The BLC Blog

A forum and learning place for British Language Centre students

Monday, March 19, 2007

Woodsy Owl


Give a hoot, don't pollute!

When I was a kid, the USDA Forest Service started using a character called Woodsy Owl to raise awareness about the environment. I still think his most popular slogan is my favorite [BrEng favourite]. It's clever in that it is a play on words:
  • The sound an owl makes is a hoot. Like all the animal sounds I can think of in English, the same word is used as a noun and a verb, so an owl hoots (verb), or you can hear an owl's hoot (noun).
  • To give a hoot means to care about something. It's very often heard in the negative, as in, "I don't give a hoot about what politician insulted what other politican in yesterday's debate!"
If you've got kids, you can print out Woodsy coloring sheets [BrEng colouring] at the USDA Web site.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home