DIBS~!

Last Friday, I was at my Japanese lesson and a British guy mentioned the word bagsies. Which is slang from the UK and New Zealand which means that you want to do, have or be something. You are reserving something for yourself.

For example:

Bagsies on that last piece of toast~!

I'll bag the seats. which means I'll claim the seats.

It seems to be spelled bags, bagsie, or bagsy or as the verb to bag since it is slang there is no fixed spelling and all are ok. In North America, we use dibs instead. This word is used alot by kids or teenagers, or even adults between friends. We use it by saying:

"Dibs on ____" or "Bob has dibs on ______".

Take a look at this link for a nice explanation on the rules of how to call dibs:

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Bagsy

Basically, the rules are you can only use it for something happening "right now" and you can only call dibs on something if you will use it. So calling dibs on the last coke, and then you don't drink it will get you into a fight or your friend will steal it from you~!

You can only call dibs on one thing at a time, so:

Dibs on the last coke!

then

Dibs on the last slice of pizza!

Is ok, but:

Dibs on the last coke and slice of pizza!

Is NOT acceptable.

We typically use dibs for things around you, things you can see but NOT things on TV or in magazines. It can even be used to reserve or claim people~! You see a cute girl and say to your friend:

Dibs~! (while gesturing to the cute girl)

This means your friend has to give you the first chance to date her, even if she comes to talk to him first he is NOT ALLOWED to date her and has to make an excuse to give you your chance first. ^_-

Be careful, when you want to reserve the front seat of the car you don't say dibs but shotgun~!

This is because a long time ago in the Wild West, people might attack a stagecoach and so someone would sit next to the driver with a shotgun to protect the coach. So if you are walking with your friends towards the car and want to sit in the front you yell:

Shotgun~!

I hope you enjoyed the lesson, this is a bit of a short month so only 6 lessons--Sorry! I will try my best to post 8 times next month, if you have any topic suggestions please leave me a comment.

Thanks, have a nice week,

Phil

Finally... ...cooking words~!

Ok, now I finally have the time to give Mikan-chan what she wants and talk about cooking vocabulary~! So today, I will go over a dozen or so words that are commonly used when you cook.

simmer

This is when you cook something on a LOW heat, usually sauces. My online dictionary says it is when you cook something gently or when you cook at just BELOW the boiling point...

Please simmer your sauce for 10 minutes then serve.

fry

This is when you cook something in a bit of oil or fat, typically in a frying pan.

I like fried eggs. (Watashi ha tamagoyaki ga suki desu.)

deep-fry

This is also cooking in oil but you use A LOT of oil, to completely cover the food. For example, when you make french fries or tempura.

Put the frozen french fries in the deep-fryer.

grill

This is when you cook something on a grill, which is a surface of parallel metal bars like this:

I love grilled hamburgers~!

BBQ = barbecue

This is a grill, pit or fireplace OUTDOORS you use to cook meat. It is really popular in the summer in North America. My uncle has 2 barbecues~!

Man, it's been awhile since I went to a BBQ.

boil

To heat a liquid until it reaches 100 C and starts to bubble.

Oh, gotta go my soup is boiling~!

nuke = microwave

Nuke is casual English for the verb to microwave something. Which simply means to cook something in a microwave, usually leftovers(nokorimono).

I'm gonna nuke some leftovers for dinner tonight.

I'm gonna microwave some leftovers for dinner tonight.

pre-heat

This is often seen in recipes or on packaging. It means to heat an oven to a set temperature BEFORE you start cooking.

Pre-heat the oven to 150 C.

bake

To cook food with a dry heat, especially in an oven. It is usually used to describe making bread, pastries, cookies, cakes, etc.

I don't know how to bake a cake, I don't even have an oven.

steam

This is to cook something using steam, usually vegetables or dumplings, like an-man or shir-lam-pau.

Steamed vegetables are very healthy.

Ok, that is it for now. For more information check out these websites:

food/cooking online quiz
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/vocabulary/lefg2_vocabulary11.html

food vocabulary
http://www.englishclub.com/english-for-work/food-drink-vocabulary.htm

cooking intermediate level worksheet
http://english.specialist.hu/a3/xtt/icook.htm

24 word vocabulary you can use in games online
http://www.manythings.org/vocabulary/lists/a/words.php?f=cooking_1

Jamaican Patois Part 3

Hi everyone, last time I forgot to wish you all a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY so I hope you all had a nice time with someone special ^_- I also wanted to mention one more Jamaican word but I forgot. It is duppy which means ghost~! I think it is a pretty cute word for ghost...



Today, I will be going over some Jamaican phrases and proverbs which I found on this website: http://www.ddg.com/LIS/InfoDesignF97/malyce/phrases.htm So here goes!



