Daily Archives: March 2, 2010

02 Mar

hold down the fort

Who taught: Andrew

When Andrew was going to take a long vacation, I came over to his desk to say “take care and see you later” and he told me “Sure, hold down the fort!” I did not know what that means and he told me it means like “take care of the place while I am gone since you will be in the office.”

And after a few months later, I was on vacation with Patrick, Rachel and Jessica. On Sunday, all of us except Rachel decided to go snowboarding and Rachel was going to stay in the cabin. So, when we leave the cabin, I said to Rachle, “hold down the fort!” Good job, Terry! You used it! haha.

02 Mar

do you want room for cream?

Where: coffee shop.

Well, it is kind of lame that I had hard time to understand what the employee is asking to me. But when I went to coffee shop to order a coffee, the employee asked me this question. I had to say, “Sorry??.” In Korea, I did not get this question at all. I think it is because the coffees are served with cream in it. Well I cannot remember exactly now.

So here in America, there is a separate stand where you can find a few different types of creams you can put into your coffee. You will find like “whole milk” or “half and half” on the stand. Then, once you get your coffee, you can put these into your coffee. I think if they do not ask the question to you and you do not ask them to leave a room for cream, they assume that you do not want to put cream in your coffee so that they give you a coffee full of the cup.

02 Mar

plastic or paper

Where: grocery shopping.

So this one looks so easy for Americans but actually it is not for foreigners especially who just started to learn English or try to use English. When I first came to the United States about 4 years ago, I went grocery shopping. When I try to pay, the employee asked me “Plastic or Paper.” What the heck? I had no idea what he was asking. All of it sudden, what is plastic or paper. It turns out they are asking me whether I want to have plastic bag or paper bag. I think they use a lot of short expressions to make everything faster. So brace yourself when you go shopping!!!

02 Mar

dutch oven

Who taught: Jake (?) Is it you, Jake? Cannot remember!

This looks like this is one of the favorite ones here. I would be so embarrassed if I explain this by myself. So, I want to borrow the definition from urban dictionary.

“Blowing hard ass wind under the covers several times and building up stench while your old lady is brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed, then when she gets into bed, pull the covers over her head and yell “Dutch Oven” and let her enjoy the stench of your ass gas for at least 30 seconds.”

Wait, now I am curious that this one should be really 30 seconds. Is it a strict rule?

I actually forgot why this expression came out. Jake, was it because you do this many times and teach me how to amuse Jessica?