Category Archives: From media

22 Jun

sterilization

Who taught: Scott Pelley

Sterilization (source: http://www.babble.com/)

My daily life is pretty much a routine. Sounds boring? Well, but I like everything being organized and do not like to see something unexpected. And, one of the things I do almost every day is watching NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News. It is a great way to listen to English as well as to learn what is happening now in the world.

Today, I learned a total new meaning of this word, sterilization. To me, this word has simply one definition as follows.

to destroy microorganisms in or on, usually by bringing to a high temperature with steam, dry heat, or boiling liquid.

This sounds very good and I sort of liked this word even though I do not have many chances to use it. Now, let me ask this question to you, my non-native English speaker friends? Do you know any other definitions of this word than this? As I said, till today, I thought this word has only this definition above.

As I watch today’s CBS Evening News, they used this word saying, “A sterilization victim in North Carolina.” I did not understand at all. What kind of victim would there be with sterilization, meaning the definition above? NC state put people into a huge room where the temperature was too high so that the people were burn? As I listened more, I was able to realize that it must mean something else and that must be related with having a baby.

So, I looked it up and found a total new definition.

to destroy the ability of (a person or animal) to reproduce by removing the sex organs or inhibiting their functions.

OMG! How could that kind of thing happen by the order of government? Here is a little history lesson for you in relation to this type of sterilization happened in the U.S. between 1920’s and 1970’s.

I would have never imagined that this kind of acts existed in the U.S. Maybe, it is time for me to study American history.

14 Jun

bombshell


 

Watching TV in the U.S. requires a lot of patience. Why? there are so many advertisements. Watching those advertisements in the middle of shows is annoying unless those ads are either funny or sexy. A few weeks ago, I was watching TV and there was a sexy ad. 🙂 It was a Victoria’s Secret ad. I assume you all know what Victoria’s Secret is. (Just in case, here is the url of the company, http://www.victoriassecret.com/)

In the ad, it started with “Hello Bombshell.” You guys all know how I am. I do not know any kind of slangs that are related to women. So, it is not surprising that I did not know what bombshell means. So, I asked Jessy. She knew and told me what that means. But, I did not get it. I asked to her and myself. Why does it mean that?

My non-native English speaker friends! Do you know what it means? It means an outrageously & exotically beautiful or attractive female. It is usually a blonde.

Again, why bombshell means those females. As we may know, bomb+shell is a bomb or artillery shell designed to explode on impact, right? Eventually, it could kill people. In that sense, in Korea, if someone says a lady is a bomb or bombshell, that means she is so ugly that she could kill men by just showing up.

Very interestingly, on the other side of the earth, here in the U.S., it means totally opposite. My guess is that bombshell in the U.S. just means something that is very surprising, shocking and eventually amazing or sensational.

If I did not know what bombshell means in Korea, it would have been a lot easier for me to understand what it means in the U.S.

Anyway, there are so many bombshells in Korea and in the U.S. (Which bombshell? Well, no comment.)

27 May

jump through the hoops


 

Do you know OneRepublic? It is a rock band and I love it. My favorite song is this song called Good Life. Rhythm and lyrics are all great. If you listen to the song, you will hear the following line.

The hope is we have so much to feel good about.

What a great hope to have. We indeed do have so much to feel good about. The day we have today is amazing and cannot waste any second of it. Hope your day is great so far and be that way all the way. Even though it is not, hey… look at the bright side. Then, you will find so much for you to feel good about.

Today, I would like to share one expression that I hear very often these days. Almost every time I watch TV, I hear this one for some reason.

It is “Jump through the hoops.”

Let’s try to feel the expression as I always do! So, it is not one hoop but hoops which could be 10 or 20 or even more. Now, if you are the one who is going through 30 hoops continuously. How would you feel? Man, that would be tiring, right? Would you do it? I don’t think so. Now, what if I say, if you finish jumping or going through 30 hoops, I will wait for you in front of the last hoop to give you $1,000. Would you do it? Oh, yeah, I am sure you would do it. That is how I feel this expression. The definition of the expression is “to do a lot of extra things so you can have or do something you want.”

