02 Nov

set the tone

Who taught : Andrew

Set the tone (source: shannonstanley.wordpress.com)

Have you ever played team sports such as soccer, baseball, basketball, etc? I strongly believe it is one of the best ways to learn how to collaborate with other people. One of the interesting things I have noticed by participating in team sports is that one person can make a big difference in terms of team performance.

When I was in Korea, I was in a soccer team. The team was not good at all at first but, a few months later, we were able to recruit one player who used to play soccer all the time in many of different soccer teams. He knew how to play a better soccer. As we all practiced and played together, we all got better. But ย the main reason why we were able to beat many other teams was not that he was a good player but that he had an ability to organize the whole team.

A few weeks ago, Andrew and I were talking about his ultimate frisbee team. I said, “So, how is your ultimate frisbee these days?” He said, “That is very interesting question. So….. when I first got to know about my team members, I thought the team would lose a lot because the players are not that great compared to other teams. But, we did really good and won many games.” “Why?” said I. He answered, “Interestingly, it was because of one lady. She is a good player but, more importantly, she is amazingly good at organizing the team. She basically set the tone for the team and games. We all followed her and, as a result, won the games.”

That is right! There is an expression, “set the tone.” The meaning of the expression is to establish a particular mood. Well, if you set the tone correctly, then the outcome should usually be good, I believe, just like the soccer player I mentioned earlier. But it is also possible to set the tone in a bad way. Are you a person who sets the tone? If so, you would want to set the optimistic tone. I am sure there are so many ways to set the tone. What else do we have? Do you have any good examples you have done, setting the tone? Actually, you can set the tone for your day every day? Let’s do it, shall we? Am I setting the tone here? ๐Ÿ™‚

01 Nov

candy-ass

Who taught: Jessy

Candy-ass (source: www.flickr.com)

Yesterday was Oct 31st, 2010. It was Halloween. Based on what I felt, starting from Halloween, the whole U.S. gets into the long holiday mode. They decorate houses with pumpkins and scary toys for Halloween and, in November, it turns into the Thanksgiving mode. Finally, there is a Christmas in December. Christmas decoration is the best. You should really try to be in the U.S. and see them. It is amazing.

Along with the decorations, there are certain things happening on Halloween day, such as trick-or-treating, wearing costumes, and parties. Jessy and I did not wear costumes or trick-or-treat. But, we decided to go to a haunted house with Alex and Sangeetha for the first time in our lives. It was fun and kind of scary. Jessy decided to be the last one in our group. Bad choice! (She also admitted it.) All of the scary characters in the house were following us but, since she was the last one, they basically followed her. ๐Ÿ™‚ So, if you ever go to a hunted house, try not to be the last one in your group!

Speaking of scary stuff, there is an expression I learned from Jessy. Do you know what sissy means? Last winter, when I went snowboarding, there was a friend of James who was with me. He was trying to follow me to do a big air which basically jumps over a huge jump area and flies like 10 – 20 yards. (Yes, that is what I do with my snowboard.) It really requires the guts to be able to do it. By the time we got to the starting point, he said, “Oh man! I do not think I can do it. You go ahead. I think I will be sissy this time.” Now, you can get the feeling of the word, right? It means a pejorative for a boy or man to indicate that he fails to behave according to the traditional male gender role. The expression I want to tell you today, though, is a different one. It is candy-ass. It is the same meaning to sissy. But, I like candy-ass one more. I think it is not a word or expression you would use a lot. But, try to find the proper time when you are with your male friends and use it. It will be fun. Every time you, as a non-native English speaker, use this kind of expressions to your American friends, they will be so impressed. Am I right, my American friends?

28 Oct

shove it

shove it (source: www.celebpub.com)

A few days ago, Jessy and I were watching TV and heard one expression that we all do not understand. (Not a surprise! ๐Ÿ™‚ ) By just hearing it, it sounded not really good at all. I think it was the NBC nightly news with Brian Williams. FYI, news is one of the things I really try to watch every day because they speak English very clearly and also I can learn a lot of political aspects of the United States. Anyway, one of the news that Brian mentioned was about a politician who tried to get an endorsement from Barack Obama, the president of the United States for his campaign. But, he was not able to get it.

He then got angry and told the president, “Shove it!” That was one of the news. Jessy and I started to look up the word, shove, to make sure what that means. The word, shove, means “push roughly.” For example, you are in a hurry and try to go though a big crowd to get to a place. What you are going to try is pushing people roughly so that you can get through them. In doing so, you are shoving. Then, what can “shove it” mean? Now, let’s imagine that you have something in front of you which is “it.” What will happen if you push it roughly? It will be moving away from you, right?

