Monthly Archives: August 2010

30 Aug

ears burning!

Who taught : Kelly

Gays? (source:topnews.in)

As usual, Jessy and I took a walk this evening. During the walk, we saw two women walking along us, holding their hands. Well, we can simply tell they are together. I mean they are gays. Most of the time, if two people who are the same gender walk down streets, holding their hands, they are considered as gays. Maybe, it is 100% true. Am I right?
But, if you go to Korea and walk around, you will see a lot of ladies walking, holding their hands or arm-in-arm. 99% out of them are not gays. (Men would never do that. If you see any two guys, holding their hands, in Korea, they must be gays too.) For some reason, the Korean women all do that. I do not know why. It must be a part of culture. Not sure whether it is Asian thing or Korean thing though.

So, if you take a trip to America with your friend who is the same gender as you, you should not hold your friend’s hand in America. People here in America will think you are gays. (I mean they would not really care about it but they will just think you are gays even though you are not.)

A few weeks ago, I think, Kelly added a comment on one of my posts in which she used an expression, “Ears are burning!”
Let me give you a situation that you can use this expression! During lunch time, some of my friends are sitting together, eating lunch, and, in the middle of the discussion, they are talking about me. But I am not there. (Hope they are talking about good things! 🙂 ) A few minutes later, I show up and they say to me like, “Oh, hey T-Bone! We were just talking about you.” Then, I would be like, “Oh really? That is why my ears were burning. What did you talk about me?”

The definition of the phrase is as follows (source: wikitionary).

Said of somebody who was not present but was the topic of discussion.

Interesting thing is we, Korean, do have a very similar expression. We say, “귀가 간지럽다 (Gui-Ga-Gan-Ji-Reop-Da).” The literal translation is “My ears are itchy.” Our feeling of the expression is like, if so many people talk about me, then all of the sounds will come into my ears and that makes them itchy. But, I guess, for American, the word BURN should have that kind of feeling, right? Very interesting!

29 Aug

Brits vs Yanks vs Aussies

I have seen so many inspiring stories in my life but nothing is like this. You should really watch this!

NOW, LET’S BE THANKFUL!

I am very happy today

Can you say this sentence out loud? OK! Now, what kind of accent did you use? American? British? Australian? or Canadian?

Well, there are so many different accents when it comes to speaking English, I think. A few weeks ago, there was an orientation for the Master’s program in which I am teaching. There were around 50 students from 16 different countries. They, of course, have all different accents, such as Chinese, Indian, Australian, Korean or American, when they speak English. Interesting thing is students have different accents not based on where they are from but where they learn English. For example, there was a student who is Chinese but she learned English in Australia and she has Australian accent. Thus, when she says “I am very happy today,” it sounds like “I am happy to die.” Back in Korea, I had a coworker who learned English in UK. Whenever she says, “I can” or “I can’t,” it sounds very weird to me because I initially learn how to speak English in Canada.

So, what kind of accents do you have?

Having said that, I have heard a few words you want to know. Brits, Yanks and Aussies. People here in America use Brits or Aussies. As you can imagine, Brits are people from UK and Aussies are people from Australia. Well, then people in UK use “Yanks” to describe people from America. Why? There is a story about this word. There is an wikipedia page about the word. But, to sum it up, it was a word used for referring to someone from New England area. And, as the country went through the Civil War, the word became to use to refer to those from the northern U.S. And, later, people outside of the U.S. started to use this one to refer to American people. The baseball team name, New York Yankees, originated from this word.

So, remember! If you are here in America, they would use the words like “He is a brit or aussie.” It is very short and hard to catch the words correctly if you do not pay attention enough. The first time I heard my friend saying, “He is a brit.,” I thought she was saying, “He is a brick.” which does not make sense at all.

Now, are you happy today or are you happy to die? What is your accent?

26 Aug

party animal

Who taught : Andrew

One of the interesting scenes I have seen in America during the last 4 years is that women ride a bike wearing skirt. I had never seen that in Korea.