I was not able to find the origin of the expression but a lot of people assume that this expression should come from circus where animals are jumping through hoops to entertain people and they do get some treatment once they successfully finish it. Sounds correct to me! What do you think?

As a home owner, I feel like finding a good contractor requires jumping through a lot of hoops. What else would be a good example? Can you share some with us?

I am sure we will all have a lot of things to jump through the hoops in our lives but it is and will be a good life as long as you think it is. Everything in life depends on what we think it is, not what it is.

24 May

not a chance vs fat chance


 

Every year, there is a Super Bowl party that I attend. It is great and fun to watch the game with friends, eating food. But, what makes Super Bowl party even more fun? They are Super Bowl ads.

One of the funniest ad during 2011 Super Bowl game was Pepsi MAX. Pay attention to what the woman is saying as you watch, not the guy’s part.

She said, “Not a chance!” What does it mean? Ha.. Am I joking here? We all know what that means. It simply means “impossible or don’t even think about it.”

OK! How about this expression, fat chance? Can you guess? Assuming that you do not know or have never heard of it, it sounds like something has a lot of chance which is exactly opposite to ‘not a chance.” Don’t you agree?

About three days ago, I stumbled upon an article where I saw this expression. Since I have never heard of it before, I thought the expression means a lot of chance but then the context does not make sense at all. I was scratching my head. “This cannot be correct.” So, I had to look it up. Then, there was a surprise! You know what! It has the same meaning to ‘not a chance.’ Then, I was like, “That does not make sense at all. I’ve heard of a similar expression from my friends. They say fat lie or big fat lie which means a serious lie or the worst lie. Why? This fat chance is different.”

So, I researched a little more and it turns out whoever used this expression first used it sarcastically. That is why this expression is different from fat lie.

Another similar expression is slim chance. But, this one has a little different feeling. Slim chance suggests that there could be a chance but fat chance means there is no chance at all. So, once again, you should be able to feel these expressions and also it is important to show that your are being sort of sarcastic when you use ‘fat chance’ in your conversations which is tricky. Good luck!

31 Mar

couch surfing and muffin top

Who taught : Jessy

muffin top (source: http://everythingarie.wordpress.com/)

Hello, my friends! Where are you now? I am not just asking whether you are at home, office, or somewhere else. I am asking where you are sitting in. Are you in your chair or couch?

When Jessy and I moved into the current apartment one and half years ago, we decided to buy a sofa. It is pretty long one. Ever since that time, we have spent a lot of time in the sofa, reading, watching TV, talking, eating and sometimes sleeping. Don’t you think we, people, do spend long hours in sofa, or couch, doing a lot of things? I am glad that I invested a little bit more money for the sofa than I usually spend on things. I now strongly believe it’s worth it.

A few months ago, we were sitting in the sofa as usual and Jessy asked me a question, “Hey! Do you know what ‘muffin top’ means?” “You are not talking about the top of a muffin, are you?” said I. And she said, “Of course not! It is an expression.” It was hard for me to come up with the meaning of it. She said, “It is the fat that are pushed out at the top of one’s pants. Mainly when people wear tight jeans.” “Huh! What a great one! That is awesome,” said I.

And, a few days ago, watching NBC Nightly news, I heard Brian Williams was talking about new expressions that were newly added into Oxford English Dictionary. Do you know what is one of them? That’s right. It is muffin top. Are you curious what else were added?

1. OMG (Oh My God!)

2. FYI (For Your Information!)

3. LOL (Laugh Out Loud)

4. couch surfing (?????)

This number 4 was new to me. What the hack is couch surfing? Is it like people physically trying to surf on couch for fun or what? So, I looked it up and Urban Dictionary says….

A cheap form of lodging used mainly by college-students or recent college-grads, where one stays on acquaintance’s couches rather than a hotel.

Have you ever done couch surfing? Why is it surfing? Shouldn’t it be like couch lodging or couch settling?

The world is continuously changing. There are new words and old words. They are coming and going. You should keep abreast of those new expressions. In that sense, Oxford Dictionary is way slower than Urban Dictionary. 🙂

By the way, today’s post is 200th one. I feel like I hit a milestone. It took me one year and one month to reach 200th. At this time, I would like to thank you for your support and help, my friends. Hope I can really help your English and to see you more often here! Have a great day!