Phrases:


"Dat is fe mi bredda" = That is for my brother.


"Galang bout yuh business" = Go along about you business.


"Coo pon dat bwoy!" = Look at that boy!


"Me bleach hard lass night" = I partied hard last night.


"You too red eye" = You're too envious. あなたは羨まし過ぎる。


"Tan tedy" = Stand steady, which means: hold still.


"Unnu can come wid mi" = You can all come with me.


"Choble nuh nice" = Trouble's not nice.

"Yuh ina big choble" = You're in big trouble.

"Did yuh see dat?" = Did you see that?

"A who dat?" = Who is that?

" Yuh no dun yet?" = You're not done yet? meaning, You haven't finished yet?

" Is the dutty duppy man dweet" = The dirty ghost did it.

Proverbs:

"Mi come here fi drink milk, mi noh come here fi count cow."

I came here to drink milk, I didn't come to count cows.

This is a reminder to do business in a straightforward manner. Do what you say what you will do, don't just talk about it.

"What sweet nanny goat a go run him belly."

What tastes good to a goat will ruin his belly.

This is a Jamaican proverb which is used to warn people. It means that, the things that seem good to you now, can hurt you later...

"I no come to hear about how horse dead an' cow fat."

I didn't come to hear about how the horse is dead and the cow is fat.

This is used when you want to tell someone to stop giving you useless details. Just tell me the important stuff~!

As you can see, Jamaican Patois is a very rich and complex dialect of English. If you are interested in learning more check out these websites:

Jamaicans.com Speak Jamaican
http://www.jamaicans.com/speakja/

Jamaican Dictionary
http://www.ddg.com/LIS/InfoDesignF97/malyce/dict.htm

Have a nice day,

Phil

Jamaican English Part 2

Today, we will look at some words that are unique to Jamaican English.

arbor shark = greedy

attaclapse = disaster

Watta attaclapse Hurrican Gilbert cause!

What a disaster Hurricane Gilbert caused!

jim screechy = sneak

Jim screechy inna di 'ouse.

Sneak into the house.

battyman = homosexual = gayan

He a battyman.

He's gay.

cool runnings = No fuss/hassles

donna = cute girl

dundus = albino

gwine = gonna = going to

Me gwine eat now.

I'm gonna eat now.

jook = pierce/stick

Im jook me wid di pin.

He stuck me with a pin.

mek = let's

Mek we deet.

Let's do it.

mout = tease

Me a mout im.

I am teasing him.

poppy show = silly person

seh-seh = gossip

She like seh-seh.

She likes to gossip.

unnu = everyone

Unnu ready?

Everyone ready?

yush! = greetings!

Ok, that's it for now. Not much to explain here but I find the way things have changed in Jamaican English pretty interesting. I hope you liked it as much as I did~!

Jamaican English... Part 1

Hey everyone, I was at my local library today and saw a small book about Jamaican English~! I was really surprised so I took a look and saw many many words I didn't know. Jamaican English is a pretty different dialect of English with lots of original words. They call this dialect Jamaican Patois. If you are interested in Reggae then it is important to know this kind of English to understand the lyrics.

I decided to do a 3 part series based on this book. I hope you guys will find these lessons fun and interesting~~!

So in the first lesson I will talk about some examples of Jamaican pronunciation but not touch on new words. For that you will have to wait till the next lesson ^_-

All of them. -----> Aala dem.

I think so. -----> A tink su.

other -----> aada

hand -----> an

that -----> dat

have -----> ha

girl -----> gyal

go on (continue) -----> gwaan


culture -----> kulcha

lost -----> laas

So you can see that Jamaican Patois is phonetic like the Japanese language so it is pretty easy to pronounce. Basically, the standard English pronunciation is exaggerated and elongated. Girl being pronounced as gyal even matches Japanese Katakana English~!

Stay tuned for the next lesson,

Phil

Japanese words in English...

Hey everyone, today I will just write a short quick lesson before going to do my grocery shopping ^_- I am going to cover many Japanese words that have entered the English language and now have a DIFFERENT pronunciation~!

sushi = sushi

There is no change for this word.

sake -------------->sa-ki

kamikaze --------> kami-kazi

As you can see the "eh" sound is replace with an "ee" sound~!

karate -----------> kara-di

Here the "eh" becomes "ee" and it is a vowel so t becomes d in North American English. Which gives us karadi.

karaoke ----------> kari-oki

Here we have the "eh" to "ee" switch again but we also get the first "ah" sound becoming "ee" as well!

These are the most common Japanese words used in English, there are some others like POKEMON the Nintendo game which I am pretty sure is pronounced like PoKI-mon~~~!