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!

01 Jun

beard

Who taught: Christian

Beard (source: http://www.greatfunnypictures.com/)

Last week, there was a farewell party for Andrew’s last day at his work. He now moves on to the next chapter of his life. I wish him the best of luck. I am sure he will be very successful at his new work.
So, I was there and met many people who I have not been able to see for a while. As usual, we all talked about anything new or any recent news about each other. I, of course, mentioned about my move. As I mentioned my move, Christian asked me, “Where did you move into?” I said, “Regent Square.”

His following response was not what I expected at all. He said, “Oh… that is the gay neighborhood in Pittsburgh.”

Honestly, I was surprised because I did not know that at all. I said, “What? Really? But, my neighbors are all young married couples.”

Christian said, “Well, you never know. I have a few gay friends who live in that neighborhood. Your neighbors could be beards.”

At this point, I had to stop him to talk about what he just said. Can you catch what it is? Yeah! Beards! What the heck does beard mean? In general, beard means the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck, but not the upper lip, of human beings. Isn’t this what you think when you hear the word, beard?

Now, in the context of my conversation with Christian, it is obvious that he used beard to mean people, not the collection of hair. Also, he used it as he talked about gay people. Here is the definition for you!

a man or woman used as a cover by a gay partner.

Assuming that I am a gay and I live with my wife, Jessy. Then, who is a beard here? Jessy is a beard for me. Now, what if Jessy is also a gay and we live together. Then, we both are beards. That is what Christian meant. It was even more surprising to learn that people use beard to mean these people.

I had to think about its origin. Based on my research, people started to use this expression in 1960’s but there is no real etymology of it. Now, my guess is this. When you grow beard, then it covers your face which is the most important part of a human body and it is the part that really shows your identity. By having beard, you kind of cover your identity. What do you think? Don’t you think my assumption here is quite good?

Well, let’s make something clear here before I wrap up this post. Jessy and I are not beards and it does not matter whether Regent Square is a gay neighborhood or not to me and Christian. We are all people here on the earth.

19 May

dude-bro

Who taught: Kim

Dude-bro (source: http://bag-of-games.blogspot.com/)

Today’s expression must be a fairly new expression. Why? I do not know why but I just feel like it. My guess is that most people who are comparatively old may not know what this expression means.

Last Saturday, while I was checking Facebook, one status updated by Kim caught my eyes. It was a very short sentence.

She said, “DC is full of dude-bros.” Reading this short sentence, we should not have a problem to find out that she was in Washington, D.C. and she was talking about the people there, right? Now, what kind of people do dude-bros mean? Can you guess?

Let’s try a little bit of anatomy here.

1. Dude : It simply means a man and, as a matter of fact, this word has a very positive connotation. Based on my research, the origin of this word is from 1870s and people started to use this word to mean well-dressed city folk.

2. Bro : Come on! We all know this. This is a shortened version of brother. These days, people in almost every country love to shorten words and this is the best example of that practice. It is pretty safe that this word also does not have any bad connotation. People use this a lot to call their best friends. I call Andrew bro from another mother (BFAM). Very good, right?

But then, there comes a very interesting result. When these two words are combined to be dude-bro, it does not have a positive meaning. It sure applies to men.

Here is the definition I found.

White suburban males, usually 16-25 years of age, hailing from anywhere, USA. Characterized by their love of College football, pickup trucks/SUVs, beer, cut off khaki cargo shorts, light pink polo brand shirts (with collar “popped”), abercrombie & fitch, hollister gear, and trucker hats.

I am sure you can imagine how they should look like. When I first found this definition, I was shocked. Do you know why? Here is the deal. So, when I first got to the U.S., I saw those people in many places like New York and DC. And, I strongly believed that I should follow those fashion styles. I actually did it.

Basically, I used to be one of dude-bros.

Today’s lesson: Do not try to mimic other people’s fashions. Try to create your own! Being dude or bro is fine but you do not want to be dude and bro together. 🙂

11 May

neighbor vs neighborhood

Who taught: Jake

 

Neighborhood (source: http://www.websiteneighbors.com/)

Yesterday evening, there was a farewell party for Carol because it was her last day at her current work. She will be starting her new chapter in her life as a Rails developer of a new startup. (For those of you who are not familiar with Rails, simply speaking, it is a programming language that is used to create a new web site or application such as Twitter.)

 

You know what is the most fun part of being a software developer or engineer? You get to see a cool or ugly stuff right away in front of your eyes. Anything you develop does not tell a lie. If there is any problem in your code, it complains. If everything is fine, even though this does not guarantee it is perfect, it at least shows a happy face. There is no poker face in your code. Not everything in life is in this way.

Anyway, Carol! Good luck and congratulations again!

As I was talking to Jake in the party, we talked about my new house. And, Kara was with us while we were talking about the house. She actually lives in the same neighborhood where my new house is.

Did you notice that I used ‘neighborhood’ here? When I write, I can find a correct word but, yesterday, I said, “Kara! Finally, we live in the same neighbor.”

