Monthly Archives: April 2010

29 Apr

Shit in phrases

Who taught: Brian, Stan, Jake, Pete and Andrew

“Shit!”

I bet you have heard this one so many times, right? And, I also bet you have used this one a lot. What? You have not? Come on! Don’t tell a lie? OK! If you have not, then I am pretty sure you do not use English enough. So, you should use this a lot 🙂 If you use English a lot, this one should just come out of your mouth without even thinking.

The other day, Stan who is sitting next to me was talking to Brian and they used one expression, “Wish in one hand, Shit in the other hand!” I overheard it and asked them like, “What? What does it mean?” They told me, “It is basically describing the situation of wishing something impossible.” Brian also told me, “Growing up, my father used this expression to me a lot whenever I asked something impossible!” Or maybe, Brian was asking something his father did not want to do. 🙂 The full version of the expression is “Wish in one hand, Shit in the other hand. See which fills up first!” Well, obviously if someone asks that question, the answer is “Shit in the other hand fills up first.” So, if your children ask too expensive present for their birthday or something, your answer is “Wish in one hand, Shit in the other!”

There is also another expression in which you can find “Shit.”

“Throw shit at the wall to see what sticks!”

Andrew told me that Pete used this expression to Jake when they were discussing about a methodology of developing a feature in our software. You might be able to understand its meaning by just hearing it. But, here is the definition I found from Internet.

To approach a task using the trial and error method.

Andrew also told me the original expression of this is “Throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks!” Have you ever tried to throw spaghetti against wall to figure out whether it is fully cooked or not. Maybe, this expression was invented by an Italian cook?? Personally, I like the one with “shit” better. It is more informal. But, I do not think you can use the one with “shit” in business context. But, I do suggest to use “throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks” in your company meetings or conference calls. This is pretty fancy one to use.

I am almost 100% sure that there are bunch of expressions with “shit.” Do you know any?

28 Apr

You stole my thunder!

Whose story : Patty and her friend

Yay! Finally, I got a story from my reader. It is always gonna be the top in my draft queue. Patty whom I have never met before is Carol’s sister and she sent me a story about weather related phrases. One of her friends who is also non native English speaker used “You stole my thunder!” to her. Patty was so proud of her friend using this kind of expressions considering she/he has been in the U.S. only one year. I am curious, though. Patty, is she/he from European countries? Because I think people from Europe learn English faster than people from Asia do. Maybe I am wrong but very curious about it. The other thing is “Patty, did you pat her/him when she/he used the expression?” You should! Hey… native English speakers out there! If you see any non-native English speakers using very hard expressions in a good context, you guys should pat/compliment them. Especially, if they have been in the U.S. not a long time. 🙂 They are gonna be so happy and even try to learn English harder. In that sense, I like my friends, especially Jake. Jake, you made my day so many times by simply saying, “T-Bone, your English is very good!” Anyways, do you guys know what the expression means? The definition would be as follows.

take attention away from the person who has brought it in the first place.

Let me see! What would be an example??  Oh, I know a good one. I actually learned this expression from watching TV show, Friends. In the show, there was a time that Monica announced her engagement with Chandler. She’s got all attention from friends. But then, because of that announcement, Rachel got lonely and made a move to Ross and they kissed. Friends got to know that and, all of it sudden, Rachel got the whole attention from friends. At that time, Monica got angry and said to Rachel, “You always stole my thunder! Why?” Now, can you feel the expression? More specifically, I guess Monica was the one who made the thunder (attention) initially but then Rachel stole it from Monica.

Speaking of watching TV show to learn English, there is one tip I would like to share with you. If you want to be good at listening to English, you should watch the same TV show over and over instead of watching too many different shows. It is a lot better and faster to get yourself accustomed to some specific pronunciation and intonation. And, if you want to be able to speak English, then you should memorize all of the conversations you heard from the show and speak them loudly so that you can hear what you are speaking. The most important thing here is that you gotta try to mimic the original conversations as much as you can almost like you are the actors in the show. Finally, if you want to improve your writing, you should write many of your stories to me in English. I am just pulling your leg 🙂 You should write journal everyday to improve your writing.

