Owww my aching back~~!

Hey everyone, time for a small lesson about the verb to ache. You can use this verb to talk about any body part that has a low level constant paint, meaning it does not hurt so much but it hurts for a long period of time.

My aching back~!

Aww man do my muscles ache! I shouldn't have worked out so much!

My legs ache, I guess I walked too much today.

BUT the verb to ache is also used to turn some words into nouns:

1 - stomachache

2 - headache

3 - backache

4 - earache

5 - toothache

These words are all NOUNS not verbs so you must use the verb HAVE with them.

I have a toothache maybe I should go see a dentist.

Yesterday, I had a reall bad stomachache so I couldn't go to school.

These are fairly standard uses of to ache, please do not try to make a new noun with other body parts as it will sound VERY strange~!

I have a legache! ----> DO NOT SAY THIS it is incorrect~!

My legs ache. ----> This is correct ^_^

Any ideas for my next lesson?

Phil

A few, a lot, a little...

Today, we will be talking a bit about how to correctly use countable and uncountable nouns with a little, a few and a lot... many Japanese English speakers often mix them up. So here goes~!

a few + countable nouns

Can you give me a few minutes?

Talk to you in a few days.

a little + uncountable nouns

I need a little time.

There's a little sand in my shoe.

a bit of + uncountable nouns

I need a bit of time.

Do you want to listen to a bit of music?

All of these are used to talk about a small amount of something. If you want to talk about a large amount it is easier just use:

a lot of + countable OR uncountable nouns

I'll need a lot of time to finish this report by next Friday.

Wow! There are a lot of bananaS in that tree~!

Please note you need to add S to countable nouns but NOT to uncountable nouns.

Well, I hope that helps, have a nice Thursday. It's my day off, yay~! ^_^

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme~!

Today, we will have a quick little pronunciation lesson. This is a type of Sentence Level Fluency (SLF) which happens when saying many words together, their pronunciation changes to make them easier to say quickly. For example:

an apple

an orange

The N from an is linked to the following vowel so you get:

aN napple

aN norange

I am going to cover two imperative phrases people often use:

Let me --------> Lemme

Give me --------> Gimme

You will hear these in many movies, TV shows or just in normal everyday conversation.

Lemme:

Lemme go~! (I am a prisoner or hostage in a movie)

Lemme know when you finish your homework.

Gimme:

A: Mom! Gimme a cookie!

B: What's the magic word?

A: Mom, gimme a cookie PLEASE.

B: OK, here you go.

Gimme a minute, I'll be right back. (Please wait a minute)

So an example of SLF would be:

Gimme aN napple please ^_-

Have a nice Saturday,'

Phil

Katakana English

Ok, I think you all know what Katakana English is. It's Japanese words that are written using katakana to show they were borrowed from another language, usually
English.

Be careful~! Not all words in katakana come from English so if you use them when speaking English people will NOT understand you!! Or words might have changed so much we don't know what you are talking about. For example:

ピエロ ---> from the French pierrot ----> in English we say clown



パン ---> from the Portuguese pao or Spanish pan ---->in English we say bread


コンセント ---> from concentric outlet ----> in English we say outlet or plug



Many times it is just the pronunciation which changes and so makes it hard for native speakers to understand or sounds a bit strange.



チョコレート---> chocoreto, the O at the end is odd ---> chocolate ----> pronounced choc-lit

サラダ ---> the extra A at the end is odd ---> salad ----> pronounced sa-lid

Sometimes, katakana words have different meanings from their English origins:

So you can see that the English and Japanese words have SWITCHED MEANINGS! If you go to Canada and want to buy Japanese リンス you have to ask for conditioner, if you want コンディショナー you have to ask for rinse! Conditioner you use almost everyday and rinse is maybe once a week. If you use rinse everyday your hair will become VERY oily!

Ok, that's all for now, if you have any questions or requests just ask.

Phil

Are you ready to ROCK???

Are YOU ready to ROCK?

This is a typical question to start a concert in the West. People react by screaming like crazy~~! Today, I am going to cover some Rock & Roll English. Enjoy!

In the West, we don't have "live houses" this is katakana English but we will probably understand what you mean. We call places where you see live music; bars , clubs, concert halls, arenas and stadiums.

Bars are small places where people drink beer and they might have occasional live shows in which case there will be a cover charge or admission fee. This means you will have to pay to get in.

Clubs are bigger, usually for drinking and dancing. They often feature famous DJs with high entry fees but sometimes have live acts as well. They can have anywhere from 100 to 1000 people, sometimes more...

Concert halls are more upscale, for things like classical music or opera and can seat anywhere from 100 to 10000 people but a concert hall that big is rare. These places also have live bans sometimes that might be more Rock N Roll than Mozart.

Arenas are basically skating rinks where the ice has been removed and a huge stage built. These places can accommodate anywhere from 500 to 5000 people. I saw many heavy metal bands at the Verdun Arena when I was in high school...

Stadiums are HUGE, usually built for baseball, soccer or some other sport they are often used to host really famous music acts. They can seat over 10000 people most of the time...

