Category Archives: From media

08 Aug

dog days

Who taught: Al

Dog Days (source : http://literatehousewife.com/)

There are some expressions that are sort of universal. I have a hunch that today’s expression is one of them and you can easily understand what it means as you hear or speak.

A few days ago, I was watching Today show on NBC and Al, as always, was talking about the weather. On his background, there was a map of the United States. And, it marked the Southern states as “dog days,” with red color. Well, I had not heard of this expression but it totally made sense to me. Why? I don’t know. It just feels like it is universal. So familiar. Maybe, we do have a similar expression in Korea.

As I research about this expression, I realize that the origin goes far back than what I thought it would be. It was used by the Greeks and the Romans.

The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather.

This is very good to know and makes you sound very knowledgable, right? But, I like this version of definition that I found from Urban Dictionary.

Time in the summer where it is so hot or humid that the dogs go crazy by barking or howling.

A few days ago, it was totally dog days of summer here in PGH. It is much better now. Hope this cooler temp stays for a while!

Here is a piece of advice for you. Eat watermelons this Summer. Not only is it a great hydrator during summer fun, it also helps to reduce your chances of getting burned while you play outdoors this summer due to it’s high volume of lycopene.

27 Jul

tatas and twins

Who taught: Today show

Tatas (source: http://peoplethatshoulddieandrotinhell.wordpress.com/)

Some English words or expressions sound cute to me. Like tatas. Well, sounds cute before I get to know what it means.

As Jessy and I have breakfast, we usually watch or listen to Today show on NBC. A few days ago, one of the topics was related with a part of women’s body. Wanna give it a try to guess what it is? That is what tatas mean. Pay attention to the fact that it is plural. What part of women’s body is two and kind of symmetric? I mean there are a few but there is something very obvious. Do you get it?

That’s right! They are breasts on a female. Also, it looks like they have to be large to be called tatas. How big? I do not know. But I guess it is all subjective. There are of course bunch of synonyms. Do I know all? Not at all! But I do know one more which is twins. Now, you would say, “What? Twins? Twins are just twins. What else it could mean.” Huh! You are not correct. This could mean something else and one of them is breasts.

Twins can also mean balls on a male, assuming that you know what balls mean. (FYI, balls mean testicles.) It is all contextual. Usually, if a guy says twins, it probably means balls whereas it would mean breasts when a woman says it. Wait! I might be wrong. It would be the other way around.

Now maybe they are not really cute any more.

My American friends, what else could mean breasts or balls?

15 Jul

booboo vs bubu

Who taught: Jessy

Bubu bear (source: http://www.dinodirect.com/)

Do you remember when you were young? What? You think you are still young? haha… I know. I feel the same.

OK. So, let me ask differently. Do you remember when you were a elementary school student? Didn’t you use many expressions with your friends that your parents have no idea? I think I did. Funny thing is I cannot remember a single out of those now. So sad!

A few days ago, Jessy and I had a small talk about an expression that she heard.

Jessy : “Terry, I heard something from my friend. Do you want to know?”

Me : “Sure.. what is it?”

Jessy : “I heard my friend saying a word, booboo or bubu, but I still cannot figure out what they are exactly?”

Trust me! This happens a lot even after 5 years of living in the United States. Who says learning language is easy? Well, anyway, I started a little research about these expressions. And…. I found something very interesting.

Basically, those two expressions are the same in terms of pronunciation but they mean two very different things.

Booboo is used mainly among children or between parents and their children. It means a minor injury. Bubu, on the other hand, means two things. It means a cute and adorable bear. But in northeast of the U.S., it also means hot women.

You gotta keep this in mind. How many times do you think you will write these words? I guess probably zero. But, you can obviously speak these and, at that point, spelling does not matter and it is all context. These days, maybe little elementary school kids use this word to mean hot girls instead of minor injuries. It’s a whole different world out there compared to the world when I was a kid. Don’t you agree?

Here is a little suggestion for you. If your wife or girlfriend got a minor injury on her knee or something, you should say, “Oh, my bubu! You got a little booboo on your knee. Let me take care of it.”

11 Jul

wing it

Who taught: Seth

Just wing it (source: http://www.kikiquilts.com/)

One of the blogs I follow closely is Seth Godin’s blog. The thing I really like about his blog is that his posts are very short and concise yet they inspire me so much. Sometimes, his post is literally just five sentences but it still has impact on me. So, I strongly recommend to read his blog.

A few days ago, I was reading his post and found an interesting expression that I have never heard before. Here is his sentence.

How dare we, then, decide to just wing it?

Can you spot the expression here? It is “wing it.” If wing is a verb, as far as I know, it should mean “fly with wings.” Don’t you agree? Then, what is “it” here? Complicated… So, before we explore “it” further, let’s examine “wing” more to really feel this expression.

When you see a bird flying away from you with wings, what do you feel or think, in comparison with airplanes? Airplanes take a lot of preparations to be able to fly whereas birds just simply fly anytime and anywhere they want to fly with their wings. They seems like they do not need to even prepare anything to fly. (I don’t know they do need any sort of preparation to fly scientifically. I am just saying what we see and how we feel.)

Having said that, what would “wing it” means? It means do something (it) without any preparation. For example, you and your friend are in a classroom, talking about a quiz. You can say, “Dude, last night, I just slept and did not study anything. So, I will just wing it today.”

Seth said,

If you’re doing important work (and I’m hoping you are), then you owe it to your audience or your customers or your co-workers to learn everything you can. Feel free to ignore what you learn, but at least learn it.

Amen, Seth! I will do my best to learn it not wing it.

01 Jul

hazy and hazing

Who taught: Today show

Hazy morning (source: http://www.redbubble.com/)

Do you check weather often? How often? I usually check it at least one time per day, especially in the morning. One of the words I hear very often these days from a meteorologist is hazy. Do you know what haze is? Here is a definition for you.

an aggregation in the atmosphere of very fine, widely dispersed, solid or liquid particles, or both, giving the air an opalescent appearance that subdues colors.

It usually happens in summer morning and I kind of like it because it makes me feel kind of calm. So, till today, this has been the only definition that I know in relation to haze or hazy.

Well, of course, there is another definition. This is always hard. How come one word can mean two or more? Even worse is that they are totally different. I think ‘haze’ is a perfect example of this case.

Today, I heard a really sad news from NBC’s Today show. George Desdunes, a Cornell University sophomore, died on Feb 25, 2011. He was tied, duct-taped and forced by his friends to drink too much alcohol during a hazing ritual of a fraternity. I remember similar rituals existed in Korea when I was a college student. I have always thought why people force other people to do something, especially drinking. I do not understand at all.

Now, here is another definition of the word, haze, in this context.

to subject (freshmen, newcomers, etc.) to abusive or humiliating tricks and ridicule.

This definition tells me everything. It is ridiculous. This could be even worse than bullying. Hope this would stop soon!

I like hazy morning but hate night with hazing.