Improve Your English: English in Everyday Life

The Us
e of L
anguage
: Par
t II
117
coming over. My-my-my-my grandparents did from Ire-
land, which, another language I’ve-I’ve studied, um, or-or 
my great-grandparents from Poland, uh, maybe-maybe 
have a reason for coming over here ’cause it-it wasn’t
 cool 
over in Poland and it certainly wasn’t cool over in Ire-
land—um, but, even-even about ten years ago, I-I could 
speak to my great-uncles that Lidia found through gea—, 
uh, uh, uh, genealogy, and, uh, they still spoke with-with-
with an accent. Th
ey still spoke, uh, 
polova populsku
, half 
Polish and-and it’s in Chicago and-and-and, I-I-I, they, 
I-I don’t assume that they-they-they, acquired a love for 
this culture and that may be diffi
cult, coming from-from 
an-another—I’m not 
gonna
say—we don’t have a 
hell of 
a lot
of culture, but it-it may be even a little more diffi
cult 
for them to pick up coming over here than for us to pick 
up going over-over there.
DEFINITIONS
Amerindians:
Indian people indigenous to the Americas 
and the Caribbean region.
Amish:
A Christian religious sect of Swiss origin often 
found in eastern Pennsylvania and known for their 
choice not to use modern conveniences and modes of 
transportation.
Brit:
Short for 
British
.
Bronx:
One of the fi ve boroughs of New York City.
by and large:
An expression that means “generally speak-
ing,” “for the most part,” or “in most cases.”
’cause:
Short for 
because
.

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Impr
ov