As Jake heard this, he said, “Terry. You should say ‘neighborhood’ instead of neighbor. Neighbor means a person or people who live right next to your house. It could be on your righthand side or lefthand side. Or, front or back. They are your neighbors.”

So, that means I cannot have a lot of neighbors unless they have a huge family with a huge house. 🙂 This is another case where I can write correctly but I make mistakes all the time when I speak. I just forget to add “hood” at the end.

Why? I think it is because of culture. In Korea, when I say a Korean word, “이웃(Yi-Ut),” it could cover many people who live in the same neighborhood. Korean people have a tendency to maintain very tight relationships with their neighbors. There is a Korean saying in this context, “이웃사촌(Yi-Ut-Sa-Chon).” Literal translation into English is “neighbor cousin,” meaning neighbors are like cousins or even closer than your cousins.

So, here is my conclusion that I would like to think of when it comes to the comparison of neighbor and neighborhood. I will think of a person or people when I think of the word, neighbor, whereas I will think of area or land when I need to think of neighborhood.

Better way to remember these two words correctly is asking these questions to myself all the time to train my brain.

Where is your neighborhood? vs. Who are your neighbors? Can you feel it?

06 May

hammock and banana hammock

Who taught: Sangeetha, Alex, Phil, Pat, Mark and Kelly

banana hammock (source: http://www.sampa.com/)

Last Saturday, I moved all of my stuff from my old apartment into the new house. Many friends showed up to help the move. I would like to thank all. It was a lot easier with their help. Luckily, the weather was also amazing. To take advantage of it, I bought hot dogs, pizzas and some drinks to have a small spontaneous party at my house.

The move was done pretty quickly and we hang out in the backyard. Hack ya! That was something I have always wanted to do with my friends when I buy a house. Yay! Finally, it happened. And, I am sure there will be a lot more parties. It was so great to have them in my place.

At one point during the party, Phil said, “You guys should sling a hammock in the backyard here. That would be perfect.”

Do you guys know what hammock is? Here is the definition!

A bed made of canvas or of rope mesh and suspended by cords at the ends, used as garden furniture or on board a ship.

I am sure you’ve seen this when you were on a vacation at a resort. The most important thing you should keep in mind is that the shape of hammock, especially if someone lies in it. It becomes very narrow because of the weight of the lying person and its shape is very round. Can you imagine? I am sure you have a great imagination here.

As we talked about hammock, Sangeetha said, “Hey, speaking of hammock… Terry, have you heard the expression, banana hammock?”

I said, “I have but I totally forgot what it means. Does it have something to do with sexual stuff? Oh, does it mean a banana-shaped penis?”

Phil said, “Good guess but not that one.”

Actually, I was pretty close because it has something to do with penis. So, instead of telling you the definition of banana hammock, let me remind you of the shape of hammock when you lie in it. Imagine yourself being a penis, then what is hammock? It is something men wear but very tight. It’s a speedo or male thong.

What a great expression! It is so perfect. I am sure somebody, looking at the shape of a hammock with a person in it, thought of speedo or thong that men wear. Don’t you think they look exactly same?

Now, what if I go to a department store and ask a sales person like, “So, I am looking for a banana hammock? Do you carry them?” Would they understand what I mean? Would they look at me like a crazy person? Probably yes in the U.S., right?

03 May

make out

Who taught: Emily

Making out(source: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com)

Two days ago, Jessy and I went to a restaurant to have lunch together with my friends. We were late because Jessy had a headache and, thus, we needed to stop by a grocery store to buy painkillers.

As we walked around the grocery store to find painkillers, Emily texted me. Here is what she sent.

“Stop making out in the car and get in here. I’m hungry! :)”

Frankly, I did not know what she meant by making out in the car. Besides, I was trying to get to the restaurant as soon as possible. So, instead of texting her, asking what she meant, I just sent a text, “Sorry! Will be there soon.”

If you are a native English speaker, you may imagine what happened in the restaurant. All of my friends were like, “What? Terry did not deny making out in the car. What the heck!” Yeah yeah yeah! They had to laugh. At least, I made my friends happy for a few minutes, right?

So, as Jessy and I got into the restaurant and sat in chairs, Emily had to ask me this question, “Terry! Tell me… Do you know what ‘making out’ means?”

I said, “No! not really.” Then, they were all like, “Oh, that is why.. At least your response now makes sense.”

The thing is we did not really go into details about what it really means. You know what my guess was? I thought making out in the car means having a sex in the car, which can happen in many cases. Don’t you agree?

Then, I had to look it up on Urban Dictionary after I got back home. Interestingly, it means just a long kiss, especially french kiss. But, I still think that is kind of weird. I mean, once you got into a long french kiss, how could you keep yourself from having a sex? I think that making out should mean “having a long kiss and eventually end up having a sex.”

To make it clear, we did not make out in the car on that day. I mean just on that day. 🙂