Andy's Wordshop

I know I did this a year ago, but it's so important I've decided to bring it to you again. This is the time of year for big events in Slovakia, the USA and the UK. October 31 is Halloween (big in USA, small in UK, growing in SR), the evening before All Hallows Day, which is the old name for All Saints Day (big in SR, small in USA and UK). Next day is All Souls Day (gigantic in SR, small in USA and UK) on November 2.
Then there is Guy Fawke's Night (massive in UK, nothing in USA or SR), marking the foiling of the Catholic Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in London in 1605. Some people still remember VOSR (Lenin's Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia in 1917) on November 7.
And then there's the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution of 1989 on November 17 (fading into history in SR, nothing in USA or UK), and finally Thanksgiving Day usually on the last Thurday in November, but on the 22nd this year (crucial in USA, nothing in UK or SR).

Tricky Words in this week's OVI

Wind up. You'd be hard pushed to find a trickier expression than this in English, partly because of the pronunciation, partly because it's a strong verb (irregular, if you prefer) and partly because it's a phrasal verb, so it doesn't necessarily mean what it looks like.
First is the pronunciation: say /wájnd ap/ (if you say /wind ap/, as in "get the wind up", that means to become very afraid); second are the strong verb forms: wind / wájnd /- wound /waund/ - wound /waund/, like find - found - found (nájsť), grind - ground - ground (mlieť kávu, drviť, gniaviť), bind - bound - bound (zviazať, zaviazať); third is the meaning: basically "wind" (remember: /wájnd/) means "točiť" or "vinúť", then "wind up" can mean "natočiť hodiny", "namotať klbko, zvitok", "zamotať sa do problémov a skončiť v base", or "zbaliť veci", and it's this idea which gives the meaning of "terminate a company".