Monthly Archives: March 2011

16 Mar

scumbag

Who taught: Andrew

scumbag (source: http://www.sodahead.com/)

A few days ago, I stumbled upon this blog post about being super-rich. The sentence that caught my eyes was this one.

Nobody has the excuse of ‘lack of money’ for not being at peace and living in integrity. If they choose to live otherwise, that’s their business.

This is one of the responses from a millionnaire who was interviewed with regard to “why the poor should be happy.” If I meet him/her personally, I would like to ask one more question, “If you were one of the poor, would you be able to say the same thing?” If the answer were yes, then I would not be able to say anything further. I guess we can all agree that it is easier said than done. Regardless of whether he/she can do what he/she said or not, what he/she said itself is correct. At least to me! These days, people are getting more and more materialistic. And, sometimes, there are people who are so disgusting and hard to be accepted. Or, probably, it is not sometimes but rather many times which makes me kind of sad.

To make yourself be prepared for the situation that you meet those people, you need to learn today’s expression. This is perfect. So, yesterday, Andrew and I had a chat using IM in which he taught me the expression. The reason why he thought of teaching me that one was that he just found out its etymology that he had no idea before even though he’s been using the expression all the time. So, are you ready? When you see someone who is so disgusting or an asshole, you can say, “That guy is a scumbag!” Etymology of this expression is so perfect that, once you know it, you will not forget this expression.

Scum is equal to cum. Do you know what cum is? It is another word for semen. Now, a bag that holds semen or cum is…… ? That is right it is condom. Even worse, scumbag means “a used condom.” Nobody want a used condom. I do not even want to see or touch it, would you? Now, do I need to ask your feeling about this expression? I guess not. Having that feeling, you can connect this expression with a person who is so contemptible and disgusting. To make even more obvious, let me give you a very specific example. How about Tiger Woods? I can totally say that he is a scumbag. As you know, he is super-rich.

Then, my final thought or more like question is, “Is it really hard to be super-rich and, at the same time, not a scumbag?” If the answer were yes, I would rather stay poor or hungry just like Steve Jobs said.

There is another expression that is very similar to scumbag. It is “scum of the earth.” Search for it! That is today’s homework for ya.

14 Mar

manicure and well-manicured

Who taught: Patty

Well-manicured (source: http://www.designelegant.com/)

It has been more than a week since my last post. Sorry about that! Last week, I went on a business trip to the bay area, specifically San Jose and San Francisco, and came back yesterday. I had a chance to meet my friends there. It was great to see some friends that I have not seen for almost 4 years. Cannot believe that it has been that long. Time really flies. It was funny because I enjoyed talking with them but Jessy said we all talked about something most people would not understand at all. Well, what can I say? All of my friends are CMU alumni and they are software engineers. I mean, literally, every single one of them is software engineer. How cool is it? It is awesome.

Anyway, during the  trip, we either drove or took a train to get to meeting places. One of the things I noticed was that house style of the west coast is very different from that of the east. In Pittsburgh, houses are built mainly of bricks. But, I did not see any houses that are built of bricks there. They are usually one-story house that are painted with very different colors. It is actually very beautiful to see them. Along the bay, there are hills that have houses with different styles and colors. It was even more beautiful because of sunny sky and blue ocean. As we were passing by those houses, Patty said, “Some of the houses are really well-manicured. Don’t you think?” That’s an easy expression to understand but I did not know that we can use the verb, manicure, to describe houses that are painted. My feeling with the expression is that the color of a house should matter. It seems like the house should be painted with a vivid color like yellow or multiple colors. What do you think, my friends? Does my feeling sound correct? What if the inside of a house is painted well? Can I say also that the house is well-manicured?

I need to admit that the bay area is very beautiful but my heart is in Pittsburgh. It is my home. 🙂

Oh, for your future trip to the bay area, I would like recommend you to visit Los Gatos downtown. It is a small but very lovely place to walk around and there are nice restaurants too. Speaking of restaurant, I went to this French restaurant called Le Garage in Sausalito. The food was amazing. You should check it out too.

03 Mar

What starfish?

Who taught: Jake, Andrew, Carol and Mark

Chocolate Starfish (source: http://www.choconet1.com/)

You would not believe what I learned lately. This one is literally crazy. Whoever came up with this expression, he/she must have an amazing imagination. Or, maybe it is a kid. Very possible!

