Author Archives: Terry

11 Oct

rediscovering a word series 5: draft

Who taught: Jessy and Rachel

menu (source: http://moosetoothgrill.com)

menu

When you go to a restaurant in the U.S., you should really pay attention to its menu. One big difference between Korea and the U.S. is that there is always a few sentences to describe foods served in a restaurant in the U.S. In Korea, you would hardly find those descriptions and no one really ask anything about foods when they order. People simply order and get whatever a restaurant gives in Korea. I know… sounds no fun at all. But, that is why Jessy and I had a hard time ordering foods in the U.S. when we first got here. A lot of choices we need to make, ordering a food.

Also, under drinks section, they do have beers for which there are two major categories: One is bottle and the other is draft.

I would think most people understand what draft means here.

Denoting beer or other drink that is kept in and served from a barrel or tank rather than from a bottle or can

That’s easy, right? Also, most people use draft to mean “a preliminary version of a piece of writing.” You know, when you write a document, you start with its draft version and modify and refine it a few times.

So far, things are easy. But, there is another definition you would need to know.

It’s getting cold in Pittsburgh. A few days ago, Jessy and I were talking a walk and felt pretty cold air outside. Then, Jessy said she is happy our house does not have cold air coming from the outside.” Well, she said it in Korean and she used a Korean word, “우풍 (Woo-Poong).” It means a current of air in a house coming from outside, normally cold air in winter. Hmm… what is an English word for that?

I said, “There must be one but what is it?” Jessy suddenly remembered that Rachel used a word, draft, to mean that.

When Jessy told me that Rachel used “draft” to mean a current of air in a house, I could not believe it. “What? Really? Draft?”

It’s like a moment of eureka to me. Wow…. What a surprise!

Here is a tip for you to remember this word better. Next time you are in a restaurant, looking at the menu, check out drinks section and find out “draft beer list.” Then, think about not only kind of beer but also a current of air in the restaurant. Hope the air in your restaurant is not that cold for you.

04 Oct

low blow

Who taught: Huffington Post and NBC

low blow

low blow

Every time I think about learning something new, I also think about learning a skill, not simply acquiring knowledge, like learning a new language. It takes a lot of effort to be able to get better at any language.

It will need hundreds or thousands of pages to talk about learning a new language and by no means I am not an expert in that area.

But what I can do is to speak from my experience. A lot of non-native English speakers, including me, have experienced “blank” moments when native English speakers speak English, especially when it is fast.

It needs a lot of practices. What kind of practices? Well, here is what I do.

Watch TV shows for two or three hours a day.

What do I watch? I do watch news shows. Almost every day, I watch NBC nightly news at 6:30 pm and CBS Evening News at 7 pm. Those are very good because their anchors’ pronunciation is so clear and slow to follow. As I watch, I do my best to speak aloud what Brian and Scott say. In fact, my strategy is almost like impersonating them.

But, you would hardly hear people speaking that slowly with that kind of almost perfect pronunciation. To overcome this, there is my next step.

Watch comedy TV shows!

Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, and Two and a Half Man are the ones I enjoy watching. In doing so, you would hear a lot of expressions and jargons you would never get to hear from news shows.

So, the point is that you do need to be very specific and have a plan to hear English around you as much time as you can. That’s the starting point. Think about it! What could you even say if you cannot understand what other people are talking about?

From today, set a specific goal, make a plan, and act on it!

Yesterday Morning, I was watching NBC Today show and one story caught my attention. There is a TV anchor in a local broadcasting company and she got an email that criticizes her look. And, she reacted, pointing out that it is a perfect example of bullying. She was on NBC to talk more about the situation and during her interview this is what she said;

That email was a low blow.

At that moment, I remembered a Huffington Post article about Samsung’s advertisement, mocking Apple fanboys.

When it posted the article to its facebook page, it said, “Samsung’s new ad bashes the iPhone 5. Is it a low blow?” What is your feeling or the first impression when you hear this expression? One thing I really like about this one is that it really rhymes. “low” and “blow”

You know what I think? I think of pain because of ….. hmm (a little embarrassing)…. a kick to my genitalia. That would totally hurt me. I mean, that is so cruel. Don’t you agree? I gave you an example of physical attack but there is also a verbal attack. That’s what that anchor meant when she said, “That email was a low blow.”

As a side note, you would find a lot of English expressions that rhymes. My recommendation is to try to speak aloud when you hear any new expression to see whether it rhymes or not. Chances are it will.

If your friends say something cruel to you, you can say, “Dude. That’s a low blow.” I just hope no one really kick you to have you experience a physical low blow.