There is a street called, S. Negley Ave, in Pittsburgh. One part of the street is pretty steep so that it is even hard to walk up. Every time it snows, the road is closed. The other day, I was driving up the street to go to my house and saw a very bizarre thing. One woman was lying on the street besides her bike. Of course her bike was fell on the street too. As I was getting closer, I realized that the woman was wearing skirt. So, what happened was she was trying to bike up the street and fell down. What is really amazing was that she made almost half way up the street and she looked like she is in her 40s or 50s.

Here is my thoughts about riding a bike wearing skirt. First, it looks kind of dangerous, especially with a tight skirt. Second, I would be worrying about showing my underwear to other people, especially to guys. So, I am not sure why would you want to even try to ride a bike with skirt in the first place.

Other ladies in other countries also do the same thing except Korea. (I know Korean women would not even think about it.)

A few weeks ago, I was at a bar with Andrew to have dinner. Of course, I was supposed to let Jessy know so that she would not prepare my dinner. (She is pretty strict about that. I have to let her know. 🙂 ) So, I sent a text message to her, “I am at a bar with Andrew.” A few minutes later, I got the reply from her, “You are a bar animal.” It was pretty interesting one. I mean I could easily understand what she meant because I knew that she made that one up from the expression, “party animal”,  but wanted to get Andrew’s opinion. Before I get into his opinion, do you know the expression, party animal? Simply, it is you. (I am kidding.) So, a party in America means any kind of social gathering happening at someone’s house or some specific venue hosted by someone. For example, if I invite my friends to my house and have dinner together, that is a party. Or, if my company hosts a Christmas event, that is a party. Then, if you go to those events almost all the time, then you are a party animal. I am not sure why people started to use the word, “animal”, here. But, it gives, I think, a very strong feeling of being instinctive. What do you think?

Bar Rat (Source: movieforums.com)

Going back to Andrew’s opinion! So, I showed the text came from Jessy to Andrew. He also understood what it meant but he said, “It should be bar rat not bar animal.”

Interestingly, when it comes to bar, it becomes a lot more specific animal, rat. Why? My guess is that people think there are a lot of rats in bars and if anyone is going to bar all the time, he/she becomes the part of the rat family over there. (Are there really a lot of rats in bars?) Speaking of it, I think it is probably not a good idea to go to bars too many times. Rats are there… Not just RAT rats but RAT people!

23 Aug

coin slot

Who taught : Andrew, Stan and Jean

Walking around the campus, I have a chance to take a look at a lot of vending machines. Let’s imagine you are thirsty and in front of a vending machine, what is the first thing you would do? Well, you would take a look at the beverages it has. And, see the price of the one you want to get. Then, what? You put a few coins into the coin slot, right? Pretty easy! But, that is not the coin slot I am talking about here.

Last week, I went out with my friends, Andrew, Stan and Jean to have dinner together. And… as always, I learned a very interesting thing. Coin slot could mean something else.

Coin Slot (source: cointalk.com)

Can you guess what it could be? OK! I will tell you the example Andrew told me. Suppose that you have an issue with your toilet and call a plumber to fix it. And, a few hours later, he comes into your house and it turns out that he is quite fat. (No offense to plumbers! I am sure Andrew used this example because of the position that he should make to fix the toilet.) Now… he is trying to diagnose the toilet to see what the issue is. What would be his position?

Yup! He should bend his upper body over to take a look at the toilet closer. You are now looking at his back. What if he is wearing low-rise pants??? What you can see now?

Yes, you can see the top of his ass crack. That is the coin slot I am talking about here.

Here is the definition I found on Urban Dictionary.

Term describing the top of the ass crack when it can be seen protuding from low worn pants. Usually associated with skanky old fat men and slutty girls trying to get some.

