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.

03 Aug

native American vs native to America

Who taught: Jeff

Native Americans (source: http://www.the-wild-west.co.uk/)

I am a native Korean. How does this sound to you? It sounds OK, right?

A few weeks ago, I was in a meeting with my students and Jeff, my colleague. We were talking about last year’s event that all of us were in. And, one of the people we saw there was not American or born in the U.S. Meaning that, I said, “He was not a native American.” Jeff and my students knew what I meant but, at the same time, Jeff knew something might be confusing. So, he said, “I do not think you mean he is not a native American Indian, right?”

This made me think. So, I can easily say that someone is American but there are also many people who are Americans but not born in the United States. When I think of ‘native American,’ I think of the people who are American and also born in the United States. But apparently, there are the real real native Americans who are American Indians. (This is also kind of confusing. You would not want say just Indians because there are other Indians who are from India.)

So, to make things clear, you should say he or she is native to America to mean Americans who are born in the U.S.

Remember! There are differences between native Americans and native to America and Americans. (Native Americans vs native to America vs Americans)

I can become an American later but never be able to become a native American or native to America.

Hope I do not make things more confusing!

29 Jul

want bad or want badly?

My new car, GTI

There are a few expressions that are hard to find what is correct. The problem is mostly because people speak and write them in a different way.

A few weeks ago, I was texting James.

Me: “Wanna go to a VW dealership with me to test drive GTI?”

James: “I would like to but I hurt my back yesterday.”

After I go back from a dealership,

me: “Just got back from a dealership. I loved it. Want it ______”

At this point, I had to stop typing to think a little more. Instead of saying, “I want it so much,” I wanted to say, “Want it badly.” As I was typing, it felt weird to put badly there. I think I remembered some of my friends saying, “Want it bad.”

So, I stopped and started researching about the difference. Well, you know what! Basically, either one is fine when you speak but, when you write, badly would be better. However, according to Merriam-Wbester’s Dictionary of English Usage, “bad” is a special case and sometimes acts as an adverb. That means we do not need to really care about the choice here.

We can say, “I want her bad,” or “I want her badly.”

Which one do you use mostly, bad or badly?

I think I am going to stick with badly as I used in my text to James. At the end of the day, if we can deliver what I mean to my friends, it is pretty good enough, isn’t it?

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?

22 Jul

fair weather fan

Who taught: Andrew

Pittsburgh Pirates (source: http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/)

It is definitely summer here in Pittsburgh. Very hot! How about where you are? Hope you are enjoying summer!

I think I mentioned this before. But, for the sake of this story, there is a baseball team, Pirates, in Pittsburgh. Probably, you do not know the team very well. Usually, they are not that good. During the last five years, they have been usually the second from the last in the rankings. Guess what? This year, they have been # 1 or # 2 in Central of National League of MLB. What a great feeling to have? They are now even talking about the possibility of Pirates being in the playoff. Here is an expression that you might hear in the U.S. if you are a baseball fan. 500 mark! So, MLB measures each team’s winning percentage. And, if it is greater than .500 which means the team has won more than half of the games it has played, then the team is over 500 mark. People really say five hundred which is kind of weird because it should be ‘point’ five hundred.

Well, anyway, a few days ago, I tweeted as follows.

For the last five years, Pirates have never been this good. They are no 1 in central of National League of MLB. Time to go to PNC Park soon.

And, Andrew replied, saying “Fair weather fan!”

At first, nothing made sense. I was talking about baseball and, all of a sudden, he was talking about weather. Well, I had to look it up. As I expected, it is not the way to depict weather and has nothing to do with weather. In this expression, ‘fair weather’ simply means when things are going well. As a result, fair weather fan means a fan of a sports team who shows support when the team is doing well.

In my defense, I have supported Pirates when they were doing not well. How can I prove? I bought a few hats and t-shirts and have gone to games even though they lost every time I went.

Let’s go Bucs! Oh, Bucs means Pirates for people in Pittsburgh. 🙂

My question to American friends : Can I use this for a situation that is not related with sports?