square vs hip vs sleek
Who taught: Andrew
AVAILABLE
So.. this is one of the words that can be used in so many occasions. Suppose you just get into a cafe and try to find a seat to sit. After a few looks, you spot one chair but someone is sitting on the chair next to that chair. And, you would like to make sure whether you can really sit on that chair or not, then how would you ask to the person? That is right! Simple! “Is this available?”
Another example would be in your biz email. You want to have a meeting with your client or customer but are not sure whether he/she can make it to the meeting at a specific time. What would you use in your email? That is right! Simple! “Are you available at 11:00 am on Tuesday? Please let me know your availability! blah blah….”
Now! You, assuming you are a woman, find me who is with friends at a bar and decide to go for me. “Hi, there! Nice to meet you! My name is Jessica!” At this point, everybody knows that you are trying to flirt with me. Then, what would you hear from my friends? That is right! Simple! “Hey, Lady! T-Bone is not available! He is married.”
I mean you can use this word in so many situations. I guess this is too easy for you. But, the reason why I bring this word up is because I would like to talk about the difference between English and Korean. All of the above cases, we, Korean, use totally different words. For instance, we use the expression, “품절남(Pum-Jeol-Nam)”, to describe a married man. Literal translation would be “He is out of stock!”
The hardest part for Korean people or any other non-native English speakers is that it takes a long time to realize that they can simply use “available” in so many situations because every time they try to speak something, then they think in Korean or their mother tongue first and try to translate it into English. This is one of the main reasons why non-native English speakers say so many sentences which do not make sense at all.
Square Face(source:gocomics.typepad.com)
Well… Let’s talk about today’s expression!
He is square.
Can you guess what this means? Hard to understand, right? Does it mean the shape of his body is square or the shape of his face is square or the shape of his but is square? What the heck does it mean?
Well, here is the definition on urban dictionary.
A person who is regarded as dull, rigidly conventional, and out of touch with current trends.
In other words, someone who is not cool. Now, what is the word to describe someone who is cool. Right! You can use “COOL” but there is also another one, “HIP.” So, if you see someone who is very in touch with current trends. You can say like “You are so hip!” to him/her. He/she will love it. What about to your male friend who is very fashionable, especially by wearing a suit? Then you can say, “You are so sleek today!” I am not sure whether you can use this one to female friends. I feel like you cannot. Hope my feeling is correct! (If I am correct, that means I am getting closer to become an American?? 🙂 )
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Hmm, I might describe a man in a suit as debonair, instead 🙂
I think I would use something other than sleek to describe a man in a suit too, but I doubt I’d ever say “debonair” either.
In my experience, sleek isn’t commonly used to describe people. I think I’ve mostly heard that word used to describe cars and Apple products.
“snazzy” or “spiffy”
Hmm… To be honest, I have never heard of them but sounds very cool to use. Thanks!
Yeah, like my miata is so sleek?
BTW: “square” and “hip” are somewhat retro. They originate from the 50s, I think.
A similar concept (more native to the California scene, but I’ve heard it else where) is “straights”. The origin of that is people who aren’t into kink or aren’t gay, etc. But I’ve heard it used to describe a bunch of normal or un-hip people.
Example usage: “Don’t scare the straights, dude” — meaning, you’re going to freak out the normal people…
Ciao!
For me, all expressions you brought up seem to be about guys. Can we use these words for females?
Today? You can happily use “square”, “hip” etc. with either gender.
Originally? Probably not. Not sure though.
As an aside: “guys” is also reasonably gender neutral… you have to figure out by context (alas).
I’ve seen girl walk up to girl friends and say “hi, guys!”
Equally, I’ve heard people of both genders say “I’m hanging with the guys” — guys being a mixed-gender group.
But if a male says, “Sorry, guys only” to a girl, then you would take it to mean males only.
Christian is right, square is a very old term! You also have to draw a little square in the air with your fingers for maximum hepcat effect
So using “square” itself is square?
Not exactly … it’s “hip” now *because* it’s retro! You have to say it ironically (probably not *actually* “ironic”, but that’s the colloquial usage of the term “ironically”).
Similarly (but different), all the kids today look like they came straight out of the ’80s (skinny jeans, big high top shoes). That’s really more of a 30-year cyclical fashion cycle though.
Oh, and Al Franken coined a phrase that I really like: “Kidding on the square”, which means that you say something as if it were a joke, but you really mean it. People do this *all* the time.
Here’s a song you might enjoy. It’s from Sesame Street, a classic children’s show on PBS.
This is awesome! I really enjoyed the video. You know what I think? I think I should create these kinds of videos for English learners.
You majored in English, correct? I have really come to enjoy your creative posts. I am a professional writer, and have been for, oh, 2 or 3 months now. Your style really reminds me of mine, right down to your transitions and readability. I