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!

23 Jan

sport vs sports

Who taught: Steve, Jean, Jeremy and Ginny

A good sport (source: http://candostreet.com/)

This is the second episode where I learned a new expression from Steve and Jean. They have three children and two of them, Ginny and Jeremy, teach at the same elementary school. They were in a skit whose main purpose was to increase awareness of the importance of the yearly State Math test. It is pretty hilarious. I wish I can show it to you. In the skit, they were basically devouring chocolates that are supposed to be for students who would get good scores in the test. That is not good. 🙂 In the skit, their mouth was totally covered with chocolates while eating chocolates and the other teachers were telling them the chocolates are not for them but for good(?) students.

In the end, one teacher said, “Do you know that the school will give out chocolates if a student would get a good score in the State Math test.” That would work for elementary school students, I guess. Chocolates could be really good baits for them to study harder.

So, what does it have anything to do with sport?

What does sport mean? That’s easy. It is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.”

Am I suggesting that eating chocolates requires physical exertion and skill and Ginny and Jeremy were competing with each other? Hmm.. it needs some skill to eat and mouth muscle should move faster. And, who knows.. Ginny and Jeremy were really competing with each other. 🙂

As we were watching the skit, Steve said, “They were being a good sport.” Interesting! Very very interesting! Because this does not mean that there is any sort of competition. The thing they did was that they were being funny in front of students and teachers, right? In other words, they were fine being the butt of a joke. Well, that is what “good sport” means.

After all, it has something to do with sport (physical exertion). When you lose in any sport, it is not easy to accept your loss. But, if you can accept your loss, then you are being a good sport.

It is hard to accept a loss in any sport. It is also very hard to be a butt of a joke, amusing other people. There goes a strong connection of being a good sport.

Amazingly, a few days later, I heard the same expression used by an actor of the Criminal Minds. He said, “I was just being a good sport.”

Can you be a good sport? Hope you can in both sense!

18 Jan

moonlighting

Who taught: Steve and Jean

Moonlight (source: http://pixdaus.com/)

Two days ago, Steve and Jean invited me to dinner. It was great. My in-laws had a chance to eat baked potatoes with sour cream along with other dishes. They loved the potatoes. On the way back to home, my mother-in-law said, “Let’s try to bake potatoes next time. I really liked it.” In Korea, people usually do not bake potatoes. Instead, we steam them. I guess this different way of cooking introduced a different taste and texture of potatoes to her. I think she will bake potatoes even after she goes back to Korea. 🙂

Well, while my in-laws were busy enjoying baked potatoes, Steve and I were talking about his children and son-in-law. His son-in-law, Dan, is a medical doctor. And, he of course has a job at a hospital in Ohio. But, because of his specialty, he has been getting a lot of different part-time job offers. As Steve was talking about this situation, he said, “Dan can easily moonlight at $75 per hour.”

Wait! Moonlight?? Isn’t moonlight just a light from Moon? If that word had another meaning, that would probably be walking around at night.

It actually has another interesting meaning which really makes sense to me. Suppose that you need to work in addition to your full-time day job, it would mean that you work at night, right? Then, you either need to walk or drive under the moonlight. I guess back in the days when there was no cars, people really had to walk at night for his/her second job.

Yup! That is what it means. If you moonlight, that means you are to work at an additional job after your regular and full-time employment. I believe it does not have to be a night job though. So, you could say to your friends like this, “Man, life is tough. I am moonlighting these days to make ends meet.”

Obviously, moonlighting does not necessarily mean a romantic thing as we walk under the moonlight.

10 Jan

long haul

Who taught: Ginny

Long haul - a ghost marriage (source: http://thelonghaulproject.com/)

If you want to live in the U.S., there are a few things that you really need to try to have interest in. American football is one of them. NFL (National Football League) has 32 teams (16 under AFC and 16 under NFC). There are so many offensive and defensive positions and also the rules are pretty complicated. But, once you start to watch games, you would enjoy them a lot. I love them. And, of course, I am a big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you do not support any team yet, you should consider to be a fan of the Steelers. It will be more fun. 🙂

Even though it is fun to watch games, there is one thing I do not like when it comes to any game time. There are so many ADs. In theory, a game should take only an hour (four 15-minute quarters) to finish. However, in reality, it usually takes around 3 and half hours. If it is a Sunday afternoon or night game, it is not bad to watch. But, sometimes, a game can be scheduled to be held at Monday night. It is a pretty tiring experience to watch a Monday night game.