 

27 Sep

mutt

Who taught: Jeff, Phil and Jake

mutt

mutt

I am thinking of getting a puppy. I mean, I have been thinking about it for a while but this time it is a lot more serious.

Why? I blame Mandie. 🙂 Last week, she sent factbook messages with some links to breeders of basset hound, the kind of breed that she has. Looking at puppies, Jessy and I got side-tracked to other breeds too such as labrador retriever and golden retriever. We saw some videos of different puppies. So adorable.

We want a breed that is really patient and friendly with children. To make sure, I searched for it and there were some other people asking the same question. And, naturally, there are many answers to those questions.

Many people said “Mutts are great with children.” Well, I thought mutt is another kind of pure dog breed. Surfing the web to find what mutt is, I found that it means a dog of many mixed breeds. In Korean, we say 잡종 (Jap-Jong).

After I did those researches, I talked to some of my friends that I would get a dog. And, they (Jeff, Phil and Jake) did ask me whether I am going to get a mutt or a pure breed.

Had I not done any research, I would have not been able to understand when they said “mutt.”

I am sure most of my friends in Korea would think by now I would be totally fine with English. Well, not yet. Look at this word. I had no idea what it means until I get into this serious process of getting a dog. Every time I try to do something new here in the U.S., I get to learn new words and expressions. Fortunately…. (I am being sarcastic here)…. I have a lot that I have not tried in the U.S.

Oh… here is another thing. Mutt does not just mean a dog. It could also be used to describe a person. In fact, it is also the case that Korean people say “잡종” to describe a person. As you can imagine, you would want to be careful to do so. In the last 6 years, I have never heard any of my friends using this word to mean a person. So, be careful!

I would get a golden retriever puppy. If I did, I will definitely update you. Stay tuned, my friends!

19 Sep

eat the frog first

Who taught: Lauren

eat the frog firstWhen learning a new expression, you need to try to have your own picture. What do I mean by that? Let me give you an example.

A few days ago, my friend Lauren posted a question on my Facebook timeline. She said, “Eating the frog first. Are you familiar with this one?”

I find it is harder to guess or figure out the meaning of an expression by myself when there is no context given.

No doubt that we all know what frog is and what eating means! But, good news is that Lauren herself was not familiar with this expression till that Morning when she heard it from her friend. So, it is OK to not to be able to figure out what it means.

So, this is it. Why don’t you figure out by yourself?

 

Ha! I am joking. After a few comments by Lauren and myself, I was able to have my own picture for this expression.

Every Morning, you have different foods that you can eat for a whole day. Some of them are your favorites but some of them are not so much. In fact, you do not like it at all but you know you should eat it on that day because, if not, it will go bad. So, those foods that you do not like at all are considered to be your frogs. With this kind of choice, what would you eat first? Frogs or your favorite foods? To me, eating the frog first will definitely make me feel better during the day because I know all I need to do for the rest of the day is to eat my favorite foods. Hooray!

So, do you get it?

I like writing blog posts but sometimes it does not make me that excited but I know I really should write one.

In that case, writing a blog post early Morning in a day can be my eating the frog first of the day.

What’s yours? Have you eaten the frog yet?

Lauren told me that she took an exam at 8 am. That’s for sure a perfect example of eating the frog first, right?

 

11 Sep

over the hill

Who taught: Rachel, Emily and Liz

Over the hill

over the hill party

I am not sure it is a good thing or not but people still think I am young.

In two months, I will be 38 years old. Lucky me because I would be 40 next year if I were in Korea. I think I mentioned this in one of my previous posts. Basically, Korea is one of the countries that use a very different system to count age.

My friends and I have a regular bible study on Thursdays. Last week, we talked about our ages and I mentioned that I would be 40 next year if I were in Korea. And, Rachel said, “We should have over the hill party then.”

Isn’t it very clear what it means? The expression is based on the assumption that 40 is the climax of our life. And, after 40, what’s waiting for us is the downhill.

Here is my thoughts! In one sense, that’s kind of sad because I do not have many days to reach the climax of my life but I am not sure what I have accomplished so far. Looking back, I have spent most of my time, studying. I have two master’s degrees and almost every day, I still study, reading books, listening to other people’s lectures and coding, to teach better. Oh… I am happily married and do have great friends. Well, I still have a long way to go financially but at least own a small house. Well, that sounds not bad, right?

On the other hand, it’s good because all I need to do from now on is going the downhill and we all know that is easy compared to climbing up.

I would have my over the hill party in about two years and will remind you of this expression. But, you could think about this expression on your own 40th birthday. In case yours is today, happy birthday to you and enjoy your over the hill birthday party! Remember! It’s all downhill from now and enjoy.