Please consider donating to lepra.org.uk

Screen Shot 2014-10-11 at 00.40.58Hi everyone,

For a while now, we’ve been using the word LEPPERS to refer to fans of Luke’s English Podcast. It’s quite a catchy word and people keep using it, including me of course. However, I think it’s quite important that you are aware that the word also has another meaning.

Yesterday I donated money to a charity called Lepra. Their mission is to help people trapped by disease, poverty and prejudice and much of their work focuses on areas in India and Bangladesh where many people suffer from one of the world’s oldest diseases: leprosy. People who suffer from leprosy are traditionally known as lepers. So, that’s the other meaning of that word – a leper is someone who suffers from leprosy.

I just thought you should know that the word has this other, rather serious and sombre meaning.

I’ve always known this, and I always assumed that my listeners knew it too. In fact, I’ve always been pretty sure that I mentioned the meaning of the word leper some time ago on the podcast. In fact, when I first used the word LEPPER I was looking for a catchy title for listeners to the podcast. “Luke’s English Podcast People or LEPPERS” – it made me laugh although I didn’t mean it to be a joke, it was more a coincidence, but the name stuck and now people keep using it all the time, including me.

I never planned it to be a sick joke or anything like that. I’m not making fun of anyone by allowing my listeners to call themselves LEPPERS. I’m not taking the mickey out of you and certainly not out of sufferers of the disease. That’s not what LEP is all about, as you know.

In fact, I think it’s completely appropriate for me to use this opportunity to ask all of my listeners/fans/readers/followers to strongly consider donating to lepra.org.uk. Your donations can help make a huge difference to the lives of many people suffering from not only leprosy but numerous other diseases and hardships. If you’d like to make a donation, it’s simple. Just visit http://lepra.org.uk and click the big yellow “donate” button. You could save lives and make a huge difference. Please consider it.

Also, I don’t think we should stop referring to each others as LEPPERS, but it’s completely up to you. If you’d rather not use it – that’s cool, but if you think it’s okay because it’s actually another word, with a different spelling, then go ahead and keep using it. Personally I think it’s okay as long as you’re aware of the double meaning. I just hope that now you’re all completely clued-up about the other meaning of this word.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. Have a nice weekend.

Luke