A Day to Forget

1. Comprehension
1. Comment on the origin of the celebration, as discussed in the text. (1 st part)
2. Comment: “Upon slim evidence, whole layers of legend are stacked”
3. What do you think the author means by “Martyrdom is admirable, even preferable, in
a saint, but it is terrible in a relationship in which generosity demands payment in
guilt”
4. How was the holiday celebrated in the old days? (part 2)
5. Comment on the author’s remark at the end of part 2: “Over the years, Valentine
became the patron saint of ……, but also of beekeepers and, of course, greeting card
manufacturers. Love comes with a sting, and at a price”
6. What do we learn about the way the holiday is/was celebrated by children. (part 3).
What does the author mean by:”I have no problem with the holiday for 8-year-olds,
now that is has shed its Darwinian savagery”. What is referred to by “Darwinian
savagery”?
7. How are children introduced to this celebration?
8. Explain/Comment on the beginning of part 4: “Valentine’s Day only pretends to
celebrate what we like about love, while actually undermining it”.
9. Explain the irony in the wish of “Happy SAD Day!” (beginning of part 5)
10. Why is it claimed that buying a Valantine’s Day gift may be harder (for a man) than
buying a Christmas gift?
11. Do you agree with the author that “it a good sign of psychosocial health if the day just
saunters by and winks, and you feel no need to pay attention”

2. Vocabulary
1. ….the lumpy feel of a baby’s feet”
a lump of coal/sugar; lumps in the sauce
feel a lump in your chest (fig.); She found a lump in her breast
[a large amount of money given as a single payment]
She received a tax-free lump sum on leaving the company.
[to put different groups together and think about them or deal with them in the same way]:
American and Canadian authors tend to be lumped together.

2.” … who was beheaded…”

Give other examples of words derived with the help of “be” (adjectives, verbs)

3. slim evidence (adj.)

also: slim/fat chance
slim build/figure (slender); slim fit (compound adj.)> slim fit jeans/jacket/shirt
slim pickings (plural noun informal) = little or no success in getting or achieving
something
Buyers who have waited for bargains at the end of the year will find slim pickings.
slim (vb)
> You haven't got much lunch - are you slimming?
> slim down > He's really slimmed down over the last few months.
> slim sth. down = to reduce the size of something It is not our intention to slim down the
workforce.

4. layers of legend are stacked

stack (n.)
= a pile of things arranged one on top of another > heap/mound/pile/ rick (hayrick)
He chose a cartoon from the stack of videos on the shelf.
= (informal) a large amount
Don't worry, we've got stacks of time.
stack the cards(UK) (US stack the deck) = to arrange something in a dishonest way in
order to achieve the result you want

5. martyrdom > Provide other compounds with the bound morpheme ‘–dom’:

6. What else can ‘bachelor’ mean? (besides the meaning in the text)

7. Provide synonyms for ‘flair’.

8. “….shed its Darwinian savagery”

What do people shed when they are sad or unhappy? …………….
A martyr sheds ………….for his motherland >> the noun derived from this is
…………………..
New evidence helps to shed ………………. on a (murder) case
A slithering animal sheds its …………..; wolves also shed ……………………
one can also shed …………. (if on a diet); shed ………………… (if you let your hair down);
trees shed ………….. in autumn;
shed as noun?

9. What does ‘odd’ mean in the text? (part 3). What other meaning can it have?
I always thought there was something odd about her.
It's a bit odd that he didn't come.
He does odd jobs here and there.
There are thirty odd kids in the class.
An odd number does not produce a whole number when it is divided by two.
>> odds and ends (n.)

10. “..the huge commercial stakes”

We have to act quickly - people's lives are at stake.
People get very competitive because the stakes are so high.
He has a 30 percent stake in the company.
a wooden stake
He has staked his reputation on the film's success.
The police are staking out the house where the terrorists are hiding.

11. “….racking up annual sales equivalent to more than…”

He's racked up debts of over thirty thousand pounds.
be racked with pain/guilt, etc › If someone is racked with pain or an emotion, they suffer a lot
because of it.
rack your brain/brains (informal) › to think very hard, usually to try to remember something
or solve a problem>>I’ve been racking my brains to figure this out.

12. “…the holiday lends itself to ridicule” = to be suitable for a particular purpose:
The old system doesn't lend itself to mass production.
lend sth to sb/sth = (formal) › to add a quality to something or someone:
We will continue to lend support to our allies

13. saucy (adj); old-fashioned = rude and showing no respect, or referring to sex, especially in
a humorous way: a saucy remark/manner/look // a saucy postcard/magazine

14. tacky > “Is giving lingerie a turn-on or just tacky?”

tacky holiday souvenirs/a tacky hotel room = cheap and of bad quality, ~ dingy (dirty, not
very bright)
tacky candies; the table’s a bit tacky (you’ve spilled syrup on it) = slightly sticky