Today's story: Publishers Clearing House made its name by offering magazine subscriptions through the mail—along with the chance to win big prizes. The lure of big winnings helped the company sell millions of subscriptions. Some winners received $5,000 a week for life. But the company recently declared bankruptcy, and the "lifetime" payments stopped. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/816 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/816 -- Plain English helps you improve your English:...
Nov 10, 2025•16 min•Ep. 816
Today's story: The White Lotus may be fictional, but the luxury hotels in the show are real—and they’re getting a lot more attention. All three seasons of the HBO hit show "The White Lotus" were filmed at Four Seasons resorts. It all started with a risky bet during the pandemic, but now the hotel chain is finally embracing its onscreen fame. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/815 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/815 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn ab...
Nov 06, 2025•15 min•Ep. 815
Today's story: On a Sunday morning in October, four thieves disguised as construction workers used a ladder truck and power tools to break into the Louvre museum. In just seven minutes, they smashed display cases and escaped with eight priceless pieces of French crown jewelry, including emeralds, sapphires, and pearls once worn by empresses. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/814 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/814 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn ab...
Nov 03, 2025•13 min•Ep. 814
In this episode from the Plain English archives, you'll learn about Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland. It's a great place to explore the best of Irish culture: the music, the drinks, and the literature. -- Cold plunges are the new health trend championed by high-fliers and ordinary people alike. By submerging yourself water that's 15 degrees Celsius (or colder!), you can manage stress, reduce muscle soreness, improve your concentration, and more, advocates say." Full lesson: https:/...
Oct 30, 2025•17 min•Ep. 539
In this episode from the Plain English archives: Electric vehicles promised to improve safety and reduce harmful CO2 emissions, but they’re also eerily quiet, which is causing safety problems for pedestrians and cyclists. Several countries now have regulations mandating that electric vehicles make noise with external speakers, but it’s up to the car companies to decide on the sound. Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/lessons/travel-dublin -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn...
Oct 27, 2025•14 min•Ep. 498
Today's story: Get ready for some updates to previous Plain English stories: New York begins rolling out containerized trash collection; Paris opens the Seine for public swimming; BTS announces a comeback; the original Birkin bag sells for a record €8.6 million; Ethiopia opens the long-disputed Nile dam; and the UK, Uruguay, and Italy take steps toward legalizing assisted dying. Transcript & Exercises : https://plainenglish.com/813 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/813 -- Plain English h...
Oct 23, 2025•13 min•Ep. 813
Today's story: Construction on the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, is approaching a major milestone after more than 140 years. The basilica’s central tower is nearly complete, and the project is expected to be structurally finished by 2026, the 100th anniversary of the death of Antoni Gaudí. But more than a decade of additional work remains before Gaudí's famous basilica is fully complete. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/812 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/812 -- ...
Oct 20, 2025•10 min•Ep. 812
Today's story: A British wartime propaganda poster created in 1939 featured the slogan, ‘Keep calm and carry on.’ The poster was never used and the slogan had been forgotten, until it was rediscovered in 2000. In a brand-new age, the slogan took on new meaning, and started to appear on posters, mugs, t-shirts, and countless online memes. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/811 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/811 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about ...
Oct 16, 2025•14 min•Ep. 811
Today's story: Large language models like ChatGPT are increasingly sycophantic—flattering users, validating flawed reasoning, and agreeing too easily. This tendency stems from how models are trained: by rewarding responses users like. While some innocent flattery is harmless, models' sycophancy can be harmful in hidden ways. Here's what AI sycophancy is, and how to avoid it. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/810 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/810 -- Plain English helps ...
Oct 13, 2025•17 min•Ep. 810
Today's story: Archaeologists are excavating a never-before-studied part of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried by a volcanic eruption. They’ve uncovered luxury homes, decorated bathhouses, and evidence of how residents tried to survive the disaster. These new finds offer a vivid window into Roman life—and death—in the first century A.D. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/809 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/809 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn abo...
Oct 09, 2025•13 min•Ep. 809
Today's story: A growing number of state and national education systems are banning cell phone use during the school day. Supporters say phones are distracting, addictive, and bad for learning. Not everyone agrees, but teachers—and even some students—say the changes are making a big difference. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/808 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/808 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, na...
Oct 06, 2025•13 min•Ep. 808
Today's story: Reusable water bottles have become a big global industry, driven by health trends, social media, and changing values around sustainability and style. Brands like Stanley turned practical hydration into a fashionable status symbol—but are they environmentally friendly if you collect them and don't use them? Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/807 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/807 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and imp...
Oct 02, 2025•13 min•Ep. 807
Today's story: For two decades, the Big Three—Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic—defined men’s tennis. With Federer and Nadal retired and Djokovic aging out of contention, a new rivalry has taken center stage. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have claimed every major title in the past two years, marking the beginning of a new era. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/806 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/806 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and...
Sep 29, 2025•14 min•Ep. 806
In this lesson from the Plain English archives, you'll learn about one of Canada's sweetest exports: maple syrup. In 2021, there were fears of a shortage. This episode tells the story. "A weaker maple syrup harvest this year put Canada in a bit of a sticky situation. As the world leader in maple syrup production, Canada had to tap into its maple syrup reserves to avoid a global shortage. Pancake enthusiasts: keep calm, there will still be syrup!" Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/lessons/map...
Sep 25, 2025•14 min•Ep. 424
Enjoy this episode from the Plain English archives. Emoji are everywhere, including some unlikely places...like the courtroom. Court cases often hinge on what words mean. But what happens when a dispute involves an emoji? To decide cases or rule on motions, judges often have to decide what a 👍 or a 💓 means. To make matters worse, there's no emoji dictionary and not everyone agrees on what each emoji means. 🤷 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/lessons/emojis-in-court -- Plain English helps ...
