Monthly Archives: August 2011

11 Aug

pick-up lines

Who taught: Kyle

Are you on twitter? Well, I am and my username is terryeslee. You can follow me. So, on twitter, people follow each other and talk about things in the world. Some are very useful but not all. Anyway, a few days ago, Kyle started to follow me and I found an interesting expression on his bio information. He said, “No more sleazy pick-up lines!”

Let’s divide this in two parts.

1. sleazy : Something shabby, dirty, vulgar or perverted.

2. pick-up lines : For this one, I have a perfect example to explain. Have you ever watched Friends TV show? If not, you should try. It is pretty fun to watch. Especially, Joey is so funny. Do you know what he says a lot in the show? He says, “How you doin?” to women. For what purpose? To pick up girls for the night. Therefore, “How you doin?” is Joey’s pick-up lines.

Well, I guess many of guys’ pick-up lines are not that good and fancy and, as a result, they are considered to be sleazy by girls.

Here’s a pick-up line you can use here in the U.S.

Are you from Tennessee? Cause you are the only ten I see.

Can you get it? So, next time when you are in a bar and see a beautiful girl, you should walk slowly toward her, bringing her a glass of wine, and say this pick-up line. I cannot guarantee that it will work or not. Hope it is not that sleazy for her.

So did you figure out why this is a pick-up line? Tennessee and ten I see sound similar and scale of 1 – 10 (10 being the best.), you are saying that the girl you are talking to is the best in a place. FYI, that is not my pick-up line.

One question! : Do girls or women have their pick-up lines too?

08 Aug

dog days

Who taught: Al

Dog Days (source : http://literatehousewife.com/)

There are some expressions that are sort of universal. I have a hunch that today’s expression is one of them and you can easily understand what it means as you hear or speak.

A few days ago, I was watching Today show on NBC and Al, as always, was talking about the weather. On his background, there was a map of the United States. And, it marked the Southern states as “dog days,” with red color. Well, I had not heard of this expression but it totally made sense to me. Why? I don’t know. It just feels like it is universal. So familiar. Maybe, we do have a similar expression in Korea.

As I research about this expression, I realize that the origin goes far back than what I thought it would be. It was used by the Greeks and the Romans.

The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather.

This is very good to know and makes you sound very knowledgable, right? But, I like this version of definition that I found from Urban Dictionary.

Time in the summer where it is so hot or humid that the dogs go crazy by barking or howling.

A few days ago, it was totally dog days of summer here in PGH. It is much better now. Hope this cooler temp stays for a while!

Here is a piece of advice for you. Eat watermelons this Summer. Not only is it a great hydrator during summer fun, it also helps to reduce your chances of getting burned while you play outdoors this summer due to it’s high volume of lycopene.

03 Aug

native American vs native to America

Who taught: Jeff

Native Americans (source: http://www.the-wild-west.co.uk/)

I am a native Korean. How does this sound to you? It sounds OK, right?

A few weeks ago, I was in a meeting with my students and Jeff, my colleague. We were talking about last year’s event that all of us were in. And, one of the people we saw there was not American or born in the U.S. Meaning that, I said, “He was not a native American.” Jeff and my students knew what I meant but, at the same time, Jeff knew something might be confusing. So, he said, “I do not think you mean he is not a native American Indian, right?”

This made me think. So, I can easily say that someone is American but there are also many people who are Americans but not born in the United States. When I think of ‘native American,’ I think of the people who are American and also born in the United States. But apparently, there are the real real native Americans who are American Indians. (This is also kind of confusing. You would not want say just Indians because there are other Indians who are from India.)

So, to make things clear, you should say he or she is native to America to mean Americans who are born in the U.S.

Remember! There are differences between native Americans and native to America and Americans. (Native Americans vs native to America vs Americans)

I can become an American later but never be able to become a native American or native to America.

Hope I do not make things more confusing!