Tag Archives: steve

03 Apr

egghead

Who taught: Steve

Two days ago, I was so surprised by my friends at the church. They prepared a surprise party for Jessy and me. Well, two weeks ago, they gave me a heads up by asking me to be in the church on that day but I had no idea that there would be lunch and a special song and a game.

Do you know this song called Rainbow Connection? The song is beautiful and I like the lyrics. So, what Tim did for us was rewriting the song and singing it for us. Another thing that they were being so considerate for us was that Mandie sent me an email with the link to the video of Rainbow Connection Saturday night so that Jessy and I would know what song Tim sings for us. Aren’t they so kind?

It was one of those days you cannot forget. I am so happy that I have these amazing friends. Pittsburgh is my home and I am glad that I can stay here with you, my friends. The lyrics is so funny. You can find it at the end of this post.

After lunch, Steve and I had a little chat and he used one expression, “egghead.” You know what’s so funny now? These days, most of my friends know that I am trying to learn new expressions and, when they say those, they stop for a while to make sure I actually understand it or not. If I do not, they start to explain them to me. How amazing! So, I am telling you, my non-native English friends. Don’t be afraid to ask and make mistakes. They will help you out.

Anyway, when I heard it, my first feeling was that it would only describe shape and size of a head and probably refer to baldness. You know what I mean. Haven’t you seen those heads that are just like an egg? Where do you usually see those? Why don’t you think for a while? ……. Come on! You know where. It is usually at colleges. Think of your professors! Now, can you get what I say?

So, I was pretty sure that egghead means that kind of head and it does not have anything more than that. As usual, I was very wrong. I mean shape and size do play an important role but it has a deeper meaning. Can you guess? Here, I will give you a hint. One of its synonyms is geek. That’s right. That is what egghead means.

Fortunately, Wikipedia has everything about this expression. It even tells you historical background of it.

Ironically, both Steve and I teach at universities. Am I an egghead?

 

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“The Green Card Connection” by Tim

I know of somebody who’s staying in Pittsburgh, the place where they’ve longed to reside.
It’s been a long, hard, tumultuous process, not knowing where they’re going to be.
But finally, they have it! The Green Card connection, for Terry and Jessica Lee.
Terry and Jessica hail from Korea, a place they’d lived all their lives.
One day they realized they don’t have Primanti’s or bridges seen far and wide.
After they got here I guess that they decided they like Yinzers more than Kimchi.
Now yinz guys got it: The green card connection for Terry and Jessica Lee.
They’re “Learning English from Friends” like nebby and gumband and slippy.
Now that you’re permanent. It’s time to get real: There’s things we expect from you.
We have a cleaning list and grass that needs cutting . And the new guys buy donuts, too.

All this to say, That we’re really excited . You’re staying here at BHBC.

Cuz finally you have it: The green card connection for Terry and Jessica Lee!
La da da dee da da dog, I hope that this gets on your blog!

**Disclaimer** I am well aware that Jessica’s last name is Sim.  However, Sim does not rhyme with “eee”, so instead I chose to use “Terry and Jessica Lee”.  Please, just deal with it.

 

23 Jan

sport vs sports

Who taught: Steve, Jean, Jeremy and Ginny

A good sport (source: http://candostreet.com/)

This is the second episode where I learned a new expression from Steve and Jean. They have three children and two of them, Ginny and Jeremy, teach at the same elementary school. They were in a skit whose main purpose was to increase awareness of the importance of the yearly State Math test. It is pretty hilarious. I wish I can show it to you. In the skit, they were basically devouring chocolates that are supposed to be for students who would get good scores in the test. That is not good. 🙂 In the skit, their mouth was totally covered with chocolates while eating chocolates and the other teachers were telling them the chocolates are not for them but for good(?) students.

In the end, one teacher said, “Do you know that the school will give out chocolates if a student would get a good score in the State Math test.” That would work for elementary school students, I guess. Chocolates could be really good baits for them to study harder.

So, what does it have anything to do with sport?

What does sport mean? That’s easy. It is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.”

Am I suggesting that eating chocolates requires physical exertion and skill and Ginny and Jeremy were competing with each other? Hmm.. it needs some skill to eat and mouth muscle should move faster. And, who knows.. Ginny and Jeremy were really competing with each other. 🙂

As we were watching the skit, Steve said, “They were being a good sport.” Interesting! Very very interesting! Because this does not mean that there is any sort of competition. The thing they did was that they were being funny in front of students and teachers, right? In other words, they were fine being the butt of a joke. Well, that is what “good sport” means.

After all, it has something to do with sport (physical exertion). When you lose in any sport, it is not easy to accept your loss. But, if you can accept your loss, then you are being a good sport.

It is hard to accept a loss in any sport. It is also very hard to be a butt of a joke, amusing other people. There goes a strong connection of being a good sport.

Amazingly, a few days later, I heard the same expression used by an actor of the Criminal Minds. He said, “I was just being a good sport.”

Can you be a good sport? Hope you can in both sense!

18 Jan

moonlighting

Who taught: Steve and Jean

Moonlight (source: http://pixdaus.com/)

Two days ago, Steve and Jean invited me to dinner. It was great. My in-laws had a chance to eat baked potatoes with sour cream along with other dishes. They loved the potatoes. On the way back to home, my mother-in-law said, “Let’s try to bake potatoes next time. I really liked it.” In Korea, people usually do not bake potatoes. Instead, we steam them. I guess this different way of cooking introduced a different taste and texture of potatoes to her. I think she will bake potatoes even after she goes back to Korea. 🙂

Well, while my in-laws were busy enjoying baked potatoes, Steve and I were talking about his children and son-in-law. His son-in-law, Dan, is a medical doctor. And, he of course has a job at a hospital in Ohio. But, because of his specialty, he has been getting a lot of different part-time job offers. As Steve was talking about this situation, he said, “Dan can easily moonlight at $75 per hour.”

Wait! Moonlight?? Isn’t moonlight just a light from Moon? If that word had another meaning, that would probably be walking around at night.

It actually has another interesting meaning which really makes sense to me. Suppose that you need to work in addition to your full-time day job, it would mean that you work at night, right? Then, you either need to walk or drive under the moonlight. I guess back in the days when there was no cars, people really had to walk at night for his/her second job.

Yup! That is what it means. If you moonlight, that means you are to work at an additional job after your regular and full-time employment. I believe it does not have to be a night job though. So, you could say to your friends like this, “Man, life is tough. I am moonlighting these days to make ends meet.”

Obviously, moonlighting does not necessarily mean a romantic thing as we walk under the moonlight.