Tag Archives: tami

27 Mar

stop a clock

Who taught: Amber, Patty and Tami

Ugly face would stop a clock

Stop a clock (source: http://aarontodd.wordpress.com/)

Do you know what day is on Mar 17? It is St. Patrick’s Day which of course commemorates Saint Patrick who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. It is a huge day for Irish people. In many countries including the U.S., there are parades on St. Patrick’s Day. I was in San Francisco with Amber, Patty and Tami this year and we all went out to see the parade.

The parade started at 11 am. So, we decided to walk to the Civic Center to see people and preparations for festivals. Oh boy! As we got closer to the San Francisco City Hall, we saw so many homeless people. After buying some souvenirs, we decided to walk back up Market St to see the start of the parade.

On the way up, I stopped by a restroom (nature’s call). As soon as I came out, Tami and Amber told me a new expression that Amber just used.

Amber said, “I just saw a face that would stop a clock.”

My first impression was that she must see someone very handsome or beautiful. In Korea, if someone is amazingly beautiful like Jessy, people say that she would stop a clock. You know what I mean? It’s like you saw someone so beautiful and all of a sudden time stands still for a while because your focus were solely on her and the whole world started to run around you and her.

Very very surprisingly, the meaning of the expression, stop a clock, in the U.S. is the opposite. If you saw someone whose face would stop a clock, that means his or her face is so ugly. It was hard for me to find its etymology. But, my guess is that even a clock cannot function properly because of someone’s face is so ugly and it is shocked by that.

What do you think, my friends?

My non-native English speaking friends, this is a good lesson for you. Be careful! Do not try to literally translate expressions that you used to use in your own countries! That can cause a huge trouble. 🙂

 

20 Mar

shack up

Who taught: Patty, Amber and Tami

shacking up

Shacking up (source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/)

Hello there, my friends! It’s been more than a week without a new post. Sorry about that!

I was in San Francisco for a biz trip last week with my colleagues. Unfortunately, we did not have usual Californian sunshine but rain the whole week. But, we got to visit a few great companies and meet great people. We used public transportation a lot. During the time we sit in a Caltrain, we had a lot of talks about random things.

For some reason, we started to talk about me not wearing my wedding ring. Jessy also does not wear a ring. She actually does not have it at all. As we were talking about it, Patty said, “So, you guys are shacking up.”

Of course, I did not get what she said. Shack is a small and sort of dirty hut built from wood. Jessy and I bought a house and I can say that it is not just a shack in my opinion. Then, what is shacking up and what does it have to do with marriage or wedding ring?

If you shack up with someone, that means you guys live together (often while having sex) but not married. Why there is shack? My guess is that living together with someone else without marrying happens when people are young and, at that age, they cannot afford a nice place to live together. They usually end up being in a place like a shack. Don’t you think so?

So, literally, you live together in a shack which is “shacking up.” What do you think, my American friends? Am I right?

By the way, Jessy and I are not shacking up. We have been legally married for more than 10 years.

11 Nov

get hold of

Who taught: Tami and Sujata

Pittsburgh Winter (source: http://dashdingo.org/)

Sometimes, I hear the same expression from a few people around me in a short period of time. That happened last week. My colleague, Sujata finally switched to a Mac from her old PC. While I was talking to her the other day, I asked her, “Hey, How’s your Mac? Are you getting comfortable with it?”

She said, “Yeah. It is getting better but I think I still need some time to get hold of it fully.”

Last week, Tami and I were having a conversation with students from other schools. We were talking about the Pittsburgh weather which is pretty bad in winter as you can see from the picture. As she was explaining the winter weather, she said, “It usually takes some time to get hold of it, especially for international students.”

At that point, I was like, “Huh! Same expression!” So, I thought that I should really remember and try to use it later.

I believe you would get what it means through these two examples, right? The word, ‘hold’, means to retain or control. Basically, ‘get hold of something or someone’ means the same thing.

One good usage is that, if someone is impatient and you want him or her to calm down, you could say, “Hey! Get hold of yourself!”

There is an issue though. When I was researching about this expression, I found this expression interesting. The reason is that ‘get’ is a verb and I am pretty sure ‘hold’ here is a noun. Then, where is an article. Shouldn’t I put ‘a’ before ‘hold’ all the time? Like, “get a hold of yourself or get a hold of it.”

There seems a little bit of debates going on even among native English speakers about including ‘a’ or not. I am not sure which one is correct. What do you think, my friends? Which one sounds correct to you?

12 Sep

doghouse

Who taught: Tami, Brad, Jonathan and Jessy

Doghouse (source: http://www.thecoolist.com/)

Today, it is pretty chilly here in Pittsburgh. Feels like winter is coming. Hope we get to enjoy fall a little longer before we see the first snow.

Last week, there was a welcome dinner for my students organized by the Program. Jessy and I sat around a table with Brad and his wife, Tami and Jonathan. Jonathan is a student from Taiwan. We talked about how hard to go abroad to study, especially due to language barrier and culture.

Interestingly but not surprisingly, we get to learn a few new English expressions.

At some point, Jessy gave me a sour look because of what I said and Brad caught it. In that context, Tami asked us, “Do you know what does ‘I am in the doghouse’ mean?”

Other than the basic question, ‘Why in the world is a person in the place where a dog lives?’, in my mind, I had no clue about its meaning.

Can you guess what it is? I mean…It just sounds awful. You know what is sadder? This expression is mostly used by husbands whenever they have a trouble with their wives. When your wife gets angry and you have to be careful and feel uncomfortable in the house, then you go to where? That’s right.  The doghouse.

For example, you just fought with your wife and I called you, then you can say to me, “Dude! I am in the doghouse now. Can you save me?” Isn’t it sad?

Tami told me that there were small shelters for dogs in most homes in the past and, when there was a trouble between husband and wife, the husband usually took a refuge to the doghouse.

I am glad that I do not have a dog and thus there is no doghouse. Now, my question is where can I go? Also, where the dog goes if I take his house over?

24 Aug

heavy foot

Who taught: Tami

Heavy Foot (source: http://www.redbubble.com/)

Last weekend, I drove down to Blacksburg, VA with Jessy and my brother-in-law’s family to help their move. It takes 6 hours from Pittsburgh, PA to Blacksburg, VA. 6 hours are not bad in the U.S. to drive but it is still hard for me to drive alone. So, I let Jessy drive for 2 – 3 hours.

Well, during those hours, I wanted to take a short sleep but could not. Why? Because she drives aggressively. She also displays some road rage. I had to try to calm her down. And, at the same time, I was tightly holding on.

It was a rough time. As soon as we decided to take a break, I took the key away from her. 🙂

After the long and tiring weekend, there is an orientation for the new students. When I had lunch with my colleagues, I talked about how much I was afraid of Jessy’s driving to Tami. As she heard the story, she said, “So, Jessy got a heavy foot, right?”

One good news! I was able to feel the expression right away. How about you? Can you feel it? We, mostly, use our right foot to push the accelerator, right. Now, imagine your right foot is fat and heavy like an elephant’s foot, it would be really hard to slow your car down, right? What a great expression! I like it a lot. So, when someone uses heavy foot, think about an elephant foot. You will never forget what it means.

Hope you all do not have a heavy foot. Let’s slow down and calm down when driving, shall we?

P.S.: I will do my best to take care of Jessy only when she is driving. Most of the time, she takes care of me. 🙂