01 May

rediscovering a word series 3: sexy

Who taught: Patrick, Rachel, Andrew, Beth, Mark, Jake and Carol

Let me start with a challenge for you! From today and from this moment, watch TV shows or movies that are in English. I know you want to watch shows and movies that are in your mother tongue. Do you know why? It is because you are comfortable. Of course, it is. You have a choice. One asks you to stay in your comfort zone which is easy and a lot of people do and the other takes your strong will to get out of the comfort zone. Trust me on this. If you make a decision and be persistent, your English will get better. Additionally, make watching them be one of your everyday routines just like you go to a bathroom every morning. Oh, you go in the evening? Whatever way it is. It has to be a routine. If not, chances are you will fall back into your comfort zone again.

Hope you take my challenge and make a good progress soon! So, had you watch American TV shows, one of the words you would hear a lot would be “sexy.” I swear that people on TV use it so often that I strongly believed that I could use this anytime to any person.

So, a few days ago, when I met my friends, I used it. Of course, I hesitated but thought it should be OK. Oops! I was very very wrong.

Here is what happened. Stella, Patrick’s daughter, was having fun in a chair and her hair became out of control. Suddenly, I remembered an expression, “sexy bed-hair.” You know… when you wake up in the morning, you hair is totally unorganized and messy but, to your significant other, it SHOULD look sexy, right? I will leave it up to your imagination what would happen after that look. 🙂

Well, I said, “Stella got sexy bed-hair.” As soon as I said, “Oh no…. Terry.. Sexy?”

So far, it sounds like I am innocent. Don’t you think? The issue was Stella is only one year old.

My friends told me that people do not use “sexy” to a little kid. My non-native English speaker friends, be careful! Just because you hear a specific word very often on TV, it does not mean that you can use it all the time. There are times that you cannot use them which is not easy to learn. I guess you gotta just experience just like me. Poor Terry.

Patrick and Rachel, Stella is so cute and I love you guys.

By the way, are there any other times that I should not say sexy? #confused.

08 Mar

butt dial vs booty call

Who taught: Carol and Alan

butt dial

butt dial (source: http://aiminglow.com/)

A few days ago, Carol forwarded me a tweet by AlanHungover.

His tweet says:

My Grandpa confused the term “butt dial” with “booty call.” I almost fainted when he said “I booty called your mother last night.”

I already mentioned about the expression, booty call. If you do not remember, here is the link to my old post.

What is butt dial? Have you ever gotten a phone call but the one who makes the call does not speak at all but you keep hearing noises? That is probably due to butt dialing. You would have probably made that kind of call in the past too. Usually, it happens when you put your cell phone in your back pocket and sit down in a chair or a sofa. So, it is not a horrible thing to do. On the other hand, booty call is not considered to be a good thing. Well, it depends, I guess.

As I already mentioned in the old post, booty actually means butt. Call and dial mean the same thing. In that sense, it is not impossible to confuse those two expressions, even for native English speakers.

In reality, they are so different from each other. I would also be very very surprised by my Grandpa, saying “I booty called your mother last night.”

I would be like, “What? What is wrong with my family. My mother is your daughter, Grandpa!”

Anyway, since I heard that story, I feel a lot more comforted because even native English speakers are confused with all of these crazy expressions. I guess I am doing OK. What do you think, my friends? Wait, can I also say butt call to mean butt dial? How about booty dial? Would that be OK?

BTW, you should never forget these two expressions.

22 Dec

party pooper

Who taught: Carol, Jake and Flula

Party pooper! What do you think it means? We know that pooping means defecating. A pooper then should mean someone who poops. Having said that, we can guess that a party pooper would mean someone poops at parties.

Stop right here! And, watch this embedded video here before you proceed.

I am so happy seeing this German guy whose name is Flula. Look at his face! He is like, “What the heck! I do not understand.” I can feel what he feels. Don’t you agree, my non-native English speaking friends? Look at his facial expression! Man, all I can say is “misery loves company.”