Open seating means there are NO assigned seats, you just show up early and grab whatever seat you can. We often use the expression "first come, first served" in this kind of situation which means the first person to arrive will get first choice ^_- The opposite of this is Reserved seating.

Yeah, so when I was in high school I was a headbanger or metalhead. That means I was into HEAVY METAL so I had long hair, wore concert t-shirts and jeans. Heavy metal is music like Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Megadeth, Biohazard, etc. (I saw all those bands in concert!)

When you go to a metal concert it is common to mosh, which is basically kind of dancing around and hitting into people. A huge crowd of people will form into a mosh pit. Be careful, if you jump into one and you don't know what you are doing you might get hurt~!

Here's a video to give you an idea:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=iLUCFXcK0Oc

Also, at rock concerts you might crowd surf:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=zO-OybVSy4g

You basically are carried or thrown around by the crowd!

The last one is stage diving, this is where you climb on stage and then jump into the crowd and start crowd surfing:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=RG7JKKwNvvw


Ok that's all for now... have a nice night,

Phil

P.S. Sorry about the links but youtube's embedded player was not working...

quarter

Ok, in my research I have not found any idioms dealing with a quarter coin(25 cents, common in the US and Canada) and I can't remember any either.

All I can remember are some common phrases such as:

Can you lend me a quarter?

This was a common question before cellphones when I was growing up as a payphone used to cost a quarter for a local call.

There is a game called quarters which is a drinking game where you bounce the quarter from the table into your opponents cup. If you get it in his/her cup they have to drink!

The idioms that use quarter DO NOT refer to the coin!

For example:

quarters: this is talking about living quarters, or the place where you live. It is mostly used in the military so you often hear it in dramas, like on a spaceship, your room might be called your quarters.

No quarter: here quarter means mercy and so no quarter=no mercy so attack with all your strength and destroy your enemy.

Hmm, that is all I can think of and it finishes our series on coin idioms! yay!!!

Time to get ready for work,

Phil

nickel

There are two spellings for this word and both are ok: nickle or nickel. The more common spelling these days seems to be nickel. There aren't so many idioms or sayings with associated with this coin but I will cover those I found.

Don't take any wooden nickels.

This is a saying used when someone leaves meaning be careful. It is pretty old fashioned and to be honest I have never heard it used in my life! It means: 　気をつけて。 It comes from counterfeit coins being used in the 19th century made of wood, so you are telling someone to be careful not to get any fake money.

nickel-and-dime

This means very ordinary and not important, it is not such a common usage.

That town is full of nickel-and-dime shops.

Meaning it is full or ordinary shops that are not interesting.

to nickel and dime (someone)

This is probably the most common nickel idiom and it is one of my pet peeves. I HATE it when companies or stores do this to me. This means to charge someone many small amounts for something or to charge you a small amount of money as an extra fee.

For example;

I went to an onsen in Tsuwano and the fee was really low but then I had to pay extra for towels, soap, shampoo, etc. They nickel and dimed me~! But in Korea, when I went to a jimjilbang(bath and sauna place) they charge a higher entry fee but everything is included: towels, robe, shampoo, etc. I prefer the second system, how about you?

Also, recently airlines are nickel and diming us, especially in the U.S. The airfare is cheap but then there are a million extra fees! Fuel surcharges, taxes, airport taxes, baggage fees, pay for your in-flight meal and drinks, pay for the headphones, etc.

penny

Ok, I guess I started a new idioms series about money idioms. Today, we will talk about the word, penny.

Now, a penny is a 1 cent coin commonly used in Canada, Australia, the U.S. and a long time ago even in the U.K. I will cover four idioms and two sayings, so here goes!

idioms

cost(someone) a pretty penny

This means that something was very expensive. You use it when you want to say something you bought was expensive without sounding arrogant or when you see something and are guessing it must have been expensive.

A: Did you see Bill's new car?

B: Yeah, it must have cost him a pretty penny!

or

My wife's new coat cost me a pretty penny.

not have two pennies to rub together

This means to be very poor.

Man, I'm broke! I don't even have two pennies to rub together.

My sister's new boyfriend doesn't have two pennies to rub together.
What a bum!

a penny ante

An ante is a bet when playing poker, usually the first bet of the game or hand. So, a penny ante is a small bet of little value or importance.

I ain't(am not) playing for no penny ante stakes!

Don't bother me with your penny ante problems~!

By the way, stakes are what you put in when you make a bet. For example:

A: What are the stakes?

B: If I win, you dress up like a woman for school tomorrow. If you win, I dress up like a teddy bear.

in for a penny, in for a pound

The definition I found says you use this when you decide to become very involved with an activity. That's true but I guess that is the usage in the U.K. and Australia.. in North America, we use this expression when something we are doing is going BADLY and we decide NOT to give up but to continue doing it anyways... I guess for us, it is more of a saying than an idiom.

A: How is your investment doing?

B: Badly. But you know what they say, in for a penny in for a pound.

sayings

A penny for your thoughts.

This is something you say when someone is being REALLY quiet and you want to know what they are thinking about.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

This is something you say when you mean it is wise or a good idea to save money instead of spending it.

That is it for now but we will have a few more posts in this series so I can cover nickles and quarters...

I hope you guys had great holidays,

Phil