by Alan Townend35. Saying it twice or «Save our animals»................................
There are several pairs of rhyming words that have come into the
language with the job of emphasising and strengthening the meaning
of one of the words. I have written a short story where I have used
as many of these couplets as possible and after each one I have put
the meaning in brackets (). When you are finished reading the story
you can take the three tests below to check your knowledge.
«Save our animals»
From a very early age Cathy had been passionate about looking after
animals. She used to hob nob (socialise) with people who thought
the same way as she did. These people were not all fuddy duddy
(uninteresting) or indeed hoity toity (supercilious) and their main
interest in life was to ensure that all animals were treated well. She
soon got to know one of the local big wigs (important people) in a
local organisation aimed at stopping cruelty to animals. He had been
in his hey day (at his most successful time) an important figure in a
government department for agriculture. In fact because he had
refused to kow tow to (accept without question) some of the official
regulations, he had been forced to take early retirement. But as far
as Cathy was concerned he was the bee's knees (someone to
admire) and when she left school, she went to work as his assistant
in the Society for the Protection of Animals. Her parents however
were not all that pleased about where she had decided to work. They
lived in a des res (very attractive house) and her father, John
Fortune, who was really a bit of a fat cat (wealthy business man)
thought that all this animal business was a lot of hocus pocus
(nonsense). Cathy and her father had several pow wows
(conversations) about her decision but it usually ended up with a lot
of argy bargy (arguments).
What her mother and father objected to most was the endless tittle
tattle (gossip) in the village about a young woman working for this
hot shot (well known entrepreneur) who was also regarded by some
as a bit of a wheeler dealer (someone who does business in an
underhand way). Cathy didn't believe any of this and was delighted
to be working for Geoffrey Winton if for no other reason than that
living at home was very hum drum (boring). The rest of the
organisation thought that she and Winton were a dream team (ideal
partners) because she was enthusiastic and he was very
experienced. After all she thought her brother was enjoying himself
and had gone abroad to work in America as a result of the brain
drain (talented people leaving their own country to work for better
pay in another).
One morning there was quite a hubbub (loud noise and activity) in
the Fortune household when Cathy came rushing into the sitting
room helter skelter (running at a great speed) and announced what
she thought was a cheerful earful (a good piece of news) and that
was she had been invited to attend a demonstration in the capital. As
far as her father was concerned this was simply double trouble
(two problems - first working for Fortune and now getting involved in