How many times have you seen this kind of coin slots in your life? As women start to wear a lot of low-rise jeans and short t-shirts, I think we have a lot more chances to see the coin slot. Not sure it is a good thing or not. But I like this expression. Whoever used this expression first must be very creative. My last word! Do not really try to put some coins in that coin slot! 🙂

22 Aug

Learning English

Who taught: Terry

Worries related with English (source:interface.edu.pk)

Living abroad is not an easy thing! The main reason why it is hard is because, as you would guess, of the language barrier. Then the answer is simple. Learn the language as fast as possible! The question that follows is “HOW?” Let’s talk about learning English, the main theme of this blog, a little today! Here are the things I did, have done and am still doing to improve my English. (I am not a linguist but I have my own thoughts about what it takes to be able to learn a language. You might disagree. Please feel free to add your thoughts!)

1. Listen as much as I can

I personally think this is the first step that is required to be able to speak a new language. Let’s take an example of a baby. How does he/she get to understand his/her mother tongue? Listen, right? As parents keep saying the language, their children become to understand words and expressions and eventually say them. Ever since I got into U.S., I have never watched any Korean TV shows and movies. There are so many places I can get those things if I want. But, I intentionally decided not to rent and watch them. Why? It is hard to get away from watching them once I get into those shows. Then, consequently, I am losing my time to listen to English. As I have mentioned in a few posts here, Jessy and I watch a few TV shows again and again until we understand all of what they are saying. Let me give you a few examples! They are Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Private Practice, OC, Mad Men, etc. So, try to watch some of the ones I chose or you can choose something else to watch. Again, watch them repetitively until you get to understand majority of the conversations. And, try to speak along some of the expressions while you are watching!

2. Speak as much as I can

One question I would like to ask is “What is the major community are you in?” There are people who are trying to get along with the people who is from the same country. There are people who are trying to mingle with American people. “Who would have more chances to speak English?” Of course, the people who is trying to mingle into communities of American people would have a lot more chances to speak English. Every year, the number of times I get to meet Korean people is a few. I can actually count using my fingers. The only time I speak Korean is when I talk with my wife, Jessy. Even with her, I try to speak English as much as I can. We also go to American church not Korean church. There, we met so many nice friends. I remember Jessy asked me to go to Korean church instead of the American church for the first few weeks. But, I persuaded her to stay, saying “If we decide to go to Korean church, I guarantee you will spend most of your time with Korean people and, thus, lose your chance to speak English. And, I do not think that is a good idea.” To be honest, that was one of the main reasons why we stayed in the American church. (Don’t get me wrong! This is not the only reason, though. The people are amazing and there is the faith and brotherhood I can share with other members in the church.)

3. Write as much as I can

Even with lots of listening and speaking, there is still a part that is not easy to be good at. It is writing. Writing is such a hard part and I think it is the last piece to conquer. Working in America, I need to write a lot of emails and documents in English. Email is one of the main communication methods in business here in America. If you write something incorrectly in emails, it could cause a big problem. So, I had to practice writing too. One of the ways I took is reading good articles in magazines and try to use the expressions I found from them in my emails. And the other thing I do is writing this blog in English. I would have written this blog in Korean but decided not to do it so that I can practice my writing. I know there are still many mistakes. Please feel free to add any comments if you have any suggestions or corrections! I am totally fine with it because that is the best chance for me to learn how to write better.

Of course, these three aspects are all interconnected. If you write more and more, you get to use many of different sentences and expressions, then it helps your speaking. (This is so true for me. Trust me! Try to write in English, it will really help your speaking.) And, if you speak more, then you get to listen what you are saying, and this also helps your listening. The most important thing is that you really need to speak out loud and enunciate what you are saying. Sometimes, speaking English while you are watching you in the mirror really helps.  And, as you listen to what American people are saying in conversations, you get to learn new expressions you can use in your writings. In my case, I have learned a lot of expressions by just participating in a lot of conference calls.

My last question to you is “How much time do you invest to improve your English?” “One hour per day? Two hours per day?” I have heard a lot of non-native English speakers complain about their poor English and, at the same time, do not change their life to get them to have more chances to listen, speak and write English. Well….. what can I say? YOU GOTTA PRACTICE!