Monthly Archives: June 2011

29 Jun

spooning

Who taught: Pat


 

Let me introduce you a song that I am really addicted these days! One of my students, Kelvin, got me into this song and I love it.

It is a song called moves like jagger by Maroon 5, featuring Christina Aguilera. In fact, I am listening to it as I write this post. This song makes me want to dance. (Am I dancing now? Probably in my imagination.) 🙂 You will enjoy it this summer. Finally, summer is here, yay!

On the contrary, let’s talk about winter. One of the things I do do enjoy during winter is snowboarding. The feeling that I get to have when I ride very fast and jump over big mount of snow is amazing and hard to describe. Last winter, I went snowboarding a few times with my friend, Pat. And, one time, we went and stayed over a night at Kerry’s cabin that is located close to the resort.

Puppies' Spooning (source : http://shabamzy.blogspot.com/)

We had to share a bed. As we were getting into the bed, he said to me, “No spooning!” I did not get what he meant. I was like, “Dude, are you hungry? We are about to fall asleep here.” So, can you guess what spooning means here? I mean, we know what spoon is, right? I do not even need the definition here. The point here is the shape of a spoon. As a person, can you make your body look like a spoon? Yes, you can! As a matter of fact, you might do it every night, especially if you got married. At this point, you need to think two spoons are put together in your kitchen drawer. How do they stay together? They stay very close to each other since they have the identical shape, right? That said, here is the definition of spooning with regard to people.

A form of affection between a couple. Where the man lays front to back with the girl. They fit together like spoons.

It is a good thing to do with your wife/girl friend or husband/boy friend. But, with your friends with the same gender? No,,, no no…

So, please no spooning in cabin with your friends, if you know what I mean. 🙂

P.S: Do people in the U.S. use spooning to mean using a spoon to get some food from a bowl or something? I kind of doubt. Could you advise me, my American friends?

22 Jun

sterilization

Who taught: Scott Pelley

Sterilization (source: http://www.babble.com/)

My daily life is pretty much a routine. Sounds boring? Well, but I like everything being organized and do not like to see something unexpected. And, one of the things I do almost every day is watching NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News. It is a great way to listen to English as well as to learn what is happening now in the world.

Today, I learned a total new meaning of this word, sterilization. To me, this word has simply one definition as follows.

to destroy microorganisms in or on, usually by bringing to a high temperature with steam, dry heat, or boiling liquid.

This sounds very good and I sort of liked this word even though I do not have many chances to use it. Now, let me ask this question to you, my non-native English speaker friends? Do you know any other definitions of this word than this? As I said, till today, I thought this word has only this definition above.

As I watch today’s CBS Evening News, they used this word saying, “A sterilization victim in North Carolina.” I did not understand at all. What kind of victim would there be with sterilization, meaning the definition above? NC state put people into a huge room where the temperature was too high so that the people were burn? As I listened more, I was able to realize that it must mean something else and that must be related with having a baby.

So, I looked it up and found a total new definition.

to destroy the ability of (a person or animal) to reproduce by removing the sex organs or inhibiting their functions.

OMG! How could that kind of thing happen by the order of government? Here is a little history lesson for you in relation to this type of sterilization happened in the U.S. between 1920’s and 1970’s.

I would have never imagined that this kind of acts existed in the U.S. Maybe, it is time for me to study American history.

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? 🙂

17 Jun

red herring

Who taught : Alex and Sangeetha

That's what I am (source: http://www.imdb.com)

Have you seen this movie, that’s what I am? A few days ago, Jessy and I watched it and I personally like it. In the movie, there are a few slangs and one of them is ginger. There is a student who is called the Big G by other students in the movie, basically in the context of bullying. So sad to see it happening just because of his hair color. And, later in the movie, he mentioned a word, tolerance. He said, “I like this word because of its definition.” Here is the definition he used in the movie.

sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own

As I hear this definition, I thought about it. How much do we judge other people every time and every day? And, the worst thing is that we judge other people by their looks or behaviors without even really knowing them. Why can we have sympathy or indulgence to each other? It is just something I would like to suggest you to think about today.

OK… so two days ago, Alex and Sangeetha visited my place and we had dinner and watched a movie. It was fun. As always, I also learned a few new expressions. Let me tell you one of them that I think it is very interesting! It is “red herring.”

Here, herring is a kind of fish that is blue. Now, why there is “red”  in the expression. If you salt or smoke herring, its color is changed to be red from blue.

Knowing that, would you be able to feel what it means? There is no way you can feel it unless you really know the meaning of it. Here is the meaning of the expression. Oh.. actually… before I talk about it, let me give you a perfect situation that you can use this expression. Whenever you watch a thriller or read a mystery fiction, the story always leads you to believe that one character must be a criminal or killer but, in the end, you find out that the other character that you never thought about suddenly becomes the killer. Now, who is the red herring here? The first character you believed to be a killer is the red herring. OK. now, here is the definition for you.

diverting attention away from an item of significance.

Alex said something to Sangeetha and Sangeetha sort of disagreed to what he said. As she tried to argue about it, she said something that is not really connected to what Alex said. So, at that moment, Alex said to Sangeetha, “Now, that is a red herring.”

When Alex told me that story, my feeling about the expression was that it must be from fishermen’s sayings. Well, I was not even close. The etymology of this expression is very interesting. Let me give you the best link you can visit to find it out.

Next time you watch a thriller with your friends, why don’t you try to find out who in the movie is the red herring? It will be fun.

14 Jun

bombshell


 

Watching TV in the U.S. requires a lot of patience. Why? there are so many advertisements. Watching those advertisements in the middle of shows is annoying unless those ads are either funny or sexy. A few weeks ago, I was watching TV and there was a sexy ad. 🙂 It was a Victoria’s Secret ad. I assume you all know what Victoria’s Secret is. (Just in case, here is the url of the company, http://www.victoriassecret.com/)

In the ad, it started with “Hello Bombshell.” You guys all know how I am. I do not know any kind of slangs that are related to women. So, it is not surprising that I did not know what bombshell means. So, I asked Jessy. She knew and told me what that means. But, I did not get it. I asked to her and myself. Why does it mean that?

My non-native English speaker friends! Do you know what it means? It means an outrageously & exotically beautiful or attractive female. It is usually a blonde.

Again, why bombshell means those females. As we may know, bomb+shell is a bomb or artillery shell designed to explode on impact, right? Eventually, it could kill people. In that sense, in Korea, if someone says a lady is a bomb or bombshell, that means she is so ugly that she could kill men by just showing up.

Very interestingly, on the other side of the earth, here in the U.S., it means totally opposite. My guess is that bombshell in the U.S. just means something that is very surprising, shocking and eventually amazing or sensational.

If I did not know what bombshell means in Korea, it would have been a lot easier for me to understand what it means in the U.S.

Anyway, there are so many bombshells in Korea and in the U.S. (Which bombshell? Well, no comment.)