Tag Archives: andrew

02 Aug

on your left

Who taught : Andrew and Stacy

PMS

Have I told you that Jessy is watching “Everybody Loves Raymond” show almost everyday these days. The only reason she bought this show was because it was the cheapest. But, as we watch together, we find that it is quite entertaining. When I was in Korea, I thought there is no tension between wife and husband’s mother (her mother-in-law) in America. But, watching the show, I realized that there is in America. I do not think it is as much as the one in Korea. This show has very funny stories about the tension. I would recommend you to watch this show. The tension between wife and her mother-in-law in Korea is pretty severe and, sometimes, it could become out of control and I do think people even get divorced due to this. Well, anyway, we were watching one episode this evening in which Raymond and Debra fight. In the middle of fighting, she said, “You think this is because of PMS.” Well, do you know what it is? It stands for premenstrual syndrome. And here is the full definition of it on wikipedia.

a collection of physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms related to a woman’s menstrual cycle.

Urban dictionary says it is basically men’s nightmare. Well, I guess it is good to know the expression as well as the syndrome. In the episode, Raymond was not good at reacting to Debra and that is why they were fighting. What is a man supposed to do when a woman is going through PMS every month?

Are there any other similar expressions?

Having a lunch together with Andrew and Stacy today, we talked about the situation that you find yourself in the middle of a race. What is happening is runners or bikers tell you something if you are in front of them and blocking them from their path. For example, imagine that you are walking on a narrow road and there is a runner behind you, she/he will shout to you like, “On your left!” if she/he wants to go through your left side. So, then which way should you move aside? It is easy, right? To the right! But, when it comes to the time that it really happens to you, it is hard to figure our and react quickly. This is one small cultural difference between America and Korea. In Korea, runners or bikers would not tell you anything and they will just pass by you any side they want to take.

So, if you are in America, you gotta have a good sense of direction, especially to right or left, when you walk on a road. ๐Ÿ™‚ I am pretty sure you would have a hard time to figure out which side is right or left in English if things happen so fast.

26 Jul

black sheep

Who taught : Andrew, Jean and Kara

Today, let’s discuss about some of the expressions used for describing some irresponsible or bad guys.

<Situation 1>

Black sheep and White sheep

You are a member of blue blood family and have one sister and one brother. Your sister and brother have been always good and study hard. She is a professor and he is a doctor. Now, you have been always slacking and did not work hard and now are a pizza delivery guy (No offense to delivery guys!).

Now, what are you? Yup! You are the black sheep in your family.Why? You know! Generally speaking, sheep are white and if you have a black one, then it stands out from the flock. But I guess color is an important factor here. If all of the other sheep are black and there is a white one. Then, theย  white sheep would mean the best one in the flock, not a bad one?? Just my two cents!

So, again, you do not want to be a black sheep at all unless if you do not mind that life at all.

<Situation 2>

Let me think! Hmm…. what would be a good example for you? OK.. so.. You are single and have one friend who has such a lovely beautiful girlfriend. And, one day, you are hanging out with them and other friends. As you drink more and more, you got drunk and started to flirt with your friend’s girlfriend, without realizing all of your friends are watching you.

So, now, what are you? In this case, you are douchebag. I am very curious why American people decided to use this word to describe a person who is jerk.

Based on Wikipedia, douche is a device used to introduce a stream of water into the body for medical or hygienic reasons, or the stream of water itself. It usually refers to vaginal irrigation , the rinsing of the vagina, but it can also refer to the rinsing of any body cavity.

And, a douchebag is of course a bag to be used for this purpose. Then, why is this word used for describing a person? There is no good connection, I think. Does anybody know it?

21 Jul

peach fuzz

Who taught: Jake, Carol, Kara, Mark, Patrick, Angela, Stan, Alex and Andrew.

Last Friday, Andrew, Jake, Angela, Stan, Alex and I were having lunch together. Angela used to live in New York City area and, more specifically, her place was in New Jersey. Her house was on the second floor and there was a hair weave place on the first floor of the house. Do you know what the weave is? Here is the definition for you I found from the Wikipedia.

a very general term used to describe human or artificial hair used to alter one’s natural hair appearance by adding additional hair to their natural hair or by covering the natural hair all together with human or synthetic hair pieces.

I think I saw a lot of African American women try to have this weave. One thing I am curious is that how they can maintain or wash the weft hair. It would be really hard to wash regularly.

Speaking of washing hair, on our way to a restaurant this evening with my friends, Mark and Jake taught me one expression that some of the women would use when they would like to say no to some sort of asking from a guy or her friends. Supposed that Jessy, my wife, is a single and a guy asked her out and she really does not want to say straightforwardly no to him, then what she can say to him is “Oh… that is sweet but I am sorry. Tonight, I need to wash my hair.”

