spring cleaning
– C1 (advanced) –
Practice Your Listening Comprehension
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In Canadian English, this term typically means:
the annual act of reorganizing and washing your home after a long, cold winter
NOTE
This is often done to welcome in the spring; it is a way of starting fresh in life with a clean environment, which became dirtied after months of frigid weather. It is important to clarify that Canadians do clean their homes throughout the year. Spring cleaning, however, is a more extreme or thorough form of cleaning.
EXAMPLES
“My mother loved spring cleaning: washing the walls, the ceiling, the floors, the windows (inside and out), the light switches, the plugins, the rods in closets… Nothing was off limits for her; she cleaned it all and she was always so proud of it afterwards.”
“It’s that time of the year again: spring cleaning! This year, we will be getting rid of a bunch of donations that have collected over the past year. We’ll also be cleaning out my office and repainting it, reorganizing the kitchen pantry, and raking all the dead grass from the lawn.”
Do you do any spring cleaning? What do you have planned for this year? Does your culture observe this tradition, or a similar one, too? Practice your English by telling me about it in the comments below.
