Author Archives: Terry

20 Jun

sweet pea

Who taught: Issac

Hello, my friends! Have you ever seen this video? This is amazing and so sweet. A few weeks ago, this beautiful proposal story was all over the place. It was even on national TV news.

I will let you watch this video for a while………….

 

OK, how is it? Don’t you love it? Now, can you remember the last sentence that was shown in the video?

And to my sweet pea… Thanks for saying “yes”.

Yes, that was it. I am 100% sure that you know who “sweet pea” is referring to here. It is the prospective bride. Sweet pea itself is a flowering plant. Everybody has different opinions about how beautiful different flowers are. But, in my opinion, sweet pea is beautiful.

So, I guess I can say it is pretty obvious that sweet pea would mean a beautiful woman. What do you think? Would you agree? Well, when I first heard, I did not think about flowers at all. Instead, I thought of peas that are sweet. It would taste good, of course. That can also kind of lead us to think that sweet pea can be a beautiful woman. Either way, it makes sense, right?

Urban dictionary’s definition also supports our conclusion.

Now, the question is what about other flowers like rose or lilies? Can I say my rose or my lilies to mean my wife or girl friend? I am not sure. But, one thing for sure “sweet pea” does have “sweet” in it. Nevertheless, I guess I can call my wife whatever I want as long as it is something beautiful.

14 Jun

ears burning

Who taught: Amber and Tami

paddle ball

paddle ball (source: http://www.fksa.org/)

At first, I thought I should not write this story but I figured that it would be useful for my friends.

Here is the thing! In Aug 2010, I already posted a story about the same expression that I learned from Kelly. About two years later, I heard the same expression and that did not even ring a bell. This showcases how hard to really make a new expression yours. Simply speaking, you gotta use it. If not, there is literally no hope to make any expression yours.

Look at me! I heard and wrote a story. Yet, I still cannot say that this is an expression that I know.

Anyway, let me get to the story.

When people gather together, they talk about a lot of different things. Sometimes, it could be movies or TV shows or sometimes foods. You know, it could be anything. We also talk about other people that are not there together with us.

A few weeks ago, Tami gave me a paddle ball. So, this is one of the games that kids in the U.S. play. Well, I have never played before. It looks so easy to play but in fact it is pretty tricky. I have tried but not really been successful. Someone should demonstrate how to play so that I can learn.

Anyway, a few days ago, I had a meeting with Amber and Tami and they told me that they had lunch and taked about me, especially about my trying to play a paddle ball. As they said, they used an expression, “Weren’t your ears burning?”

Had I know nothing about expressions, I would have said, “No, my ears never burn.” Of course, they cannot and do not burn unless someone sets a fire on them, right?

Instead of telling you what that means, let me tell you a similar expression Korean people use. If, all of a sudden, someone’s ears are itching, he or she would say that someone else must be talking about me. That’s right, in Korea, we use the verb, “itch,” instead of “burn,” in this situation.

In my opinion, ears burning makes me feel the expression better. What do you think? Maybe I can try to use “ears are itching” to my American friends to see what they would guess.

Amber also told me that some people say, “Aren’t your ears ringing?”

One important takeaway is this! To learn a new language or more specifically to learn a new expression, you gotta use it.

Use it or Lose it!

05 Jun

through the grapevine

Who taught: Rachel

Grape Vine Yard (source: http://www.fruitipedia.com/)

There is a bible study that I go on Thursdays. It is a small group but I really love sharing our thoughts on the Bible. Last week, the bible study was at my place and Rachel got first.

Since it is during the week, we start our meeting talking about our lives, mostly with regard to work. She had a rough day at her work. While she was telling me her story about a very interesting development at her work, she said, “I heard it through the grapevine.”

From the context, I was able to understand but that was my first time hearing the expression. Could you guess what it is, my friends? Let me help you. Have you ever been to a grape yard? There are a lot of lines of grapevines but, if you look at them closely, you will notice how they are all intertwined. They all touch each other in one way or the other.

Therefore, there can be one grapevine plant at one end and there is another grapevine plant at the other end of the line. And if you follow the vines, chances are they are actually connected through the vines in the middle.