Moving on, what if you say this one to someone who is saying something? Then, his/her remark becomes an object that is being shoved. I believe you now get the idea of this expression. It is almost like “shut up” but I think this sounds even worse. But, to be honest, I still cannot get the correct feeling of this expression.

So, I will ask my American friends to answer my question. Which one is harsher, ‘shut up’ or ‘shove it’?

26 Oct

Really? vs for real?

Who taught : Jessy

Carnegie Mellon University (source: scholarpreps.com)

Walking around the CMU campus, I hear various languages, including English, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Japanese, etc. Not a surprise at all because there are so many international students here at CMU! But, there is also a very interesting thing I noticed among English speakers. As you all know, there are different races, White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, etc, in the U.S. When I was in Korea, I had barely seen any other races other than Asian. In this case, it is of course Korean.

According to Wikipedia, the U.S. population’s distribution by races in 2009 is as follows;

1. White : 75%

2. Hispanic : 16%

3. Black : 12.5%

4. Asian : 4.5%

As I mentioned, there is a difference between black people and white people when it comes to English. I am sure there are so many things. (If you know any, feel free to add a comment.) But, today, I would like to talk about one very simple expression.

When a person says something that is hard to believe, what would you say? I usually say, “Really?” And, most of my white American friends say the same thing. But, black people almost never use that expression. They say, “For real?” Well, there is not much difference in terms of meaning. Either way, you should be fine. But, it is very interesting to see this kind of difference. This morning, I went to a convenience store where the clerk was a black guy. He was having a conversation with a black woman and she said something hard to believe, then he quickly responded to her, saying “For real?”

This event reminded me of a conversation I had with Jessy a few days ago. Jessy and I was watching a TV show and I noticed that a black guy on the show said the expression, “For real?” As I heard that, I said to Jessy, “Did you notice that black people use ‘for real’ instead of ‘really’?” Jessy told me, “That is always the case with them. Didn’t you know that?” (FYI, Jessy has many black friends so that she knows a lot of expressions they use.)

Jessy also has a Korean friend who runs a business for which he hired a lot of black employees. As a result, he speaks English with the black people all the time. Now, he always says “For real?” instead of “Really?” So, where or with whom you speak English matters. Interesting, huh? (Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with ‘for real’ or ‘really’. It is just a difference and I think it is interesting.)

24 Oct

what pepper?

Who taught : Cannot reveal

bell peppers (source : www.defeatdiabetes.org)

Working with many different clients as an engineer, I have found that the names of servers in different companies are very interesting. For example, a company decides to use peppers for server names, such as habanero, datil, etc.

When it comes to pepper, there are many different ones, including chilli pepper, bell pepper, banana pepper and, of course, black pepper. In Korea, people are ย so familiar with hot chilli pepper. There are so many foods which have chilli peppers in it. Kimchi is a good example. I have never eaten any other peppers before I came to the United States. (But, I now love grilled peppers.) For that reason, I used to say just “pepper” in English, thinking of it as chilli pepper. There was one time I had to explain what Kimchi is to my American friend and I said, “It is basically fermented cabbage with bunch of different vegetables, such as pepper, and it is pretty spicy.” Then, he said, “Why?” I said, “It has pepper in it. That is why.” He said, “Oh… You mean hot chilli pepper? When you said just pepper, I thought you are talking about bell pepper.”

If you go grocery shopping here in the U.S., there is a vegetable section and you would be surprised by the fact that most of the peppers are bell peppers, not chilli peppers. Even though spicy foods are getting popular here, a lof of American people do not really buy chilli peppers. Thus, if you say just pepper, they would think you are talking about bell pepper or sweet pepper. Most of times, if you want to talk about hot chilli peppers, you need to be very specific. For example, jalapeno, habanero, datil, etc. If not, they would think you are talking about bell peppers.

Speaking of pepper, there is a saying in Korea. ์ž‘์€ ๊ณ ์ถ”๊ฐ€ ๋งต๋‹ค. (Jak Eun Gochu Ga Map Da.) Literal translation into English is “Small chilli peppers are spicier.” Can you guess what it means? Let me guess! Do you think this has something to do with male reproductive part? You need to get your mind out of the gutter. I do not think this has any sexual implication. This means, “Small people could be more talented and perform well.” I was trying to find an English expression which would have similar meaning. One friend, who wants to stay anonymous, told me, “Good things come in small packages.” But he also mentioned that this has sexual implication. My American friends! Is this expression always being used in a sexual context or not? I am curious.