However, we cannot just complain about new expressions. Time to learn and make this expression ours!

So, have you ever gone to a party? What? You are a party animal? Oh! I am sorry. Then, I should ask differently. How many parties have you ever gone to? Maybe you cannot even count because there have been so many. 🙂 Good for you! You should mingle and socialize.

Let me then ask this question! Have you seen any person who ruins the mood of a party? There it is. That person is a party pooper.

The other day, when my friends and I talked about this expression and Jake said that there is another similar expression. You can call a person who ruins any fun or joy a “killjoy.”

For example, if someone does not want to play a specific game that everyone else wants to play, then he/she is either a party popper or a killjoy.

Are you a killjoy? Hope not! Also, when you poop at a party that you are going in this holiday season, close the restroom door. 🙂 People are watching you.

P.S.: My friends, I have a question. What kind of actions are considered to be party pooping or killing joy?

15 Sep

phone it in

Who taught: Carol

the middle (source: http://en.wikipedia.org)

What a coincidence! Yesterday, I could not believe my ears. Watching an episode of TV show, Middle, I heard the expression that I learned from Carol a few days ago.

The explanation Carol gave me was very good but I wasn’t totally sure how and when I can use the expression.

Here is the conversation that Brick’s mother, Frankie, and Brick’s teacher had on the show.

Teacher: “So, are you saying you are over-parenting?”

Frankie: “Oh no no! We are under-parenting. In fact, we just phone it in.”

So, let me guess! You are little confused now, aren’t you? I mean, honestly, we all know what phone is, like iPhone, right? Then, what is phone it in? Of course, it originally means to make a phone call into a conference call, or something. Carol said, in the context of calling into a conference call, we can say, “I am phoning in now.”

Now, here is what American people have in their mind, when they hear “phone it in.” (Be careful! There is ‘it’ in the middle.)

Someone really need to be physically in a meeting because it is important but he/she did not. Instead, he/she phones in using a telephone. Now, what do you think? That is not a good attitude, right? You can imagine that he/she does not do a good job, can’t you? That’s what it means.

To sum it up, ‘phone it in’ means doing a bad job, which makes the conversation above perfectly sense.

Here is a good usage you can try whenever people you manage do not do a good job.

“Hey stop phoning it in! Work harder!”

20 Jun

penny wise pound foolish

Who taught: Carol and Mark

Penny wise pound foolish (source: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/)

In the U.S., there is mother’s day and father’s day separately whereas there is parents’ day in Korea. Yesterday was the father’s day in the U.S. I was thinking, if my father is around me, what kind of gift I should give to him. And, then, I watched U.S. Open final round. What an amazing play and gift for a father’s day! Rory Mcilroy finished his final putt and hugged his father, saying, “Happy father’s day! This is for you.” Oh man, if I were his father, I would be so proud of him that I feel like I have everything in the world. Great job, Rory! Looking forward to seeing your more often on the leader board!

A few days ago, we had a housewarming party at my place. My friends, Carol and Mark, brought two bottles of wine. I believe you all know that every wine has its own name or brand, right? So, the wine Mark brought was Jargon and the one Carol brought was Pennywise. Carol explained that why they brought those wines. There is a jargon, penny wise pound foolish. She asked me whether I can feel it or not. I said, “hmm…. not really!” First of all, since I am in the U.S., I am not really familiar with the English word, pound, even though I realized what it is later. Anyway, can you feel it? I think you can.

It is always great to hear an example of usages of an expression. When can we use this expression?

For example, you decided not to buy a gum because it is too expensive, then later you decided to go on a luxurious and upscale trip to Europe. Basically, you were trying to save a penny and then later you spend a lot of pounds, or dollars, on something that is too much for your budget.

Well, I am sure we all make mistakes that are penny wise pound foolish. I really want to buy GTI but, if I buy that car now, then it would be a good example of being penny wise pound foolish, right? I know, I know. But I really like that car. Jessy, can I buy it?

By the way, what kind of gift did you give to your father yesterday? How about winning the U.S. Open next year? 🙂