Rainy day vocabulary...

Hey everyone, today in Kyoto it is a rainy day so I thought for my last lesson this month I would go over different ways of describing rain. If you are interested in studying the weather a bit more please see this old post ^-^

Ok so here are some examples, from weakest to strongest, on how to describe rain:

It's drizzly./ There's a drizzle.

It's raining lightly/There's a light rain.

It's raining.

It's raining heavily/There's a heavy rain.

It's pouring down/There's a downpour. (not so common in the US/Canada)

It's raining cats and dogs. (idiom for very heavy rain)

It's raining torrentially/There's a torrential rain.(not commonly used)

There's a torrential downpour.

All of these just refer to rain, a torrential downpour is a crazy heavy rain with some heavy wind but no thunder or lighting. When there's thunder or lighting you will say there's a storm/it's stormy or even more specifically there's a thunderstorm. There's a drizzle is when it is raining extremely lightly.

Also, you might hear the term "scattered showers" in a weather forecast. This means that it will rain off and on throughout the day in small bursts.

Hmm, I think that is enough for now. I hope the weather is nicer where you are~! Drizzly gray days sap my energy~! (meaning they take away my energy)

Phil

Opposites...

Looking at last month's list of posts I noticed that I forgot to write a blog in my opposites series, so I decided to write one today before January is over~! We are now in the middle of the cold and flu season so the opposites I will introduce today have to do with illnesses and health.

a runny nose水洟 (みずばな) < ----- > a stuffy nose鼻が詰まる (はながつまる)

This is really simple to use, when you're nose is running you can say "I have a runny nose" and when your nose is blocked you say "I have a stuffy nose". Often when your nose is runny you have to blow your nose. In Japan, many people think it is rude to blow your nose in public so they sniffle(ぐすん) a lot--western people find people sniffling non-stop REALLY annoying! We think you should just blow your nose~! ^_-

constipated (adj) 便秘 (べんぴ)< ---- > diarrhea (n)下痢が移った (げりがうつった)

Be careful we say "I'm constipated" BUT "I have diarrhea" because constipated is an adjective and diarrhea is a noun.

clean きれい< -------- > dirty きたない

To stay healthy you should try to keep your hands clean. It is important to clean your dirty clothes and handkerchiefs to get rid of any bacteria or viruses that might be on them.

hygienic 衛生的 (えいせいてき)< --- > unhygienic不衛生 (ふえいせい)

Eating food you dropped on the floor is unhygienic (un-hi-je-nic).

Washing your hands often is very hygienic (hi-je-nic).

Hmm, ok that is all for today, stay healthy~!

Phil

Mr. Miss Mrs. Ms ...?

These days, North America is becoming more and more casual so for many young people we have never used the terms Mr. Ms Miss and Mrs. They only time they are still used are in very formal situations or in business settings. I think they are more common in the UK, in Canada and the US people usually say something like:

I'm Robert Smith, but you can call me Bob.

People prefer to quickly establish a casual relationship. So the other week, I was reading a lesson and a woman was called Ms Yamada... and I wasn't sure exactly how to pronounce it-this kind of thing is really not important in North American society outside of a business environment. Anyways, I decided to do some research and find out how to pronounce all these honorifics(terms like -san, -sensei, -sama).

Mr. or Mister used for men.

Miss is used for unmarried women.

Mrs. or Missus is for married women, pronounced Missez.

Ms is pronounced Miz and was created in the 1960s by feminists who thought it was unfair that women were identified by their marital status and men were not.

All of these terms can be used on their own or with someones FAMILY NAME. Like, Mr. Smith or Ms Simpson. Do NOT use it with FIRST names--Mr. Philip, sounds very strange.

We also have the terms Sir and Madam which is sometimes pronounced ma'am. Now, these terms are usually used ON THEIR OWN, without family names. Sir Smith(last name) sounds very weird while Sir Philip(first name) means the knight Philip. Madam Julie(first name) sounds weird while Madam Smith(last name) is ok in British English but strange in North American English.

In North America, we use sir and ma'am when we want to be polite but don't know the persons name. So staff in nice hotels or restaurants will often use these terms. You might also see it in business letters when you don't know if a man or woman will receive the letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,

This sounds very polite and formal, more casual but still very businesslike is:

To whom it may concern,

Personally, I think Dear Sir or Madam sounds nicer. To whom it may concern sounds a bit cold.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's lesson. Have a good week~!

Phil

I used to like...

Hey everyone, in the last lesson I mentioned that a has-been is someone who used to be famous or successful. So today, I decided to talk abit about used to.

Ok, so used to means that BEFORE you did or were something in a regular way but that NOW you DON'T. Also we pronounce it use-to, the d is silent.

I used to like G.I. Joe (but now I don't).

I used to play tennis (but I don't anymore).

I used to like her (but now I don't).

