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!

26 May

Mile high club

Who taught: Mark, Andrew, Jake, Pete and Shawn

Peanut butter jelly

First, let me start with a very simple story. I think one of the favorite lunch box menu in America is peanut butter jelly. Do you know what peanut butter jelly is? I am pretty sure there are some people do not know what it is. Here I am adding a picture for you. Yeah, it is a sandwich which has peanut better and jelly in it. I found one interesting statistics from the Wikipedia.

A 2002 survey showed the average American will have eaten 1,500 of peanut butter jelly sandwiches before graduating from high school.

So, if you go to a Walmart or Giant Eagle (if you are in Pittsburgh), check the Jam aisle. You will find some different types of stuff. They are Jam, Preserves and Jelly. You know what the difference is between them? Here is the good comparison I found from TLC cooking.

It all depends on the form that the fruit takes.
1. In jelly, the fruit comes in the form of fruit juice.
2. In jam, the fruit comes in the form of fruit pulp or crushed fruit (and is less stiff than jelly as a result).
3. In preserves, the fruit comes in the form of chunks.

So, which one is your favorite? Mine is preserves. I like to chew something. So, jelly is not my cup of tea. Well, then, what if you put preserves into your sandwich along with peanut butter. Is it “peanut butter jelly”? Technically, NO! Some may argue though. 🙂

Mile High Club?

Shall we move on to the main expression I learned today? Eating lunch, we were talking about some stories. And, suddenly, Mark used an expression, “Mile High Club.” At first, I thought it is a sort of special mileage membership club. But, it turns out it has nothing to do with mileage. Here is a great definition from the Wikipedia.

a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have sex while on board an aircraft in flight.

Well, one of the questions I asked my friends was “Is there really a club?” Well, it turns out there is. Check this (www.milehighclub.com) out! They also have an instruction page about how to become a member. Here is one of the steps they mentioned. “Before you start your aerial pleasures, make sure you are at least 5,280ft AGL (a mile high above the earth), just to make it official.” So, if you dare to become a member, please keep in mind this rule! I was not able to find any benefit information page though. They should have some benefits to make people be motivated. 🙂

25 May

Money and mouth

Who taught : Carol and Jake

Apple streusel

Let’s suppose that you are in the following conversation with me!

Terry : “Hey, guys, what are you playing?”

You and other friends : “We are playing blackjack.”

Terry : “Who is winning?”

Jake : “I rule now. Can’t you see my chips here?”

Terry : “Huh, Jake, if I were playing here, I would totally beat you and get all of the chips.”

OK, now, what kind expression would you use? There is really good one I learned from Carol today. She actually gave me the page she found from her magazine. I really like the expression. It is “put your money where your mouth is.” So, simply, Jake or you can say to me, “Yo, Terry! Shut up and put your money where your mouth is!” Then, I would be like, “Sorry, I do not have money now.” 🙂

Jake told me the similar expression which I also like a lot. “You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?” The shortened version would be, “Dude, you gotta walk the walk!” Well, the meaning of the expressions are “anyone who claims or says she/he can do something should prove with action.”

Here is another example from the paper Carol gave me.

When your sister tastes your apple streusel and tells you she could do better, you know what to say to your sister.

That’s right! She can say, “You b**tch! Put your money where your mouth is.” Oops! Pardon my French! I thought using strong word would help you to remember this expression longer. 🙂

24 May

play hookie

Who taught: Phil

Dog playing hooky

This morning, I got a text message from one of the golf courses I have been. A while ago, I subscribed for their text message service. It reads, “play hookie and golf!” It was weird that the golf course is encouraging me to play hookie for golf. The definition of the expression is

To miss school or work without suitable excuse, for example, saying you are sick or you have a death in your family.

“Play hooky” is also the same thing you can use. It is just a different spelling but the same pronunciation. Not sure which one is more common though? As always, I was very curious about the origin of the expression. Here is the one I found which sounds very reasonable.