OK! So, I was with my friends, having dinner a few days ago. I cannot remember how we ended up talking about this expression but I do remember the expression so vividly. This is definitely one of the expressions that I would not forget at all. Anyways, Jake said, “chocolate starfish.” And.. I was totally puzzled and asked, “What? What starfish?” “Can you guess what it is, Terry?” said he.

I tried to think of the meaning of it. I knew it cannot be a kind of starfish at all because that is too easy. Besides, all of my friends started to giggle as they heard it. So, it’s gotta be something very funny. “What the… I cannot think of any. You gotta tell me.” And, Jake was like, “Think about the color of chocolate and the shape of the starfish.” Poor Terry… I tried again but no success. So, I had to cheat, looking up urban dictionary.

As the search result showed up, I had to be shocked. “Oh My …. What? Really? This is amazing.” Guess what I found? For this expression, I do not ask you to feel it because you have to feel it as I reveal what it means.

It means….. Oh man.. It is so embarrassing that I feel like I should not tell you. OK… Here we go! It means… “Asshole.” Wait!!! Here comes more specific one! It is “asshole, specifically when it is encrusted with fecal matter.”

I am sorry if you are reading this post while you are eating something. 🙂 Now, you could understand why Jake asked me to think of the color of chocolate and the shape of starfish, right?

Let me guess! This post would be one of the favorites for you guys. Am I right? I am not sure whether I can eat chocolates for a while or not. I will think of this expression every time I see chocolate from now on.

01 Mar

The first anniversary of LEfF

Terry Lee

Hello! Hello, my friends and readers out there! Wow! I cannot believe it has been already a year. On March 1, 2010, I decided to take an action on my idea of sharing my experience of learning English from friends. You know what is one of the things most people are not good at. It is an execution of an idea. Well, to be boastful a little here, I think it is safe to say that I am an executer. Also, the other thing people are not really good at is being persistent. Once I decided to do something, I usually do not quit easily. It is so easy to not act on ideas and quit if it does not work well. Why don’t we all try to be changed?

I started with the expressions I just learned at that time and, believe it or not, this is 192nd post. Looking back to March 1, 2010, I was too naive or optimistic because I thought this would not go on and on and on. Apparently, I was totally wrong. In fact, this will never end.

Let’s go on a time machine trip back to the birth of LEfF, shall we?

Here are my first five posts.

1. Pay the piper

2. rob Peter to pay Paul

3. Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house

4. That’s BS

5. if you’ve got the stones!

Out of these five, I still use one expression frequently. Can you guess what it is? What.. You can’t? That’s BS. Haha.. that’s right. That is the one I still use often. Also, I do remember that there was a controversy over the expression, “Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house.” If you want to find out what that is, I encourage you to read that post and its comments. It is a very interesting conversation we had back then.

Now, I would like to share some analysis of my blog with you.

During the last year, there have been 33,711 page views (2,810 per month and 93 per day on average). Based on Google Analytics, the views are from 142 countries. As of now, there are approximately 190 countries in the world. That means I got traffics from around 75% of the world. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Here are top 5 countries from which I got most of the vitists.

1. United States

2. South Korea

3. United Kingdom

4. Canada

5. Japan

Now, I found another interesting fact. Can you guess what are the most popular expressions? Here are top 5.

1. black sheep

2. bun in the oven

3. I really appreciate it

4. Who is Terry

5. words to describe weather

I personally am surprised by the fact that black sheep is the most popular one so far. Do not know why? I tried to google for “sheep” to find out whether my blog post is on the first page or not. It is not. But, when I tried “black sheep,” my post is actually on the first page. Maybe, people search for the phrase, black sheep, a lot?? It is always interesting to find out how people do engage in specific behaviors. Apparently, people want to know who the heck this guy, Terry, is, right? 🙂

Well, I am very happy to celebrate the first anniversary of LEfF. I would like to spare some time to thank my friends, Andrew, Phil, Kelly, Ari, Jean, Carol, Jake, Patrick, Alex, Jessy, James, Mark, Kara, Julie, Patty, Mike, Jason, Stan, Pete, Ashika, Byung, Emmie, and Clarissa. I feel like I am doing my acceptance speech for Academy Award. So, let me stop here. It gets boring. 🙂

Hope you have laughed a lot, reading my posts for the last year! Remember to come back! I promise I will not disappoint you.

Thank you so much for your interest!

Terry

from Pittsburgh