Tag Archives: jake

06 Jan

muffler vs scarf

Who taught: Jake and John

Scarf handmade by my mother-in-law

My in-laws have been staying with me in the U.S. for about 3 and half months. My mother-in-law is a great cook when it comes to Korean food. Jessy and I have been enjoying a lot of good authentic Korean foods. She is also very good at knitting. A few days ago, I bought her one pound yarn and needles. In just two days, she had finished knitting one thing for me. It is a scarf. Actually, I am wearing it now. It is so warm that I can even feel her love.

Anyway, when I first saw the scarf. I was wondering… wondering about the correct English word for it. In Korean, it is 목도리(Mok-Do-Ree). And, people in Korea also call it muffler. They also use another English word, scarf. But, when Korean people say a scarf, it usually means a thing that is worn mostly by women and made of silk.

Influenced by this memory, I decided to use muffler instead of scarf when I uploaded the picture of it on my twitter and facebook. Not long after I put the picture along with the caption, “My mother-in-law made me a beautiful muffler. I love it,” on my twitter, Jake replied, asking whether I mean a muffler on a car. Jake meant to ask whether my mother-in-law made a part of a motor vehicle’s exhaust system, serving to muffle the sound of the vehicle, for me. Well, that would be so great if she could really make a new muffler in that sense. I will definitely put it on my car.

About 5 seconds later, John also replied to me on twitter, saying “A muffler belongs on a car. That looks like a scarf to me.” So, my conclusion from these replies is that people in the U.S. do not use muffler to mean scarf at all.

The thing that makes me still confused is that one of the definitions of muffler is a synonym of scarf. If you cannot believe it, google it.

So, what is happening? Do you guys think Jake and John are correct? Or, do you still say a muffler to mean a scarf? If not, come on….. I will make a complaint to all of the dictionaries to remove the definition. It is so confusing. Don’t you think, my non-native English friends? No fair!

22 Dec

party pooper

Who taught: Carol, Jake and Flula

Party pooper! What do you think it means? We know that pooping means defecating. A pooper then should mean someone who poops. Having said that, we can guess that a party pooper would mean someone poops at parties.

Stop right here! And, watch this embedded video here before you proceed.

I am so happy seeing this German guy whose name is Flula. Look at his face! He is like, “What the heck! I do not understand.” I can feel what he feels. Don’t you agree, my non-native English speaking friends? Look at his facial expression! Man, all I can say is “misery loves company.”

However, we cannot just complain about new expressions. Time to learn and make this expression ours!

So, have you ever gone to a party? What? You are a party animal? Oh! I am sorry. Then, I should ask differently. How many parties have you ever gone to? Maybe you cannot even count because there have been so many. 🙂 Good for you! You should mingle and socialize.

Let me then ask this question! Have you seen any person who ruins the mood of a party? There it is. That person is a party pooper.

The other day, when my friends and I talked about this expression and Jake said that there is another similar expression. You can call a person who ruins any fun or joy a “killjoy.”

For example, if someone does not want to play a specific game that everyone else wants to play, then he/she is either a party popper or a killjoy.

Are you a killjoy? Hope not! Also, when you poop at a party that you are going in this holiday season, close the restroom door. 🙂 People are watching you.

P.S.: My friends, I have a question. What kind of actions are considered to be party pooping or killing joy?

30 Aug

gullible

Who taught: Dexter and Jake

Gulls (source: http://animals.howstuffworks.com/)

I believe in people, especially my friends. How about you?

One of the caveats of believing friends too much is that they can trick me so easily. One time Jake and I hang out, he pointed out a part of the ceiling of the restaurant with his finger, saying “Look! There is some letter written on the ceiling.” I looked at it but could not find it. He continued to say it again and again and I still tried to find the letter.

After a few tries, I realized that something must be wrong, looking back at him. He started to smile, saying “Oh, T-bone! I like you. You are so gullible.”

What is gullible? Here is the definition.

Easily deceived of cheated.

Looking at the word, gullible, you might be able to guess that this is from another word, “gull,” right?

