Tag Archives: jean

28 Jun

let’s talk about talk!

Who taught: Andrew, Jake, Carol, Pat and Jean

Last week, I went to a bar near my office to have dinner together with my friends. Andrew asked me, “Hey T-Bone! Do you know what small talk is?” Due to that question, we started to talk about a few different expressions in which we can find “talk.”

Reggie Miller

1. small talk

1) Definition (Urban Dict) : Useless and unnecessary conversation attempted to fill the silence in an awkward situation.

2) Example: We all agreed that weather is the most common example of small talk. Jake also said, “You can break the ice by small talk.”

As I think about it, we do a lot of small talks with coworkers/friends, right? What is your main topic for small talk?

2. pillow talk

1) Definition (Urban Dict) :  The conversation that happens after making out/sex. It’s infinitely better than normal conversation because there’s touching involved.

There were some disagreements, though, about whether there should be sex or not to become a pillow talk. I am not sure. What do you think? Also, does it really require a pillow or pillows?

3. trash talk

1) Definition (Urban Dict) : In the course of a competitive situation, putting down your opponent verbally or saying how good you think you are, often, involving talk of moms or sisters.

Andrew told me that this talk usually happens during sports games such as basketball. He also told me that Reggie Miller is considered as the best trash talker. I found one good example from the Urban Dictionary.

I’m so fast you couldn’t see me with a telescope

To be a very effective trash talk, you should find a sentence that is really mentally bothering your opponent.

What is your best trash talk?

17 Jun

pull What?

Who taught: Andrew, Pat, Ari and Jean

The first ultimate frisbee in my life! That’s right. I played it today with my friends. To be honest, I thought it would be easy but it is not. It is hard physically as well as technically. Nothing is easy in the world! Don’t you agree? But, that is why it is good to be alive. I mean you gotta love challenges because, at the end of the day, you, not anybody else in the world, are the one who would feel accomplishments if you overcome all of the challenges.

Andrew told me the rules of this game. Instead of my explaining here, I will give you a good link about the game for you in case you are really interested in. One of the rules is very similar to the American football. If one team scores, then each team lines up in their own sides of the field and the team which just scored throws the disc from its side to the other side. For this one, a team member who is good at throwing the disc takes the action. Andrew called this action, “pulling.” Patrick and I were curious about it. “Hey, why is it pulling, not pushing or throwing?” “I think it is because most people do backside throw and it looks like you pull the disc from inside of your body,” Andrew said. It sounds reasonable. Then, hearing that, I said, “All right! Let’s pull out!” “T-Bone! Pull out is different from pull,” Andrew told me. At that moment, I remembered that I had a very similar conversation with Jean and Ari before.

About one year ago, all of the techies in my company went to a retreat together. During a break, we were having a small talk about getting older. No offense to older people than me! But, I now started to have gray hairs and Ari noticed that I have a few of them. “Hey, Terry! You have gray hairs there,” she said. “I know, every time I found them, I ask Jessy to pull them out,” I said. Well, at that moment, Jean said, “I think pull out is not really good to use there.” We were like, “Why? What is wrong with pull out?” “It actually has a different meaning,” Jean said. Well, it turns out pull out has a very very different meaning. Here is the definition for you I found from the Urban Dictionary.

A form of birth control practiced by idiot couples to prevent pregnancy.

It is also called “Pull Out (Withdrawl) Method”.

I do not want to put too explicit ones here but there are bunch of different definitions in the Urban Dictionary and, interestingly, every single of them is the same. The only difference is the degree of explicitness. If you still cannot understand the meaning of it, here is the link for you!

So, to me, it sounds like it is not a good idea to use “pull out” expression. Am I correct? When do you use that expression except for this meaning? In addition, what kind of expression should I use to describe the action of removing my gray hairs? Maybe, take out?

16 Jun

camping story 2

who taught: Andrew, Jake, Jean and Carol

Public Bathhouse (목욕탕)

One time, I was in Paris, the capital of fashion. (Some may argue that New York City is the capital of fashion.) As I walking around the city, I found very familiar language written on a bag that a woman was carrying. It was Korean. (She was not a Korean or Asian at all.) It says, “서울 목욕탕.” If I would translate it into English, it would be like, “Seoul Public Bathhouse.” Here, most of American friends would be curious about public bathhouse. It is a place where all of the people pay and go in to take baths together. I mean people share spa and sauna, etc. And, of course, they are all naked. People go there with their coworkers or friends to have some time together, relaxing and, at the same time, taking baths. I bet it sounds weird to you, my American friends, right? But, there are so many other countries having this kind of place in the world. So, who want to go to the place with me? Andrew? Oh, maybe you, Pat! Well, going back to the story, to Korean people, it is weird to carry any bags with “Public Bathhouse” on them. But, I am pretty sure it would look cool for foreigners to have those bags with foreign language written on. In fact, you would be surprised, if you were in Korea, that how many people wear clothings with English on them. I am pretty sure that some of the expressions or words are not really correct and some may even worse than incorrect.

