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!

06 Dec

fan death

Who taught: Jake, Carol, Stan and Andrew

Fan Death (source: http://askakorean.blogspot.com)

Growing up in Korea, I have always been told from my parents, “Do not leave an electric fan run overnight. You could die.” Also, I swear I heard a few news reports, talking about possible deaths caused by an electric fan. Due to this, I have never doubted this so that every time I use an electric fan, I become very careful and always use a timer switch.

When I had dinner with my friends a few days ago, Jake asked me a question, “Hey Terry! So, do people die because of fans in Korea?” “Yes! In fact, my mother always told me to be careful with a fan every summer,” said I. Then, other friends started to ask me questions like, “Are you sure people would die because of fan?” I answered, “Yeah, that is what I heard and I am sure it is true.” They asked me again, “Why?” “I think I heard it is something to do with the lack of oxygen that can happen if a fan continuously running in a closed room,” said I.

While we are discussing this, Stan looked it up on Wikipedia using his iPhone and started to read what he found which I have never tried to look up. He said, “Fan death is an urban legend prevailing in South Korea in which an electric fan left running overnight in a closed room can cause the death of those inside.”

Here comes the funny thing which my friends really enjoyed!

As soon as I heard it, I said, “See! It is true. That is exactly what I heard.” Well, as I said it, my friends started to laugh. Do you know why?

Well, apparently, I did not know what ‘Urban Legend’ means. Thus, I thought Wikipedia describes a true story of the fan death. It did not take a long time for Andrew to ask me, “Terry! Do you know what urban legend is?”

Here is the definition for you!

A modern myth. A frightening untrue story in which the storyteller insists it is true, but has no evidence to back up.

Before I argue about whether the fan death is really a urban legend or not, I have my own theory about why the fan death became a big issue in Korea. I think Korean government tried to encourage media to talk about this to make people not turn on their fans overnight so that they can reduce overall electric power usage during summer. Back in 1980’s, Korea was still kind of poor in comparison to these days.

I have done a few researches about this fan death and found this blog post which includes a scientific theory to support the fan death.

Here is the science of how a fan could kill. Remember the conditions under which Fan Deaths happen – summer (=heat), enclosed room, fan directly on the body. An electric fan cools your body in two ways: by pushing cooler air onto your body, and by allowing your sweat to dry rapidly and take away heat in that process. But clearly, the fan does not generate the cool air on its own, unlike an air conditioner. And eventually — especially if you are a passed-out drunk who is already somewhat dehydrated from the alcohol — your body will run out of water to turn into sweat. So what happens when it is very hot, but the entire room is enclosed such that no cool air comes in from outside, and you have no more sweat to cool your body with? Basically, the entire room turns into a gigantic turbo oven. Turbo oven is a conventional oven that has a fan inside that continues to blow air onto the food. This oven is known to cook at lower temperature than a regular oven, yet cook more quickly. Similarly, in a heated room without an outside source of airflow, very hot air is constantly pushed directly to your body, which is a far more effective way of raising your body temperature rather than “baking” in hot air. If you get enough of this, you would die – of hyperthermia, or abnormally high body temperature. (Source: http://askakorean.blogspot.com/)

Would you still think the fan death is an urban legend? I think it is not.

02 Dec

lifestyle, swing, swinger

Who taught: Jake

Swing (source: www.impawards.com)

To be honest, today’s post is one of the most shocking expressions I have ever learned. Lifestyle…. What does this word mean to you? My dictionary says it is “a manner of living that reflects the person’s values and attitudes.” And… that is exactly what I thought of whenever I hear the word, lifestyle.

OK, how about “swing”? What does it mean?  Here, I have a few different definitions.

1. Verb : move in a curve or arc

2. Noun : mechanical device used as a plaything to support someone swinging back and forth. (I am sure you used to enjoy this when you were young. Maybe, you still like it?)

3. Noun : a style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s; flowing rhythms but less complex than later styles of jazz

So far so good. Nothing special, right? Now here is another one.

engage freely in promiscuous sex, often with the husband or wife of one’s friends

Knowing this definition, you would easily find out what “swinger” means? In plain English, it is simply “a person who dates/sleeps with multiple people at the same time.” When I first heard that expression from Jake, I had no idea about what it means. I thought it is basically a baseball player who swings a lot. In fact, this is one of the definitions of swinger but I doubt people would use the word in that context. In many times, people use “swinger” to mean someone who sleeps with many people at the same time. Now, going back to my original question, what is up with the word, lifestyle?

Well, another way of saying you are a swinger is, “I am in the lifestyle.” It is more like a way of describing the culture of swingers. Interesting thing I found from Urban Dictionary is that you can be in the lifestyle but that does not mean that you are actually swapping your wives or husbands. If you actually do that, then you should say, “I am active in the lifestyle.”

So, today’s lesson: You want to be careful with the word swing and lifestyle. For example, you mean to say, “I like swing,” but you make a mistake to say, “I like to swing.” Oops! It could be awkward. What do you think, my American friends?