What is gull, then? Gull mainly means two things. First, it means any aquatic bird of the genus Larus  and related genera, such asL. canus. For your reference, I inserted a photo of it. I am not sure about the U.S. but, in Korea, people believe that gulls are kind of representative of cheating. Having this impression, let me tell you another definition of gull. Gull, as a verb, means “deceive or cheat.” Perfect, right?

Why don’t you try this? Gulls are almost everywhere these days, especially where there is a river or beach. So, when you see them next time, why don’t you try to trick your friends and, as you got them, say this, “Oh man! You are so gullible.”

Good luck! Hope they are as gullible as I am!

11 May

neighbor vs neighborhood

Who taught: Jake

 

Neighborhood (source: http://www.websiteneighbors.com/)

Yesterday evening, there was a farewell party for Carol because it was her last day at her current work. She will be starting her new chapter in her life as a Rails developer of a new startup. (For those of you who are not familiar with Rails, simply speaking, it is a programming language that is used to create a new web site or application such as Twitter.)

 

You know what is the most fun part of being a software developer or engineer? You get to see a cool or ugly stuff right away in front of your eyes. Anything you develop does not tell a lie. If there is any problem in your code, it complains. If everything is fine, even though this does not guarantee it is perfect, it at least shows a happy face. There is no poker face in your code. Not everything in life is in this way.

Anyway, Carol! Good luck and congratulations again!

As I was talking to Jake in the party, we talked about my new house. And, Kara was with us while we were talking about the house. She actually lives in the same neighborhood where my new house is.

Did you notice that I used ‘neighborhood’ here? When I write, I can find a correct word but, yesterday, I said, “Kara! Finally, we live in the same neighbor.”

As Jake heard this, he said, “Terry. You should say ‘neighborhood’ instead of neighbor. Neighbor means a person or people who live right next to your house. It could be on your righthand side or lefthand side. Or, front or back. They are your neighbors.”

So, that means I cannot have a lot of neighbors unless they have a huge family with a huge house. 🙂 This is another case where I can write correctly but I make mistakes all the time when I speak. I just forget to add “hood” at the end.

Why? I think it is because of culture. In Korea, when I say a Korean word, “이웃(Yi-Ut),” it could cover many people who live in the same neighborhood. Korean people have a tendency to maintain very tight relationships with their neighbors. There is a Korean saying in this context, “이웃사촌(Yi-Ut-Sa-Chon).” Literal translation into English is “neighbor cousin,” meaning neighbors are like cousins or even closer than your cousins.

So, here is my conclusion that I would like to think of when it comes to the comparison of neighbor and neighborhood. I will think of a person or people when I think of the word, neighbor, whereas I will think of area or land when I need to think of neighborhood.

Better way to remember these two words correctly is asking these questions to myself all the time to train my brain.

Where is your neighborhood? vs. Who are your neighbors? Can you feel it?

28 Apr

stud

Who taught: Jake

Stud earrings (source: http://www.diamonds-earring.net/)

Do you know types or designs of earrings? I bet there are many different designs. Do I know them? Not at all. Should I know? Probably!

A few weeks ago, I learned one type of earrings from Jake. It is stud. How does it look like? It is hard to explain. Please refer to the image here in this post. One thing I know is that stud earrings are not the ones that are dangling and, if any man wears earrings, chances are he is wearing stud ones.

Well, Jake did not really talk about earrings with me. I mean,,, why would he and I talk about earrings?

So, what happened is that he used “stud” in his sentence and I did not get it. I said, “What? Stud? What is it?” From the context I gave you so far, can you guess why he used stud? Once again, we did not talk about earrings at all. I am sure you cannot guess at all.

He used stud to mean a good looking guy or a guy who is popular among ladies. I think he was saying, “Terry, you are a stud.” He said something good about me and I did not get it. How poor am I? 🙂

Since I asked what stud means, he tried to explain it to me. He said stud is a type of earrings and it also means a male animal that is very desirable for breeding, especially a racehorse.

My guess is that, at some point in farms, people started to use stud to mean a good looking guy because it means a male racehorse that is very good for breeding. After all, man is a male animal.

So… how about you? Are you a stud?

You think you are? Then, I have an idea. Why don’t you wear stud earrings? That could make you look even studder. (Wait! Is studder even a word?) 🙂