Mark and Jake told me it is an expression that WOMEN (maybe men with long hair) can use and it is politer than just saying no. Then, I thought that it is harsher than just saying no. What do you think?

peach fuzz

In relation to hair story, there is another expression I learned in the restaurant today from my friends. During dinner, we ended up talking about some women with bunch of different body hair, especially hair on face.

Do you know what you can use to describe bunch of short hairs on face? Jake said, “peach fuzz.” So, I just wrote that down on my iPhone. But, here is the thing!! So, I looked that expression up in the Urban Dictionary. And…… look what I found here. Jake!!! Can I really use ‘peach fuzz’ for short hairs on face? It sounds dirty. ๐Ÿ™‚

15 Jul

bumping uglies

Who taught : Andrew

Wow! My blog is featured in this blog, READABLE BLOG, and the author, Clarissa, said that I am a great example of an enthusiastic language learner who likes thinking about language. I don’t know what to say. Thank you!

Two days ago, Andrew asked me a question. “Terry, do you know what ‘bumping uglies’ means?” I was thinking and thinking….. but cannot even guess what it means. “So, uglies mean something really bad?” I asked. He said, “No, they are not bad. Actually, they could be good.” I tried a few things but I was not even get closer at all. Then, he showed me some actions to describe the expression. Then, I got it. Can you guess? Tell you what! If your mind is in the gutter, you would be able to guess but people like me cannot at all. You know, innocent people! ๐Ÿ™‚ (Andrew, I am not saying your mind is in the gutter because you are American and you already know what it means.) Simply, it means “sex.” I was trying to find out its origin but was not successful. Some people say a rapper started to use it as an euphemism for sex. But I cannot buy it. (For some people who would not know ‘buy’ means here, it is the same as ‘believe’. So, I am saying I cannot believe it.)

To be honest, I kind of like this expression. It sounds very funny and cute, doesn’t it? I mean I can understand why there is ‘bumping’ but selection of ‘uglies’ is quite interesting here, representing reproductive organs. Why not bumping beauties or bumping things? And, if I say just ‘uglies’ in a sexual context, would people connect them as the organs? Always curious about the expression!! I have to say. Writing this blog is so much more fun than I thought it would be. Any non-native English speaker should try it. You will learn a lot more and faster. I guarantee!

14 Jul

haircut

Who taught: Andrew, Stan and Kara

Where it would be useful : hair salon

Mullet haircut

Yesterday, I went to a hair salon to get my hair cut. Price of haircut in America is pretty high compared to that of Korea. I used to pay around 8 – 10 dollars for my haircut in Korea. Here in America, it is around 25 dollars and that does not include tips. (This could go up way higher in other cities such as New York or San Francisco.) So, every time I get my hair cut, I need to pay around 30 dollars. To save money, I always get very short hair cut and let it grow for a while like 5 – 6 months. On average, I go to the hair salon around 3 times per year.

This morning, Andrew noticed that I got a haircut. “Hey, T-Bone! You got a haircut.” I answered, “Yeah! What do you think?” “Hmm… It looks like boy’s haircut. Too short!” said Andrew. I said, “Well, it is summer. And it was pretty long. Can you notice a line created by tanned part and untanned part due to the long hair in my back.” Andrew responded, “Why? Did you have a mullet hair style?”

Here, I had to ask, “What is that hair style?” Then, Stan showed me how that hair style looks like using his long hair.

Here is the definition of that hair style.

a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back.

Emo haircut

Andrew said, “It is also called ‘business in the front, party in the back’.” Isn’t that funny? Speaking of hair style, there is another one I learned from Kara. It is emo style. Emo itself is a style of rock music but it is different from the classic rock. Then, let’s think about the hair style all of the rock singers usually have. It is long, right? So, emo style is kind of long but a little different. Its look includes long side-swept bangs, sometimes covering one or both eyes. Well, you need to see the picture I am inserting here to have proper idea about it.

When you go to a hair salon, there are two equipment stylists use a lot. They are scissors and what? In Korea, I used to call it ๋ฐ”๋ฆฌ๊นก(Ba-Ri-Ggang). Do you know why we call it Ba-Ri-Ggang? It is actually not from English but from French, sort of. The name of the French company which makes this equipment is “Bariquant de Marre.” The first part of the name is “Bariquant.” I do not know who first started to call it following its company name. But, interestingly, if you say Ba-Ri-Ggang in Korea, everybody understands what is means.

Well, so if you had a chance to get your hair cut in America and you do not want your stylist to use Ba-Ri-Ggang, you should say, “Please do not use hair clipper to cut the sides! I want you to use scissors instead.” These kind of expressions seems not really important to know but you could easily find out that you wish you already know these before you actually go into a hair salon to get a better haircut. Funny, isn’t it?

I am pretty sure there must be a lot more expressions related with haircut. Do you know any?