What do you think? Can you feel it? So, If you hear something through the grapevine, that means you heard it from someone and that someone also heard it from someone else and that someone else again heard it from someone else.

That’s how I feel about the expression, “hear something through the grapevine.”

Well, there are a lot of things we hear through the grapevine, right? Mostly, rumors. But at the same time, where there is smoke, there is fire.

Sometimes, though, it is better to be disconnected from other grapevines to not get involved into any of those strange rumors.

29 May

ringer

Who taught : Al

Ringer (source: http://www.life123.com/)

How was your weekend? It was a little longer weekend here in the U.S. because yesterday was Memorial Day. It is a federal holiday to remember the men and women who died while serving the country in the Armed Forces. Every year, I go to a church retreat during this holiday weekend. It was fun. This year, I sort of participated in the corn-hole tournament (FYI, if you do not know what corn-hole is, look at this post. Especially, read the comments through. 🙂 ). It was fun but it was also my first time to play the tournament. So, Bovi and I, as a team, were defeated in the semi-final. Not bad, huh?

After the tournament was done, I was having breakfast with Al and other friends. And, Al said, “So, Terry, I heard that you are pretty good at corn-hole. You were like a ringer yesterday night.”

Everything was fine for me to understand till I heard this word, ringer. What is it? I did not carry any ring and made sounds while playing corn-hole games.

Can you guess what it means? Here is a little more details about what happened for your guess! So, before a game started, I told people that I had not played for a very long time and I must be bad at it now. But, I won games to get to the semi-final.

Here is a great definition from Free Dictionary.

a contestant, esp a horse, entered in a competition under false representations of identity, record, or ability.

 

Well, I guess I did say things to falsely represent myself. The funny thing is that it sounds like a word that is not good to use often but it is not really a bad thing to say. Most of the times, when you play a sport with your friends and they might invite someone else and they say, “Hey I am not good. But I will try.” And, when the game is actually on, he or she just dominates it. They are ringers. I have seen some people like that when I play golf.

Also, there was another expression I heard during the retreat, red herring. At that time, that sounded totally new to me but I suddenly realized that it is one of the expressions I have already learned and I was correct. Look at this post to check it out. I won’t forget red herring.

22 May

stack and stacked

Who taught: Emmett

Short stack (http://boston.tumblr.com/)

One of the things I regularly do is watching TV shows. For native English speakers, this might be a waste of time. On the other hand, I find it is very helpful for non-native English speakers to watch TV shows regularly to improve listening comprehension skills.

In everything I do, I have a goal. My goal here is to be able to understand what they say even without focusing too much. It is still far from achieving the goal but it is getting closer day by day.

So, recently, I found a TV show that I like on Netflix. It’s called “Switched at Birth.” It is a story about two teenagers who were switched at birth and about their families. It is not one of those shows that I would recommend you to watch but I personally like it. You know what I mean! It is OK.

A few days ago, while I was watching an episode, I heard a very familiar word, stack. For computer science teachers like me, it is one of those words that have to be included in most conversations. I will not go into details about why. But, if you are burning with curiosity, you should consider to take my course.

A very well-known definition of the word is “an orderly pile, especially one arranged in layers.”

Let me have you feel this definition. Do you know what is one of the favorite brunch menus in the U.S.? It’s pancake. When you order pancakes, normally you get 5 to 10 pancakes piled up on top of each other. So, when you order it, what do you say? You can say, “I will have a short stack.” I heard this exact expression from another TV show, “Supernatural.” I am sure you can now really feel the word, stack.

Good but not good! Why? Because Emmett used this word to mean a totally different thing. Well…. probably not that different but it took some time for me to finally get it.

He and his friend were talking about a girl who has pretty big breast. I mean big boobs. But, instead of saying, “She has large boobs,” he said, “She is stacked.” Ha… Interesting, isn’t it? Here is the way I imagine to make this most sense. If a girl who has big those lies down in a bed, you can almost think them stacked on top of her chest. If it is too small, then you cannot even notice them; nothing is stacked.

What do you think? Do you like my analysis? Also, you can use this expression to describe a man, like “he is stacked.” I know I am not stacked at all. Are you stacked?

Now, the question is “how much is stacked and how much is too much?”