Men's restroom sign in China

Speaking of wrong expressions in non-English speaking countries, I ran into this interesting article today about wrong translation. One of the examples is a restroom sign. As you can see in the picture here, there is “Male Man” on the door of men’s restroom. I wonder whether there is “Female Man” or “Female Woman” on the door of ladies’ restroom. This would happen because of the thinking process of a person who is in charge of the signs to translate to English based on the meaning of his/her own native language. Now, if you were in front of the door, looking at the sign, what would be your reaction? I know! You would be like, “Wow, what is going on here? Male Man?” Andrew! What would be your correction here?

Have you gone camping? I mean the real “camping” camping. You know… bring your own tent and sleeping bag. When you get to the camping site, what is the first thing you would do? Let me guess! Build a tent, right? Well, do you also know that you can say “pitch a tent.” A few weeks ago, Andrew asked me a question to me, “Hey, Terry! Do you know what ‘pitch a tent’ means?” Well, I actually thought ‘build a tent’ but I knew that it should have another meaning. “Think about the shape of the tent if you already built it,” Andrew said to help me out.

So, what do you think it is? Here is the definition I found from the Urban Dictionary.

To have an erection while lying down so that the sheets covering you pop up like a tent with a pole in the middle.

That is right! That is what it means. But, I doubt you would use this expression for this meaning at all. I mean how many times you would see this situation and, even if you see it, would you dare to say it? But, again, it is always good to know just in case 🙂

Actually, you know what? You could find some guys in Korean public bathhouse, pitching a tent because some guys really fall into sleep in the place and you know…. that could happen. So, that would be the time you can really use the expression.

03 Jun

spill the beans

Who taught : Jean and Pete

Today was Jake’s question day. He asked a few interesting questions to people and I was one of them. One question I found it useful was, “If you are in a room where air conditioner is on and you think it is too cold, would you ask Jessica to turn it down or turn it up?” I said, “Turn it down!” “But then, does it mean you want to set the target temperature down which makes the room even colder?” “No, it means just make it not too strong in terms of fan speed or something.” He asked the same question to other friends, American friends. They all said, “turn it down.” Well, what would you say?

let the cat out of the bag

They say there is no secret. Do you agree? Have you ever experienced a secret crush on someone? You know, like your school friend or teacher. I guess you have. If you have not, it is not too late. 🙂

Then, have you also told to a few of your best friends, “Hey, so… it is between you and me. You gotta promise that you are going to keep the secret……I think I love Jessica.” Well, when you said, did you really expect that your friends would keep it secret? Honestly, once you say any of your secrets to someone else, I bet you should consider that it is not a secret any more. Anyways, what if someone else found it out and ask you like, “So, Terry. Is it true that you have a crush on Jessica?” Then, at that moment, I can say, “What? how did you know that? Who spill the beans?” Or the other expression is “Who let the cat out of the bag?”

They all mean “to tell/expose secret information.” If you want to describe the situation that secret is exposed to everyone, then you can say, “Oh cr*b! Now, the cat is out of the bag! What should I do?”

While I am looking for the best etymology of “spill the beans”, I stumbled upon this interesting story.

Folk etymology holds that the phrase comes from secret societies in ancient Greece. Members would vote on applicants by placing white (for yes) or black (for no) beans into a vessel. If the vessel were to spill or get knocked over on purpose, the secret vote would be revealed. But it is not likely to be true since the saying is American and only dates back to the early twentieth century. (Source : Yahoo!)

How about “let the cat out of the bag”? Here is the best one I found.

At medieval markets, unscrupulous traders would display a pig for sale. However, the pig was always given to the customer in a bag, with strict instructions not to open the bag until they were some way away. The trader would hand the customer a bag containing something that wriggled, and it was only later that the buyer would find he’d been conned when he opened the bag to reveal that it contained a cat, not a pig. Therefore, “letting the cat out of the bag” revealed the secret of the con trick. (Source : Ag Etymology)

What do you think? It sounds very reasonable, isn’t it? Since I read this etymology, I think I would not forget the expression at all.