[homework]
Now the VOA Special English Program, ”words and their stories”. Today we tell about the word “wildcat”. Humans have always depended on animals. From the beginning of human history wild animals provided food, clothing, and sometimes medicine. We may not depend as much on wide animals now, but we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of the animals in many ways. Many companies use animals to make us want to buy their goods. Automobile companies for example, love to show fast forces when they are trying to sell their cars. They also name their cars for other fast powerful animals. Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats. When American say wildcat they usually mean lynx , an ocelot or a bobcat, all these cats attack quickly and fiercely, so wild cats represent something fast and fierce. What a better way is to sell the car and say it is as fast as a wildcat, or what a better way to use to sell gasoline, then to say using it like putting a tiger in your tank. And early American use the word of wildcat is quite different. It was used to describe members of congress who declared the world on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congress man went home. It’s said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved in their country in an unnecessary world. Wildcat also has been used as a name for money. It was used this way in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted their banks to make their own money. One bank in the State Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it. Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or low value. It was called as “a wildcat bill” or “a wildcat banknote”. The banks who offered this money were called “wildcat banks”. A newspaper of the times said those were the days of wildcat money. It’s said, a man may be rich in the morning, and poor by night. Wildcat was used in another way, in 1800s, it was used for an oil way or gold mine there is almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property, then they will sell it, and leave town with the money. The buyers will left worthless hose in the ground. Today wildcat oil wells in areas are that are not known to have oil. Yet another kind of wildcat is the wildcat strike, that is, a strike called without official approval by a Union. During The World War 2, American publication accused wildcat strike of slowing government production.
(music) This VOA Special English program “Words and Their Stories” was written by Jerry Waston. I’m Waren Sheer. |