Patty also provided another weather related expression. “When it rains, it pours!”

Definition: When something bad happens, there are also much more worse things happening in a short period of time.

Korean equivalent : 설상가상 (Seol-Sang-Ga-Sang) This one is borrowed from Chinese. Seol means snow. Sang means on and Ga means frost. So literal translation would be “frost on snow!”

Hey! If you use this “Seol-Sang-Ga-Sang” to me in a proper context, I will definitely pat/compliment you. 🙂

27 Apr

acquired taste

Who taught: Patrick

When I first started this blog, I thought I would be in short of new expressions pretty soon. Well, I was totally wrong. Guess what? New posts will go on almost forever. There are so many expressions. But, you must not expect too much at your first attempt, right? One a day! Then it will be 365 a year. We will get there sometime. Besides, it is so fun to learn something we do not know, isn’t it?

Every time I sit down to write a new post, I feel so thankful to all of my friends who always try to help me out with new expressions. You know what I think? People are still so nice and kind in the world! And, if anyone tries to do his/her best, help comes along. There is a good expression for this. “God helps those who help themselves!” Similar expression would be “Someone up there likes me!” Korean equivalent : 하늘은 스스로 돕는 자를 돕는다. (Ha-Neul-Eun-Su-Su-Ro-Dop-Neun-Ja-Reul-Dop-Neun-Da) This Korean equivalent is literally the same as the English one. I think this is the first one that Korean and English ones are exactly the same.

When my brother and sister-in-law visited us, they were so surprised by how much Jessy and I have been changed, especially, by the food we are eating. Frankly, most of the Korean people cannot get away from Korean food for a long time. So, it was not a surprise that they were trying to go to a Korean restaurant as many as possible in the U.S. But, Jessy and I were totally fine with all of the American food. You know, spaghetti, fries, burgers, pizza, subs, etc. You know what I really like now? It is ROOT BEER! When I first saw it, I thought it is a kind of beer because I had never seen it before I got to the U.S. And, the taste was… hmm…. how should I put it??? It was like drinking melted toothpaste. Frankly, it was so gross. I was not able to understand how people could even drink it. But, now, I love it. So, I can say, “Root beer is my acquired taste!” One thing I learned from Patrick is that you can use this expression for people. For example, at first, you did not like Patrick but, as time goes by, you become to like Patrick more and more and eventually you totally like Patrick. Then, you can say, “Patrick is an acquired taste to me!” (Pat, Don’t worry! You have always been my best friend. You are not an acquired taste to me 🙂 )

So, if you are not an American, what is your acquired taste in the U.S.? Or, maybe should I ask, “WHO is your acquired taste?”

BTW, if you go to Korea, try silkworm pupae or Kimchi as much as possible. I guarantee it will be your acquired taste soon.

26 Apr

bought the farm or bought it

Who taught: Brian

Today, let me start with asking you a question! What do you think if I say “He bought the farm.” to you? Don’t you think you would interpret literally? You know… basically just buy a farm from someone? When Brian told me this today over lunch, I had no clue about the real meaning. The only thing I figured out was it does not have just literal meaning of buying a farm since it has “THE” farm. Brian told me that it originates from World War I and a very American expression. (So, I guess U.K. or Canadian people would not understand what this expression means, right??) When a man died in the war, the U.S. government payed the mortgage of THE farm he owned off. I found the following definition from the Urban Dictionary.

To die, espescially in combat; most likely from the idea that a dead soldier’s death benifit would serve to pay off his family’s morgtage. Often shortened to “bought it.”

