad you skipped school today.’ Roman Polanski
– ‘Would you like to try one of these Cuban cigars, Monica?’ Bill Clinton
– ‘Your investment is 100% personally guaranteed.’ Bernie Madoff
– ‘Could I see your ID, Miss?’ Franck Ribéry
– ‘Honey, have you seen the envelope Liliane gave me?’ Eric Woerth
Fun Facts:
Scandals are very embarrassing for the parties involved, but very good for the media that covers them.
Scandal rhymes with candle (object burned for light or heat), Handel (German dude who wrote nice music), and Vandal(barbarian tribe that enjoyed breaking stuff).
Also:
Don’t confuse ‘scandals’ with:
Sandals: Flat shoes worn on the feet during the summer. Ugly feet can be scandalous though.
Stendhal: A French realist author known for his classic book The Red and the Black. His work never caused any scandals.
Pandas: Okay, it doesn’t really sound like ‘scandals’, but they are scandalously cute!
Take a look through our Word of the Month archives, or improve your English with gymglish.com.