Monthly Archives: October 2011

26 Oct

battery

Who taught: Mikey and Big Bob

domestic battery (source: http://www.newser.com/)

Have you ever experienced a moment in which you say “Oh,, this word has also that definition? I did not know that.”? It is like rediscovering a word.

There is one radio station that I hear almost every morning while I am on my wat to work, 96.1 FM. The Morning Freak Show is on. DJs of the show are Mikey and Big Bob. I do not know how but they find very funny stories from everywhere.

One day, they were talking about a woman who threw cupcakes to her husband. She was allegedly very upset of course. Funny thing is that she was the one who called the cops and admitted that she threw cupcakes to her husband. You know what happend? She was arrested. What the…!!

The reason of arrest? Domestic Battery! As Mike and Big Bob was talking about this, I was talking to myself, “Wait! I know what domestic abuse or domestic dispute means but what is battery here? Does it even have the same spelling as the battery I know?”

So, I looked it up. Yup, it is the same spelling but just different definition. Battery can mean;

The unlawful and unwanted touching or striking of one person by another, with the intention of bringing about a harmful or offensive contact.

Do you guys know that already? Well, I did not. I thought battery is the thing that we all use to generate electricity. In fact, it has some other meanings too. I would not list all of them here because it might confuse you. Today’s expression is domestic battery. One step per day!

Oh.. today’s lesson! Do not throw cupcakes to your spouse! Also, if you already did, do not call the cops! I still cannot understand why she called the cops. What was she thinking?

20 Oct

cop a feel

Who taught: Kelly and Phil

cop a feel (source: http://www.2pep.com/)

October 14, 2011 was a pretty normal day for me until I got this text message from Phil. Phil asked me this question, “Do you know the phrase, cop a feel?”

I know what “cop” is and also know what “feel” is. Cop is Police who catch criminals. Then, I should be able to feel this expression, right? I thought it is pretty easy for me to figure out. So, I texted back to Phil, saying it should mean “keeping a feel.” You know when you have a good feeling about something, you want to keep it as long as possible.

Huh.. Am I joking? I was far away from the truth.

Phil told me that it means to grab a woman’s breasts or butt without her consent. I was like who would do that? But, then I remembered that one time when I was a swimming pool with a few other girls. One of the girls was not good at swimming and she touched my thing (you know what I am talking about here, right?) while she was trying to get out of the water. But, I was not sure she was intentional or not. I asked Phil whether this is a good example of copping a feel. He said the most important thing is that it should be deliberate. She might try to cop a feel but not sure. Oops! Don’t tell Jessy about this story. Nothing happened after that. 🙂

Based on my research, the best place to cop a feel is like New York City or an amusement park like Disney World where it is so crowded. But, I am sure this is a crime. So, please do not do this! Ironically, in this expression that basically describes an act of crime, there is “cop.”

Anyway, Phil said, “Kelly’s mind is in the gutter now. :)”

17 Oct

snap out of it

Who taught: Insider.

Snap out of it (source: http://www.galleryplanb.com/)

Every life has its ups and downs. When things are good, everybody is happy. But, when things are not good, it is hard to be happy and sometimes it makes people depressed or sad.

In my case, one of the saddest moments in my life was when my first girlfriend ditched me to marry someone else when I was in the Army. My seniors and friends tried to cheer me up but it was so hard for me to feel better.

They said the same kind of expressions again and again. They are “Cheer up! It will get better” and “Keep your head up!” Now, the other word that they used a lot is this one, “정신차려(Jeong-Sin-Cha-Ryeo),” in Korean. At that time, I still had to stay in the Army for 2-3 more months. My seniors worried about any possible accident that I can cause if I were depressed too long because I had to carry 30 bullets for my rifle, 1 grenade and  200 bullets for my machine gun every day as I guarded west coast line.

So, for this specific Korean expression, 정신차려(Jeong-Sin-Cha-Ryeo), I have thought that I can use “Wake up!” in English if I were to translate… till a few days ago. Watching a TV show, I heard this expression, “Snap out of it.” As soon as I heard it, it was like someone slap my face to tell me that is it. That is the perfect English expression that I can use to mean 정신차려(Jeong-Sin-Cha-Ryeo). Interestingly, on the show, a woman really was slapping her boyfriend as she said this expression to him. (She could just snap her fingers. Women must enjoy slapping guys.) What a perfect one! If you want to be more effective and strong, you could say “Slap out of it!” as you really slap her (I am not sure who is your her? 🙂 ).

Even though I am happy to get to know this expression, I do not want to personally hear it or use it to my friends. But, you never know what’s around the corner in your life. So, better to know any expression that can be perfectly used. Don’t you agree?

13 Oct

stone fox

Who taught: Sears

 

Today, I have wonderful news for you. What would you say when you misspoke to your girlfriend or wife and you are looking for a word to make up for it? I have one perfect word for you that can solve the problem right away.

Recently, I have seen this Sears Optical commercial many times. But, it was yesterday that I really paid attention to what a guy says. Did you catch it? He said, “How did I get a fox like you?” The fact is that he said that after he cut his wife’s hair, not just the price tag. What a mistake! He failed because he did not wear glasses.

Anyway, as soon as I heard him saying, “fox,” I was surprised because we, Koreans, also use the same word to describe a woman. A woman who is attractive and sexy.

So, you can say to your wife or girlfriend, “You are a fox!” But, then what is a stone fox? If your wife or girlfriend is a stone fox, then you should probably be proud of yourself.

Why? Here  is the thing. Stone is so hard and strong to break, right? So, if a lady is not only a fox but also a stone fox, then she is sexy but at the same time is not easily attainable.

Oh, man.. I am going to say this to Jessy today, “Jessy! How did I get a stone fox like you? I must be very foxy, right?” 🙂

10 Oct

robber barons

Who taught: Anonymous

Rockefeller (source: wikipedia.org)

Last weekend, I went to the Niagara Falls with my parents-in-law and Jessy. This was my sixth time to see the falls and I was still amazed by its size and the amount of water that is falling continuously. Every time I see this type of amazing nature, I once again realize that there are a lot of evidences of God’s existence, surrounding me.

To remember God, we all went to a local church on Sunday with my friends, Jason and Ashley. Since we are visitors, many of the church members asked me some questions like where I am from and what I am doing, etc. So, as you know, my answer is pretty simple. I am from Pittsburgh, PA and teach at Carnegie Mellon University. I said the same to an old person who asked the questions. Here is another thing that kind of surprised me again. He asked this question, “Carnegie Mellon University? Who established it?” He basically does not know CMU. Well, I’ve always thought that everybody in the U.S. would and should know CMU. Well, I was wrong.

So, I told him that CMU is established by Andrew Carnegie in 1900. Guess what? Do you know what was the first word that I heard from him? He said, “Oh! One of those robber barons!”  When I first heard, I was thinking like, “Wait. What? Is he now talking about Barone family of Everybody Loves Raymond show? Why is he saying that they are robbers?”

As usual, I asked him. He then kindly explained it to me using an example of Rockefeller who made a lot of fortune by selling oil at an extremely lower price than his competitors back in late 1800s.

We all know what robber is. The real sarcasm of this expression comes from this word, baron. Baron means a member of the lowest order of the British nobility. They sort of got into this nobility by making a lot of money but the way of making money was a robbery. Do you know how much wealth Rockefeller was able to accumulate? According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that his personal fortune was equal to 1.53% of the total U.S. economy in his day. Wow. That is an unbelievable figure!

Now I know there have been a few robber barons in history. But, can I use this expression in any other cases?