01 Dec

brother from another mother

Who taught: Andrew, Jean and Vincent

Brother from another mother (source: cheezburger.com)

Once again, it has been a while! I was in Philly to visit one of my friends during Thanksgiving weekend. How have you all been? I hope everything goes well with you. As you know, I am in Pittsburgh. Last night, it snowed. And I am sure it will continuously snow from today. That means it is officially winter here in Pittsburgh. How about where you live? Is it Winter or Summer? Either way, hope you have a great time!

Yesterday, I had dinner together with my friends. Jean said, “There is a potluck party in the company next week. I am sorry you are not invited. I wish you were also there.” (FYI, it is the company that I used to work.) Oh, have I told you about what “potluck” means? One of the things I really like in the U.S. is this culture of potluck. Here is the definition of potluck on Wikipedia.

a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group.

What do you think? It is great in a sense that the host of a party does not need to worry about food too much but, at the same time, many people can enjoy different kinds of food. This is not very typical in Korea. Every time there is a party, the host needs to prepare most of the food and it is quite challenging.

Moving on, as Jean said it, Andrew said to me something very fast so that I was not able to get it perfectly. So, I said, “What? What did you say?” “Terry, you are my brother from another mother,” said Andrew. Jean said, “The most important thing of this expression is that you need to speak very fast since it rhymes.” What does it mean? I am sure you can guess it very easily. It means:

a good friend that you have known almost your whole life. The word “brother” is used because the friend is extremely close to you to the point that he is almost like your brother–but from a different mother. (source: Urban Dictionary)

There is an expression with the same meaning in Korean. It is “불알친구 (Bul-al-Chin-Gu).” Literal translation into English is “Friend of Testicles.” Why there is testicles here? Well, when you are really really young like one year old. Who cares you wear any clothing or not. And, you and your friend have grown up together being friends from that age. Then, you can call him 불알친구. One caveat here is that this only applies to men, as you may notice. 🙂 I am not sure we have another expression for women. I do not think we have any? Hmm.. Interesting. Now, I have trouble to find Korean words. Ironic!

19 Nov

over my head

Who taught: Pat

Yesterday, I had this year’s first Thanksgiving dinner with my students and colleagues. Also, there was a small lecture about the history of Thanksgiving given by my boss. During the lecture, I learned about one lady whose name is Sarah Josepha Hale.

She is very famous among Americans not because of Thanksgiving but because of her nursery rhyme, “Mary had a Little Lamb.” But, very few would think of her on Thanksgiving day. I think she deserves to be remembered. Why? Because she was the one who spent 40 years writing to congressmen and five presidents to persuade them to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. And, finally, in 1863, President Lincoln did declare Thanksgiving a national holiday because of her letter.

Can you believe it? For 40 years! To five presidents! She was pretty persistent, wasn’t she? But, the point is she achieved her goal eventually.

So, this Thanksgiving day, you should talk about her to your family or friends and remember her.

A few months ago, I was having some chats about work with Pat using IM. I cannot remember exactly what we talked about but I mentioned about something I did for a customer which was kind of crazy stuff to make things work. As I said this story, he said, “Man, that is over my head.” I did not quite get it. So, I had to ask him. He said, “It is like something hard to understand or beyond my ability.”

To remember this expression, I decided to draw a picture in my imagination. If something is located directly over my head, then I cannot see it at all or cannot see what is happening there. That is what I think of whenever I hear the expression. Or the other way would be trying to find something, you think, very hard to understand like physics, then connect this expression with it. Then you would not forget it at all. Do you know how hard to remember and eventually use a single expression? It is pretty hard. Personally, I would like to make up my own expression, “over my brain.” But I am sure that expression does not exist yet. But, I can try to use more and more until most people use it for 40 years just like Sarah Joseph Hale did. 🙂

17 Nov

the name of the game

Who taught: James

This cannot be true. NO NAME?? (source: crunchberry.org)

In the United States, there are two major communication tools that are used in many companies. One is email and the other one is IM(Instant Messenger). Back when I was in Korea, most of the companies did not like the usage of IM at work. They believed that it is used only for informal chats with friends or coworkers and not for work. Thus, they thought it is really bad for work productivity. Some companies actually blocked a few most common IMs. Not sure how it looks like these days in Korea.

But, in the U.S., IM is one of the critical parts of the communications at work. I have used it so many times to share ideas with my coworkers or even to give updates of my work to my boss, etc.

A few days ago, I had a chance to talk to James using IM. He is my friend and works for the company that I used to work. We had a chance to talk about some sort of work-related stuff. One point I said, “We had to get the things out the door for the customers.” He said, “That is the name of the game.” When he said that, I kind of felt what he meant by it but was also puzzled. So, I had to ask him to make sure what I thought was correct or not, “What is the name of the game? Are you saying ‘Get the things out the door’ is another game or something?” “Oh, no, it is an expression,” said he.

Here is his explanation about the expression, the name of the game.

The essential part or quality necessary for the success of an enterprise or the fulfillment of a goal because when you’re trying to make up games, you try to name them whatever the main point is

To make it easier for you to understand, the name of the game is pretty much the same as “the way the game is played.” One of the best situations you may use this expression is when you really try to play any kind of game with your friends. You can simply say, “So… does everybody know the name of the game?” (I am kind of afraid this would sound like I am really asking whether they know literally the name of the game, though.) Am I right, my American friends? I am going to use this one next time I play a game with Andrew or play squash with Phil.