The first printed use of the phrase is 1848 and it is related to the 19th-century phrase “hooky-crooky,” which means “dishonest or underhanded.” The parent of this phrase is “by hook or by crook,” meaning “by any means necessary.” (source : word detective)

Then, my question is do you guys still use “by hook or by crook” expression?

When you use this, you should be really careful with your pronunciation or spelling if you are writing this because there is also another expression, “nookie.” Nookie means sexual intercourse and knowing the meaning of nookie, you can easily figure out what “play nookie” would mean, right? Well, who knows? There might be some people who play hookie to play nookie. I found very funny cartoon from the Internet. You know, even your dog plays hooky. 🙂 I have to be honest. Days like today are very hard to resist to play hookie! Have you ever played hookie? I guess the answer would be yes, right?

20 May

too many irons in the fire

Who taught: Zac

Today, it was crazy busy. There were three long conference calls with three different customers and I had to work on a project with very tight schedule. Having said that, there is a good expression you can use to describe the busy situation instead of saying just “so busy!”

Too many irons in the fire

A few weeks ago, I was with Zac in his car. He knows my blog and tries to think of new expressions that I can learn and write about. One of them was “too many irons in the fire.” Interestingly, Carl, my boss, used this expression when I was in his office talking about resource allocation for bunch of projects. During the meeting, he said, “Terry, looks like your name is all over the places. Well, I know you’ve got too many irons in the fire. Oh, do you know this expression?” “Yeah, I learned it from my friend but good to hear it being used by someone.”, I said.

Basically, it means you have a lot of projects going on at the same time. Think about its etymology! Simply, you can imagine  a picture of a blacksmith working on several pieces of irons at the same time. Well, it is a good thing to have a lot of work to do in this economy. I really thank God for that.

Well, once again, I am so tired now that today’s post will be very short. But, I hope you’ve got the proper number of irons in the fire.

19 May

shoe in phrases

Who taught: Carl, Andrew and Jake

Gabby Reece with her family

Today, I stumbled upon an interesting post, Gabby Reece‘s bucket list. She listed 10 things she wants to do before she dies. I really like one of them, “Live in The Now!” In the post, she said,

There are guys who work-work-work and have no time to enjoy it. I don’t get it. What I’m snobby about is my time. Life is happening right now: I tell my friends, if you’re unhappy, change it or stop talking about it.

Well, I guess she is right. If you are unhappy now and working too much now because you think you will be happy later, when do you think you would be happy? So, hope you are all enjoying your now!

Last week, I went to Louisville, KY for business trip with my boss, Carl. At the airport, we were talking about having children. He said, “Well, it is interesting, being a parent. You know, when you are young, you made bunch of mistakes which makes your parents unhappy or concerned. I understand what they felt before since the shoe is on the other foot.” Another good example of proper usage of this expression would be “teachers being in classroom as students.” I think teachers should have a lot more chances to be in classroom as students so that they should think about their own teaching methodology to make their classes much more fun. What do you think? Don’t you agree?

Today, I had dinner together with my friends, Patrick, Jake, Andrew and Alex. I brought the shoe expression up. And we talked about the other useful expressions with “shoe” in it.

waiting for the other shoe to drop

This expression is something you can use to describe the situation that you know something is going to happen due to the event which already happened. I found really reasonable origin of this expression, a story happened in an inn, and I think this would really help your understanding of the expression.

A guest who checked into an inn one night was warned to be quiet because the guest in the room next to his was a light sleeper. As he undressed for bed, he dropped one shoe, which, sure enough, awakened the other guest. He managed to get the other shoe off in silence, and got into bed. An hour later, he heard a pounding on the wall and a shout: “When are you going to drop the other shoe?” Thus the term “waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
One takeaway from today’s post! If you hear any new expression, try to find out the origin of it, it really helps you to remember the expression and use it later. And, don’t forget! Live in The Now!