Monthly Archives: November 2011

04 Nov

step on toes

Who taught: Random guy sat beside me

Step on toes (source: http://politicalpistachio.blogspot.com/)

People do not smoke in a coffee shop in America. At least in the ones that I go often. A few days ago, something that I did not expect happened. Someone sitting beside me was smoking. Huh?! What is going on? Is it illegal? But, something was different. I could not smell anything.

I quickly noticed that it is not a regular cigarette. All of the other people in the coffee shop seemed to know that it is not a real one.

A few minutes later, the owner was talking to him about his fake-smoking. The owner did not try to have him stop smoking but rather just checking it out.

In their conversation, the guy who was smoking said, “This is completely harmless but I will smoke this till someone says not. I do not want to step on toes.”

In my mind, “Oh, yeah? Let me ask you to stop,” but I did not have the guts to say so. Instead, I was thinking about the expression he used, “step on toes.” You know what? Playing soccer, I do know how it feels if someone steps or runs on my toes. It feels so painful.

So, this was easy for me to feel it. Basically, this expression is the same meaning of causing a problem or bothering someone. It is an interesting way of talking. Don’t you think?

But, in my opinion, I think he was sort of already stepping on toes by fake-smoking.

01 Nov

cheer up vs cheer on

Who taught: Phil

Cheer on (source: http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/)

Yesterday, I once again realized that a proper usage of the preposition is so hard. Mondays are soccer days for Phil and me in winter. It is so fun to play a soccer game with good friends. Jessy usually stay at home while I am away playing soccer. But, yesterday, I managed to allure her to come with me to watch my playing. 🙂

It was my turn to pick Phil up on the way to the sports complex where we play soccer. To let him know that Jessy is also coming, I texted him, “Jessy might go too to cheer us up!” Sounds very fine to me. How about you, my non-native English speaker friends? Do you see anything wrong with what I said to Phil?

After Phil hopped into my car, he told me how native English speakers would feel as they hear ‘cheer up’. For example, if Phil told Patrick, “I need to cheer Terry up,” then Patrick would think I am sad or depressed now so that Phil has to be with me to cheer me up. Once again, let’s try to feel it. Where is up? Up means above you like sky. Then, cheer someone up means make someone who is so down to be up by your cheering.

So, it is not correct to say ‘cheer up’ for soccer players who do definitely not feel depressed. In that case, you need to use ‘cheer on.’

As I was researching about the expression, I found that there was no ‘on’ part at first. And, in 1800s, this expression was augmented by having ‘on’ in the end. Well, I am not sure how I can feel this one. Probably, let soccer players stay on where they are already excited. What do you think, my native English friends? Do you guys have that feeling when you say ‘cheer on’?

For Korean people and my own reference, “cheer up” means 격려하다(GyukRyeoHaDa) whereas “cheer on” means 응원하다(EungWonHaDa).