So when we use the expression used to we are stressing that we NO LONGER do that or feel that way. It has CHANGED.

If you used to like something alot but now just think it's ok you shouldn't use used to. Just say:

I liked G.I. Joe when I was a kid(and maybe I still like them).

I liked her last year (but now maybe my feelings aren't so strong).

I played tennis in high school (but now I don't play so often).

When you are using the simple past we usually include WHEN we did it. With used to, you don't have to say when--the important thing is now you don't.

Hmm, I think that's it for today. I hope you guys had a nice weekend,

Phil

He's a has-been...

Today we are going to look at the noun has-been. This is an expression in informal/casual English that means someone USED TO be famous, popular or successful.

He has been famous.

became

He's a has-been.

So the term has-been is really negative and is often used like the word loser. The difference is that a has-been was somebody special before but then lost their status...

New Kids on the Block are a bunch of has-beens.

Tom's a has-been, what a loser! He hasn't done anything since he was a high school football star.

Wow, a short lesson today I will post another lesson soon!

Phil

FYI I graduated at the top of my class...

Hey everyone, today we will talk about acronyms. Acronyms are a short word that is created by using the first letter of many other words. For example:

USA = United States of America

CIA = Central Intelligence Agency

MILF = Mother I'd like to F*#K

And so on... you often hear acronyms in movies because they are really common in the U.S. military; MPs (Military Police), MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), etc.

They are also really common in internet English:

LOL = Laugh Out Loud

IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

BBL = Be Back Later

BRB = Be Right Back

There are two acronyms I would like to talk about today, they sound pretty similar FYI and DIY. They are pronounced F-Y-I and D-Y-I.

FYI stands for For Your Information and

DIY stands for Do It Yourself.

So you can say:

F-Y-I, I saw her with another guy. I don't think she likes you. OR

For Your Information, I saw her with another guy. I don't think she likes you.

I think the second one sounds meaner, I often see it used in movies and TV shows where one character is delivering bad news and is trying to sound superior... the tone of voice is important here. FYI may just be used to give a heads up(quick notice so they won't be caught by surprise) or it can be used to be mean by giving information the person will not like receiving.

DIY is a word many guys love and it is used to talk about home construction projects you Do Yourself without help. This could be fixing the plumbing, building a fence, putting down new flooring, etc. It became really popular during the whole home renovation(in Japanese you say renewal or renew) boom. If you want an idea what I mean google DIY and you will see many websites and video examples.

That's it for now,

Phil

I dunno...

Hey everyone, I'm not sure if I talked about this before or not so I decided to post a small lesson about it today. In casual English, the sentence I don't know is often said as:

I dunno.

This is really common in Canada and the U.S. and we use it all the time, especially young people. For example, this is a conversation I might have had in high school:

A: I'm bored...

Phil: Yeah, me too.

A: Whaddaya wanna do?

Phil: I dunno, whadda YOU wanna do?

A: I dunno...

Phil: Umm, let's call Marc maybe he has an idea~!

So in this conversation you see "What do you" becoming "Whaddaya" but the second time I said "Whadda YOU" with the stress on YOU because I was redirecting the question back to my friend. And of course, want to became wanna...

Now, when I was a kid in Canada there was a show called You Can't Do that on Television and on that show everytime a character said "I don't know" or "I dunno" they would get slimed~! Here's a clip from Youtube:




Ok that's it for now, have a good week~!

Phil

That's like the pot calling the kettle black...

Hey everyone, I came back from my trip to Europe and am ready to post some new lessons ^_^ I hope you all had a Happy New Year and good luck in your studies in 2010!

Today, I was talking to my friend at a cafe and asked her if she liked my new tuque(winter hat in Canadian English pronounced Two-ku), she said she didn't like it... then when we were leaving I saw her tuque and said:

"That's like the pot calling the kettle black!"

She had no idea what I was talking about so I had to explain the idiom and thought it would make a nice post for my blog~!

First, let's go over the vocabulary:

pot - a deep round container used for cooking, usually made of metal and often having a lid.

kettle - a metal pot with a lid used for boiling water, often called a teakettle

A teapot is used to serve tea BUT is NOT used to boil water, whereas a teakettle is used to boil water to make tea and may or may not be used to serve it.

Now, when people use pots and kettles to cook over a fire over time they turn black. So, normally BOTH pots and kettles are black. So the expression "That's like the pot calling the kettle black!" is used when someone says something about someone else BUT it is also true about them!!!

Fat guy: I had to break up with my girlfriend.

Friend: What?!?! Why? You seemed happy together...

Fat guy: She got fat so I dumped her.

Friend: What? That's the pot calling the kettle black buddy!

So as you can see it is often used when someone say something negative about someone which is also true about them!

Have a nice week and I hope you enjoy my new lessons in 2010,

Phil