I guess the Urban dictionary is useful. (Thanks! Andrew.) The other thing I was surprised is that the shortened expression, “bought it.” Damn! I would never figure the meaning out if anyone says it even with some good context. So hard to figure out! I guess it would be also hard to figure out the real meaning if anyone says “bought the farm!” too. One more thing I would like to let you know is that you can use an object as its subject. For example, supposed that a server (I am referring to a type of computer here. You know, I am an applications engineer. 🙂 ) get burned physically and not available any more, you can say that, “The server bought the farm!” or “The server bought it!” Man! Still so hard to get the meaning of it! I would be so happy if I would be able to use it in any context in a real conversation. Looking forward to the first time I can use this expression!

One question though! Is is OK if I use this expression when I inform people of someone’s death? You know like, “My friend, Juno, bought the farm yesterday.”

Time for today’s injury in English taught by Andrew~

Expression: Tennis elbow! Even though Andrew told me this, the teacher is Beth because she is the one who told Andrew this one to let me know.

Definition : an inflammation, soreness, or pain on the outside (lateral) side of the upper arm near the elbow. There may be a partial tear of the tendon fibers, which connect muscle to bone, at or near their point of origin on the outside of the elbow. (Source: google health)

I do not think we have any equivalent in Korean. But one thing I kind of felt is that many of the injuries in English have a specific or representative sports’ name in it, like runner’s knee and this one. Well, personally I think that is a pretty smart way of making a new expression.

25 Apr

Super Salad

Whose story: My brother, Eunwoo

Terry and his bro, Eunwoo

Hello! My friends out there! Good to talk to you again! My apologies for the absence of new posts for a week! As I told you, my brother and sister-in-law came to the U.S. from South Korea. We took a trip to Tampa, Florida, having a wonderful time together. It was only one week being together and they went back to Korea. Came back to the house from the airport, Jessy and I felt so lonely and the house looked so empty. The week really flew by and now they are not here and we do not know when we are going to see them again. Man, I miss them already. This is one of the things I do not like about living abroad, being apart from family.

During the trip, we of course had been to many restaurants. For the first day, we went to an Olive Garden in Tampa for lunch. After we ordered drinks, my brother talked to us, “They are going to ask us about super salad later.” We then asked him, “What is super salad? We’ve never heard of it? Is it a special salad you had before?” He told us the story he experienced on his biz trip. He went to a restaurant in New Hampshire and ordered one main menu. Then, the server said, “Soup or Salad?” It was so fast that my brother understood as “Super Salad.” He thought it is just a kind of a salad and answered, “OK!” The server was like, “What do you want? Soup or Salad?” My brother was, “OK, I want the super salad.”  Then, the server was, “No, I mean it comes with soup OR salad. Which one do you want?” Finally, my brother got it and ordered salad. We all laughed about it and, hearing the story, Jessy and I realized that it really sounds like SUPER SALAD if we speak it fast. As soon as we finished the story, the server in the Olive Garden came to us to take our orders. As soon as my brother ordered a food, the server said, “Soup or Salad?” We all laughed again and talked about the story to the server. I was like, “Wow, that is really like super salad.” We also went to a Subway. I ordered sweet onion chicken teriyaki sub. My brother watched me ordering and, as soon as we got back to the table, he told his wife, “OK, there is a lesson today. We should not go to Subway in the U.S. They ask too much and it is not simple at all.” Well, I guess I am not the only one having a hard time to order a sub in the U.S. (Not any more though 🙂 ) I guess ordering a sub in Subway could be the real English test for non-native English speakers. Travel guide book authors should add the step-by-step guide of ordering subs in the U.S. in their survival English travel books. What do you think?

Today’s injuries in English taught by Andrew : Athlete’s foot

Definition : A fungal infection of the skin of the foot, usually between the toes.

Korean equivalent : 무좀 (Moo-Zom) Well, I think this one should be SOLDIER’S FOOT in Korea because almost all of the Korean soldiers experienced this. When I was in the Army, I had this too. Such a horrible infection to bear with! So itchy 🙂