Sep 22, 2025•17 min•Ep. 608
Today's story: How do stolen cars move around the world? Easy. They're loaded into standard shipping containers and sent overseas using the same freight network that moves legal goods. Weak customs enforcement and decentralized criminal networks help keep the operation running smoothly. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/805 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/805 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, natural En...
Sep 18, 2025•15 min•Ep. 805
Today's story: Car theft is on the rise, and it's high tech and global. Thieves in rich countries steal luxury SUVs using relay devices and other tools, then ship them overseas to markets in Africa and the Middle East, where demand is high and oversight is weak. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/804 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/804 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, natural English at a speed you can ...
Sep 15, 2025•14 min•Ep. 804
Today's story: Umpire Jen Pawol made history as the first woman to officiate a Major League Baseball game in 150 years. Her milestone highlights the growing presence of female officials in men’s sports, from soccer to basketball, and the challenges they face breaking into these roles. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/803 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/803 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, natural Engl...
Sep 11, 2025•15 min•Ep. 803
Today's story: Italy has approved plans for the Messina Bridge, a €13.5 billion suspension bridge linking Sicily to the mainland. If completed by 2033, it would be the world’s longest suspension bridge, but faces engineering, environmental, financial, and political challenges. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/802 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/802 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, natural English at a...
Sep 08, 2025•14 min•Ep. 802
Today's story: Skinny jeans and tight-fitting clothes are out, and loose, oversized fashion is in. The shift is driven by comfort after the pandemic, greater body inclusivity, and a wave of 1990s nostalgia. Designers and retailers alike are embracing relaxed cuts for all genders. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/801 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/801 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, natural English a...
Sep 04, 2025•13 min•Ep. 801
Today's story: A playful concert tradition took a serious turn when Coldplay’s “Jumbotron Song” captured an embrace between a tech CEO and his HR director. The viral video ignited a nationwide scandal, raising questions about workplace relationships and the risks of being caught on camera. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/800 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/800 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, natural...
Sep 01, 2025•14 min•Ep. 800
Xoloft, Ibrance, Zocor, Mounjaro: How do drug companies come up with these names? That's exactly what we explored in this classic episode of Plain English. When a pharmaceutical company develops a new treatment, the company creates both the generic (scientific) name and the brand name. They sound weird, but there's a method behind the madness of naming prescription drugs. Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/lessons/prescription-drug-names -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn ...
Aug 28, 2025•19 min•Ep. 557
It can be hard to focus on one thing for an extended period of time. An art class at Harvard takes this to the extreme. All students get an assignment during the class. They have to go to a museum and look at a painting for three hours. We didn't do that...but we came close, in this classic episode of Plain English. Here's what it's like to look at a single painting for one full hour. Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/lessons/painting-challenge -- Plain English helps you improve your English...
Aug 25, 2025•13 min•Ep. 497
Today's story: After years of delays, Cairo’s Grand Egypt Museum is finally nearing completion. The massive museum will house over 100,000 artifacts from Ancient Egypt, including more than 5,000 items from King Tut’s tomb. Although the King Tut galleries are still closed, most of the museum is open to the public — and visitors say it’s stunning. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/799 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/799 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Lear...
Aug 21, 2025•13 min•Ep. 799
Today's story: Erin Patterson invited her estranged husband’s family to lunch and served them beef wellington. But her guests soon got sick, and doctors discovered the recipe had been made with poisonous death cap mushrooms. Patterson claimed it was all a tragic mistake, but inconsistencies in her story led police to suspect murder. A jury found her guilty on all counts. The case captivated news junkies around the world. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/798 Full lesson: https...
Aug 18, 2025•14 min•Ep. 798
Today's story: Cities around the world are sinking due to a combination of groundwater extraction, rapid urbanization, and the weight of large buildings. This phenomenon, called subsidence, can damage infrastructure, worsen flooding, and, in some places, become irreversible. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/797 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/797 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and improve your English Clear, natural English at a s...
Aug 14, 2025•13 min•Ep. 797
Today's story: For decades, white text on a full blue background has meant one thing to Windows users: the computer has crashed and needs to be restarted. The screen was splashed across display boards in public places during a massive outage in July 2024. But now, Microsoft is redesigning the screen, frowny-face and all. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/796 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/796 -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Learn about the world and imp...
Aug 11, 2025•13 min•Ep. 796
Today's story: The western province of Alberta is moving toward a vote of independence from Canada. Polls show that only about 30 percent of residents truly want to break away. However, the growing independence movement reflects the frustration and isolation that many Albertans feel over the energy and environmental policies made at the national level. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/795 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/795 -- Plain English helps you improve your Englis...
Aug 07, 2025•15 min•Ep. 795
Today's story: 'Birthright citizenship' is the legal concept that grants citizenship to children born within a country's borders, no matter the nationality of their parents. The modern version started in the United States and quickly spread to other countries in the Americas. But the rest of the world (generally speaking) gives citizenship based on the nationality of the parents. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/794 Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/794 -- Plain English h...
Aug 04, 2025•15 min•Ep. 794
We recently did an episode about how movie titles are translated from their original to other languages. That made us nostalgic for the days of movie rentals, and it called to mind this classic episode of Plain English about the ""last Blockbuster." There were once over 9,000 locations of the video rental store with the eye-catching blue-and-yellow logo. But now, there is just one." Full lesson: https://plainenglish.com/lessons/last-blockbuster -- Plain English helps you improve your English: Le...
Jul 31, 2025•17 min•Ep. 355
