Category Archives: From media

21 Jan

my knee’s been singing all day

Who taught : Manny

Pittsburgh’s winter must be really great for kids. Why? Schools are closed many times due to heavy snow and icy rain. Yesterday, we got snow again and schools are closed today. Not really good thing for parents at all. They need to figure out how to take care of kids and work.

I have to be honest. As much as I like PGH, I do not like this heavy snow at all. I know it sounds weird. But really hope one day PGH had mild winter! Maybe next year?

Speaking of weather, let me ask you a question. Do you feel a lot of pains during bad weather? Like in your back or ankle. Back in Korea, my mother used to say, “Looks like it is going to rain tomorrow. I have a lot of pains in my shoulders.” She was usually right. I am not sure whether this is scientifically true or not. Does anyone know?

A few weeks ago, I was watching a TV show, Modern Family. It is one of my favorite shows. So hilarious. Every episode is also very short like less than 30 mins. In the episode I watched, Manny who is a kid but acts like an adult used a very interesting expression. He said, “Do you think it is going to rain? I think it is because my knee’s been singing all day.” It was very interesting that he used a verb “sing” to describe that he has been feeling pains on his knee. Is it typical or is it just his way of speaking? I honestly do not know. Does anyone know? Or do you say in the same way?

A few weeks ago, I got injured on my knee, playing soccer, and I now feel pains. Not sure it is because of bad weather or my getting older. 🙂 The thing is I need to walk to the school today. Oh…. no!

18 Jan

poser

Who taught : Pat, Rachel, Phil, Kelly, Lauren and Sean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Source: Wikipedia)

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr birthday. It is one of the national holidays. 48 years ago, he made “I have a dream” speech. Here is the part of it.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day out on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat and injustice of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

48 years later, I see a lot of things he mentioned in his speech actually happening even though there are still many steps to go. Isn’t amazing? One man can make a difference. One man who has a dream can make a big difference. I am sure all of us can be the man. Let’s have a dream, a big dream! It will come true.

A few weeks ago, I was with my friends. And we were talking about some people. During the conversation, Lauren used a word, “poser.” Hearing it, I sort of figured out that it has negative connotation. If you look up a dictionary, I am sure you will find the following definition.

A person who poses.

Huh! What the heck? It does not help at all. Anybody can pose, right? So, this is not usually the meaning of the expression when you hear this expression from your American friends. Here is the meaning my friends told me.

A person who likes to be seen in trendsetting clothesin fashionable bars, discos, etc.

A person who attempts to blend into a specific social group.

My friends tried to give me good examples and they said a skateboarder or a snowboarder can be a poser. (FYI, I am a snowboarder. 🙂 ) I think this expression is kind of hard to fully grasp and use it. Hey, my American friends! Do you have any other thoughts or examples to give in relation to Poser?

12 Jan

brewski

Who taught : Holt (From Parenthood)

Parenthood (source: Wikipedia)

Gooder, More good, More big, More bigger, more happy

What are these? Well, as you can see, these are all wrong expressions. One of the difficult things in English is to use “more” or “-er” properly as the comparative form of adjectives. You may get away from mistakes with the comparative form in writing. But, it is easy to make a mistake when you speak. To refresh your memory, let me explain how to use the comparative form of adjectives correctly.

1. One syllable words form the comparative by adding -er or -est. (e.g : braver)

2. Two syllable words that end in -y, -le, and -er form the comparative by adding -er or -est (e.g  : happier, cleverer)

3. Words with more than two syllables form the comparative with more or most (e.g : more important, more beautiful)

Whenever I make mistakes with these, I feel like I am so dumb. I mean, this is one of the things I have seen in my English exams so many times. Yet, I still make mistakes, especially when I speak.

But, I would say, “Do not worry about it too much.” All of my friends understand what I am saying and, in fact, I have heard Americans using this in a wrong way too. Also, in a commercial that I have seen, they also use the expression, gooder, instead of better. It is too obvious that they use it intentionally but my point is everybody understands what it means. Many times, non-native English speakers are afraid of speaking English, worrying about making mistakes. Thus, they do not want to mingle with native English speakers. I would say, “Be brave! Go out and speak English as much as you can. That is the shortcut for you to get better and better in English.”

One of the TV shows I really love to watch these days is Parenthood. I would strongly recommend it. Its stories are about love and conflicts between parents and children. It is very touching. In last week’s episode, Drew Holt’s friend used one expression that caught my attention. He said, “Let’s have some brewskis.” From the context, I was able to figure out what brewski is. Also, if you know what brewery is, you would be able to figure out what brewski is. That is right. It means beer. According to what I found, one Canadian guy started to use this expression and became popular. But, I am not sure that is correct or not.

