Category Archives: From friends

As a non-native English speaker, it is fun to learn new English expressions from friends. I am not afraid of asking questions to my friends. Luckily, my friends are so nice that they always do their bests to explain to me. Thank you, all!

30 Aug

gullible

Who taught: Dexter and Jake

Gulls (source: http://animals.howstuffworks.com/)

I believe in people, especially my friends. How about you?

One of the caveats of believing friends too much is that they can trick me so easily. One time Jake and I hang out, he pointed out a part of the ceiling of the restaurant with his finger, saying “Look! There is some letter written on the ceiling.” I looked at it but could not find it. He continued to say it again and again and I still tried to find the letter.

After a few tries, I realized that something must be wrong, looking back at him. He started to smile, saying “Oh, T-bone! I like you. You are so gullible.”

What is gullible? Here is the definition.

Easily deceived of cheated.

Looking at the word, gullible, you might be able to guess that this is from another word, “gull,” right?

What is gull, then? Gull mainly means two things. First, it means any aquatic bird of the genus Larus  and related genera, such asL. canus. For your reference, I inserted a photo of it. I am not sure about the U.S. but, in Korea, people believe that gulls are kind of representative of cheating. Having this impression, let me tell you another definition of gull. Gull, as a verb, means “deceive or cheat.” Perfect, right?

Why don’t you try this? Gulls are almost everywhere these days, especially where there is a river or beach. So, when you see them next time, why don’t you try to trick your friends and, as you got them, say this, “Oh man! You are so gullible.”

Good luck! Hope they are as gullible as I am!

26 Aug

coaster

Who taught: Pat and Jessy

Coaster (source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/)

When Jessy and I first arrived to the U.S., Jessy was not even able to order food because her English was not that good.

Now, after more than 5 years, she is a lot better. Sometimes, I am amazed by her English. Many people think if someone lives in the U.S., he or she should be able to speak English really good. This is not necessarily true.

Jessy did work hard. She has watched a few TV shows over and over, trying to memorize all of the possible mostly-used sentences. (I mean it was really over and over and over.) Also, whenever she has a free time, she tries to read books that are written in English. Finally, she really tris to spend a lot of time with American friends so that she speaks English as much as she can. All of these are not easy to do and need a strong commitment.

Jessy! I am proud of you!

As a result, these days, she even knows words or expressions that I have no idea about.

For example, she knows English words that are mainly used in kitchen. One example is coaster. Do you know what it is? Usually, “coast” means the part of the land near the sea or the edge of the land, right? In this context, coaster should mean what? It means a ship used to carry cargo along the coast. What does then coaster mean in house? There is no coast in house. Why people use this word to mean something in a house?

Whenever you have guests in your place, you are supposed to give them food and drink.

For drinks, especially cold drinks that are in cups or glasses, you are not placing them on table without a coaster. Actually, that is one thing I have noticed here in the U.S. It looks like it is a kind of manner to use a coster when you put cold drinks on a table.

By now, you should know what coaster is, right? To be clear, here is the definition in this context.

a protective disc or mat for glasses or bottles.

In fact, you will hear this word mostly in this context. Almost all of the restaurants in the U.S. use coasters every time they serve drinks. Also, your guests might ask a coster to use for their drinks. So, buy those for your house.

Do you know why people use coaster to mean this mat or disc? It is because you, as a host, turn around the egde (coast) of the table to put these on the table. Interesting, isn’t it?

Anyway, I am not sure you need to ask where a coaster is before you put your glass on a table when you visit your friends’ house? Is it one of the manners to have in the U.S.? That is what I felt.

24 Aug

heavy foot

Who taught: Tami

Heavy Foot (source: http://www.redbubble.com/)

Last weekend, I drove down to Blacksburg, VA with Jessy and my brother-in-law’s family to help their move. It takes 6 hours from Pittsburgh, PA to Blacksburg, VA. 6 hours are not bad in the U.S. to drive but it is still hard for me to drive alone. So, I let Jessy drive for 2 – 3 hours.

Well, during those hours, I wanted to take a short sleep but could not. Why? Because she drives aggressively. She also displays some road rage. I had to try to calm her down. And, at the same time, I was tightly holding on.

It was a rough time. As soon as we decided to take a break, I took the key away from her. 🙂

After the long and tiring weekend, there is an orientation for the new students. When I had lunch with my colleagues, I talked about how much I was afraid of Jessy’s driving to Tami. As she heard the story, she said, “So, Jessy got a heavy foot, right?”

One good news! I was able to feel the expression right away. How about you? Can you feel it? We, mostly, use our right foot to push the accelerator, right. Now, imagine your right foot is fat and heavy like an elephant’s foot, it would be really hard to slow your car down, right? What a great expression! I like it a lot. So, when someone uses heavy foot, think about an elephant foot. You will never forget what it means.

Hope you all do not have a heavy foot. Let’s slow down and calm down when driving, shall we?

P.S.: I will do my best to take care of Jessy only when she is driving. Most of the time, she takes care of me. 🙂

16 Aug

play by ear

Who taught: Phil

Play by ear (source : http://www.iphoneappsdude.com/)

Phil and I are close friends and hang out often. We play soccer and squash together and sometimes work at Commonplace coffee and also eat. Last week, we were talking about having dinner together and play a board game afterward in my place. Since he was also expecting his friends’ visit, he was not able to confirm whether he could make it or not.

As we were talking about, what I said to him was, “Let’s play by ear. You can come by with your friends if they are fine. Call or text me on Saturday.”

As I used the expression, “play by ear,” Phil told me that it was a perfect usage of it. So happy to hear that! However, that made me think. I have been using this expression for a while but never really thought about its origin.

The following definition that I found from The Phrase Finder explains a lot.

Initially, this referred to the playing of music without reference to printed notation. More recently it is also used figuratively to mean ‘handle a situation in an impromptu manner’, i.e. without reference to pre-determined rules or guidelines.

Not surprisingly, if you google ‘play by ear,’ you will see many images that says like how to play piano by ear, etc.

FYI, the first record of its usage is in an 1839 edition of The Edinburgh Review.

And, people in the U.S. started to use this expression in the 20th century in the context of sports to describe players who did something in an unplanned way.

So, what do you think? My usage was pretty good there, wasn’t it? But, in reality, I am not a big fan of playing things by ear. I want things really really well organized. The more you play things by ear, the higher things would go not as you want. So, a piece of advice: Plan things ahead and play by the plan!

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!