A few weeks ago, Steelers played agains San Francisco 49ers at Monday night. Right before I watched the game, I checked facebook need. Ginny, one of my friends, updated her status, “I am in for the long haul tonight,” meaning a long Monday night football game between Steelers and 49ers.

That was my first time to see the expression, long haul. I automatically looked it up on a dictionary. It says it means “a long distance” or “a lengthy job.” A few days ago, I heard the same expression watching a TV show. On the show, an actress said, “We have been married for the long haul.”

We all know what long is. Knowing the definition of the word, haul, will definitely help you feel this expression. It means to pull or drag forcibly. Does it make you think? You know what I think now. I think of pulling a washer. Man, a washer is too heavy to even lift. You gotta just pull or drag with a lot of efforts. What if you haul a washer for a long time? You would be exhausted. That is what a long haul means. For example, a long flight from the U.S. to South Korea is definitely a long haul. It is a long distance as well as a hard and lengthy job. Don’t you agree? The opposite expression is of course a short haul. And there is another expression, backhaul. Why don’t you look it up by yourself?

06 Jan

muffler vs scarf

Who taught: Jake and John

Scarf handmade by my mother-in-law

My in-laws have been staying with me in the U.S. for about 3 and half months. My mother-in-law is a great cook when it comes to Korean food. Jessy and I have been enjoying a lot of good authentic Korean foods. She is also very good at knitting. A few days ago, I bought her one pound yarn and needles. In just two days, she had finished knitting one thing for me. It is a scarf. Actually, I am wearing it now. It is so warm that I can even feel her love.

Anyway, when I first saw the scarf. I was wondering… wondering about the correct English word for it. In Korean, it is 목도리(Mok-Do-Ree). And, people in Korea also call it muffler. They also use another English word, scarf. But, when Korean people say a scarf, it usually means a thing that is worn mostly by women and made of silk.

Influenced by this memory, I decided to use muffler instead of scarf when I uploaded the picture of it on my twitter and facebook. Not long after I put the picture along with the caption, “My mother-in-law made me a beautiful muffler. I love it,” on my twitter, Jake replied, asking whether I mean a muffler on a car. Jake meant to ask whether my mother-in-law made a part of a motor vehicle’s exhaust system, serving to muffle the sound of the vehicle, for me. Well, that would be so great if she could really make a new muffler in that sense. I will definitely put it on my car.

About 5 seconds later, John also replied to me on twitter, saying “A muffler belongs on a car. That looks like a scarf to me.” So, my conclusion from these replies is that people in the U.S. do not use muffler to mean scarf at all.

The thing that makes me still confused is that one of the definitions of muffler is a synonym of scarf. If you cannot believe it, google it.

So, what is happening? Do you guys think Jake and John are correct? Or, do you still say a muffler to mean a scarf? If not, come on….. I will make a complaint to all of the dictionaries to remove the definition. It is so confusing. Don’t you think, my non-native English friends? No fair!

03 Jan

dougie

Who taught: Sujin

It’s 2012. We have all said, “Happy New Year!,” to our family and friends for the last few days. Let me say something different. My friends, Happy New Day! I think we should all celebrate every day just like we treat a new year. Today is the last day of our life because tomorrow will be different from today and it will never be back. We should enjoy today and be happy every day. So, I wish you Happy New Day today!

Do you guys remember one of my old posts about boogie? Today’s expression sounds very similar to it but has a different meaning.

On new year’s eve, I was with my family and some of my friends. As soon as the clock hit 00:00, we all celebrated and hugged. After that, we were talking and watching TV. One of the songs he heard was Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO. Those guys danced like crazy. Watching their dancing, Sujin said something that I have never heard. She said, “Teach me dougie!”

I said, “What? Dougie? What is it?” She said, “It means dance.” At that time, I thought it would mean any dance. But, I was not quite right. After some research, I realized that it is a specific type of dance mostly by hiphop people. You might want to see the video here to learn the move. This hiphop group, Cali Swag District, even has a song called, Teach Me How To Dougie.

According to urbandictionary, it also means hip style. This is kind of questionable to me. For those people who like dougie dance, dougie would mean hip too. But, how about the people who do not like it? Would they also think dougie means cool or hip? Not sure.

What do you think, my friends? Can you help me out?

By the way, do you see a word, “swag,” in the group name, Cali Swag District? Actually, swag also means hip or cool. I believe this is pretty universal. Happy Swag Year to you!