Having said that, here is today’s challenge for you! Why don’t you go to your American friend and say, “Hey dude! Do you wanna have some brewskis today?” And when you hang out with him/her, talk about how hard the comparative form in English is and ask some tips. Once again, to be able to get better and better in anything in the world, you have to be proactive and practice. It will get better slowly but be patient. Good luck!

10 Jan

drag your feet

Who taught: Al, Carl and Obama

refreshment room? (source: http://www.freefoto.com/)

Yesterday, at my church, Al talked about one word that I have known for a while. He was announcing an event and he said, “There will be refreshment after the event.” I am sure you know what the refreshment is here in this context. Just for those of you who might not know, it is light snack or drink provided at a public event. Al also talked about what are the things that can refresh your spirit or body. Well, yesterday, we sang songs and prayed. They were definitely very refreshing and I was so refreshed. As I think of this way, I got to really like the word, refreshment. You know what I thought about? I thought about the person who used this word to mean light snack or drink for the first time. I imagine that he/she had food like fruit and water after a long work or talk, then he/she said, “This food and drink are very refreshing. Really, these are refreshments for me. Let’s call these food refreshments from now on, shall we?” What do you think? I am very sure that is what happened and from that moment people started to call those food refreshments. I love this word a lot because we all need refreshments from time to time. Not just from food. It could be fresh air in the morning or everything depending on how you think. Hope you all find a lot of refreshments today and in your life.

A few weeks ago, I was watching news and President Obama was talking about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy. For your information, here is what DADT is.

the policy restricting the United States Military from efforts to discover or reveal the sexuality of closeted homosexual or bisexual servicemembers or applicants, while barring those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service. (source : Wikipedia)

More specifically, he was talking about a bill that was passed to repeal DADT. Even though the bill was passed, there are still procedures to be done to make it effective. In the interview, he said, “We will not drag our feet here.” As soon as I heard that, I remembered that Carl used the expression when he and I had meetings with customers in almost same way. Whenever I hear the word, drag, I think of computer mouse. I am sure you have a mouse and drag it every day, don’t you? Now, what if you think there is your feet on your desk and you drag your feet just like you drag your mouse. How would you feel? It feels very slow and just something that you do not want to do so that you intentionally do something very slow. Here is my famous question! CAN YOU FEEL IT? 🙂

Here is another challenge for you in 2011! Let’s not drag our feet and be proactive! You know what! If you do that, then you yourself could be refreshment to others. Excited? I am excited.

03 Jan

Cul De Sac

Cul-de-sac (source: http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/)

Happy new year, my friends! It is 2011. A new decade is ahead of us. I have a feeling that this year will be amazing for you and me. 2010 was also awesome for me. There were so many great things happened to me. One of them is of course this blog. In 2010, I started to write this blog in March and had written 172 posts. Thank you for your help and support, my friends and readers! Please feel free to write any comment, ask and answer questions! I am looking forward to continuously learning and hearing from you in 2011.

Hey, what are your new year’s resolutions? I am sure that one of them is Learning English or getting better in English if you are not non-native English speakers. Am I right? That is also one of mine. If not, you better rethink yours again to have a plan to be better in English. Without specific goals, you cannot achieve a single thing in the world. How about read my blog and add comment every time there is a new post? 🙂 I am sure it will help you. Don’t be shy! You can do it!

This year is the 10th year of my marriage. To celebrate, I have decided to buy a house. For the last 2 weeks, I have been searching for houses on the Internet and hired my real estate agent to see a few houses. Oh, here is one thing I learned related with buying a house in the U.S. To be able to see houses that are in the market, you need a real estate agent. Without them, you cannot see houses. Also, you need to be pre-approved by a mortgage-broker. Well, it is kind of complicated and I am still learning those things. But, I will get back to you about buying a house once I finalized buying one.

Looking for houses on the Internet, I found a new expression, Cul-De-Sac. A few houses put this word in descriptions.

It is located on convenient location and quiet Cul-De-Sac.

Cul-De-Sac literally means “bottom of bag” in French. Now, if you think the shape of a bag and imagine that is a road. What can you imagine? Yes, there is no through road at the end of the road. Instead, there is a round shape of dead end and there are a few houses around the round shape area. As you may imagine, it is good because there are no cars passing by and thus it is very quiet.

You would definitely want to have those kinds of houses or anything not located close to any major roads. Do you know why? I would say it is because of ambulances. They make really really loud sounds as they pass by. You would have hard time sleeping. 🙂

Now, can you pronounce Cul-De-Sac properly? Here is today’s task for you! Why don’t you find out how to pronounce this correctly by searching or asking your friends? I would recommend to ask your friends. Good luck!

Once again, happy new year!

PS: I don’t know why. But I have a bad feeling that cul-de-sac could mean something else, something bad. Am I right, my friends? Hope not!