Tag Archives: brother from another mother

06 Sep

rediscovering a word series 4: waffle

Who taught: Andrew

Waffle

waffle

There have been a lot of changes in my life for the last 6 and half years.

1. I not only speak English but also think in English. Thinking in English was one of the goals I used to have to become better at speaking English.

2. I got to learn a lot of different cultures, not just American but Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern too. For example, I am now safe to say that I feel very comfortable paying tips at restaurants. When I first got here, that was not that easy to do. I felt like I was being robbed.

3. Most of all, there has been a big change in what I eat everyday. For example, I did not eat pancakes or waffles when I was in Korea. I mean I could but there were not that many places to serve those and I was not really interested in. Now? We even have a waffle maker at home. Jessy from time to time make waffles for breakfast or brunch.

Have you eaten waffles? It’s delicious especially with fruits, syrup, butter and whipped cream. So, basically, waffle is a food and literally it is everywhere in the United States.

Two days ago, I was hanging out with my brother from another mother, Andrew. I love hanging out with him. He is an inspiration. He is smart, energetic and most of all so motivated to learn and take on challenges. What an awesome guy! I am sure you would hear his name sometime in the future. Who knows? He can become the next Steve Jobs. I am very happy that I met him and became close friends with him.

As he was talking, he said “……he was waffling……..” Well, I was not sure whether I got that. So, I showed my sort of puzzled face to him. Within a second, he said, “Oh.. Do you know what waffling means? …. Let’s see. I do not even know why people started to use this word but it means basically indecisive.”

Wow…. I was surprised. Really? That means indecisive? Based on my research, this word also means “to move in a side-to-side motion before landing.”

For example, we can say, “The geese waffled as they got close to the water.”

So, from this, you can conjecture that we can use this word to mean someone being indecisive. When Jessy asks me some questions, I sometimes waffle because I am not sure what she wants me to say. You know what I mean. 🙂

Here is a task for you! Next time you eat waffle, think about this word and try to use it to mean being indecisive.

01 Dec

brother from another mother

Who taught: Andrew, Jean and Vincent

Brother from another mother (source: cheezburger.com)

Once again, it has been a while! I was in Philly to visit one of my friends during Thanksgiving weekend. How have you all been? I hope everything goes well with you. As you know, I am in Pittsburgh. Last night, it snowed. And I am sure it will continuously snow from today. That means it is officially winter here in Pittsburgh. How about where you live? Is it Winter or Summer? Either way, hope you have a great time!

Yesterday, I had dinner together with my friends. Jean said, “There is a potluck party in the company next week. I am sorry you are not invited. I wish you were also there.” (FYI, it is the company that I used to work.) Oh, have I told you about what “potluck” means? One of the things I really like in the U.S. is this culture of potluck. Here is the definition of potluck on Wikipedia.

a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group.

What do you think? It is great in a sense that the host of a party does not need to worry about food too much but, at the same time, many people can enjoy different kinds of food. This is not very typical in Korea. Every time there is a party, the host needs to prepare most of the food and it is quite challenging.

Moving on, as Jean said it, Andrew said to me something very fast so that I was not able to get it perfectly. So, I said, “What? What did you say?” “Terry, you are my brother from another mother,” said Andrew. Jean said, “The most important thing of this expression is that you need to speak very fast since it rhymes.” What does it mean? I am sure you can guess it very easily. It means:

a good friend that you have known almost your whole life. The word “brother” is used because the friend is extremely close to you to the point that he is almost like your brother–but from a different mother. (source: Urban Dictionary)

There is an expression with the same meaning in Korean. It is “불알친구 (Bul-al-Chin-Gu).” Literal translation into English is “Friend of Testicles.” Why there is testicles here? Well, when you are really really young like one year old. Who cares you wear any clothing or not. And, you and your friend have grown up together being friends from that age. Then, you can call him 불알친구. One caveat here is that this only applies to men, as you may notice. 🙂 I am not sure we have another expression for women. I do not think we have any? Hmm.. Interesting. Now, I have trouble to find Korean words. Ironic!