Eh, it's a fad...

Hey everyone, just a really quick lesson today as I wanna rush out and enjoy the sunshine during my Golden Week holidays~! Also, due to the holidays, I think I will be just posting about 6 times in May. I'm gonna give myself a small break ^_^ I hope you all enjoy the nice spring weather and your days off!

Ok, so today's lesson is about the word fad. Have you heard this word before? Any idea what it means?

It means that something is very popular for a short time. It is often used to talk about fashion, toys or even behaviors. We use it when something is suddenly super-popular and it seems like EVERYONE is doing it! When you say that something is a fad though you are ALSO saying that you think it's popularity will not last...

Did you see the latest fad out of Japan? My kids are crazy about tamagochis!

Ok, that's an old example but hey I don't really follow fads. I try to do my own thing! hahaha

Check out this link for a history of toy fads, including the slinky, hula hoop, Frisbee, super ball, etc.: http://www.drfad.com/fad_facts/timeline.htm

There are also fad diets like the Atkins diet, the banana diet, etc. These diets are in all the magazines one month and then disappear...

時好 (じこう) is I think the best way to say fad in Japanese... but I may be wrong! hahaha

Have a great Golden Week!

Phil

Do you wanna go out for a drink?

Today we are going to have an easy mini-lesson ^_^ I hope you enjoy it~!

What's the difference between:

Let's go out for a drink tonight!

and

Let's go out for drinks tonight!

Well, the easy answer is that the A before drink and the S added to drink are the differences between the two. That's correct but what is the difference in MEANING?

In my mind, if a friend says "Do you wanna go out for a drink?"(a drink = 1-2 drinks) it usually means we will go out for one or two drinks, that's it. It isn't going to be a big night of drinking.

I prefer beer so, I usually say "Do you wanna grab a beer after work?" meaning "Do you feel like drinking a beer with me after work?". With a beer meaning one or two beers... this is why many bars have Happy Hour on weekdays to encourage people to grab a drink after work. Happy Hour is a set time (for example 5-7pm, M-F) when bars offer drink specials and even free food!

"Do you wanna go out for drinks?" (drinkS = 2+) has a slightly different meaning. When you use the plural drinkS you are talking about many drinks so, 2 or more! If someone invites you to go out for drinks it is possible you will be out drinking for many hours... ^_- which can be fun from time to time! hahaha

There's one other expression I'd like to teach you today which is:

"Do you wanna go drinking tonight?"

This isn't used all that much by adults because it makes you sound like an alcoholic~! BUT when I was a college student I would often ask my friends this question. It means "Do you want to go out and drink LOTS of alcohol until we are drunk tonight?". Basically, when you talk about going drinking, you are talking about drinking ALOT and maybe even ALL NIGHT.

You might go bar hopping (where you have a few drinks at a bar, then go to another bar for a drink or two and then another bar and another, etc.) or you might sit in one bar with your friends drinking all night...

Hmm, I think that is enough for this lesson, have a good week!

Phil

Have a great Earth Day!

Hello everyone, tomorrow (April 22nd) is Earth Day so I decided to do a "green" lesson, or in other words, an environmentally friendly lesson! Now, I really think that the Earth is in trouble-we have too many people, using too many resources, too quickly. The Western consumer lifestyle is not sustainable on a global level. So what can we do?

Well first off, everyone can:

Think Globally. Act Locally.

This means that we have to think about the whole world BUT to help fix the Earth we need to change our behavior and do what we can to help our LOCAL environment. If everyone on Earth does this then we can have a GLOBAL impact.

The other thing we can do is to follow the 3 Rs of the environment:

REDUCE

This means you should try and reduce (通分-つうぶん or リデュース) the amount of resources you use.

-If you see that you throw away lots of food every week, BUY LESS FOOD!

-If you can, DRIVE LESS.

-If possible BUY LESS STUFF, do you really need 20 pairs of shoes???

You can check out the Story of Stuff here: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
It's a really interesting video which will change how you see our consumer society, how wasteful it is!

REUSE

This means the you should try to REUSE (再使用-さいしよう, 再利用-さいりよう or リユース) your old things.

-Turn an old shirt into some rags to clean your house with.

-Use plastic containers as planters for flowers.

-You can sell old furniture & clothes to a second-hand store.(リサイクルショップ)

-Many designers now reuse old kimonos to make all kinds of accessories, you can see some here: http://www.japanesestreets.com/reports/596/the-great-kimono-revival

-I often carry a folded up plastic bag with me in my bag, that way if I go shopping I can reuse it and at the same time I am reducing the amount of plastic bags I use! Plus I hate having a big bag full of plastic bags in my apartment...

RECYCLE

This is the most famous, after you have reused something many times, maybe it is getting really really old so you finally have to throw it away... ...but wait! If you can you should recycle it (再循環-さいじゅんかん or リサイクル), let a company break it down and then reuse it to make something new!

-I often try to share magazines with other people but sometimes no one wants the magazine so then I recycle it. Recycle old newspapers, magazines, etc!

-Always put PET bottles and cans in the recycling bins.

-Take old batteries, printer cartridges, electronics, etc. back to the electronics store, they often have programs or boxes to help you recycle them!

Ok, I hope you have learned a bit of English and maybe you will try to be a bit kinder to the Earth. Have a nice Earth Day!

Phil

Catnap...

Oh, After I wrote my last post I remembered another word we use when talking about sleep:

a catnap

It means a short nap, a light sleep or doze. The key information here is that it is SHORT but may happen MANY TIMES. So you are just like a cat, they take a nap, get up walk around a bit and then sleep some more. ^_- We usually use it with the verb take, to take a catnap.

I just took a catnap, I needed to rest.

Another word you might hear is shuteye. Which is usually used with the verb get and some, to get some shuteye. According to thefreedictionary.com it is British slang for sleep but you will often hear it in American TV shows or movies so I think it is pretty commonly used.

You look tired, why don't you go get some shuteye?

Come to think of it, I usually hear to get some shuteye being used as a suggestion or question~!

Did you get any shuteye?

I think I see this expression alot in novels I read that are set in the military(navy, army, etc).

Well I hope you enjoyed this little lesson, have a nice day~!

Phil

Sorry, I dozed off...

So the other day, one of my students looked up the Japanese word:

仮眠 (かみん)

Do you know how to say this word in English? When used with する it means to nap or doze. Actually, to nap in Japanese is usually translated as昼寝 (ひるね) +する.

So what does to doze mean in English? It means to sleep lightly or a light sleep. Basically, you are not sleeping in a very deep way...

I was dozing on the train when I got to my stop.

Recently, to doze is not used so often instead we use the phrasal verb:

to doze off

Which means that you were really tired and you fell asleep even though you WEREN'T planning to go to sleep!

You fell asleep by accident = You dozed off

I was watching TV last night and dozed off.

I dozed off on the train and woke up in Osaka!

That's all for today, I hope to write a longer lesson next time. Have a good week!

Phil

Run low vs. run out

Hey everyone, I am at a cafe using my netbook which is something I rarely do these days... Anyways, today we will be talking about the two phrasal verbs:

to run low

and

to run out

Do you know the difference between them? Well let's find out!

To run low means that your supply of something is going down... think of the gas gauge on your car. The needle moves from F (Full) to the middle and then slowly towards E (Empty). Or you can think of a bag of rice which is very full, so the level of the rice is very high. As the month goes by, you use more and more rice and the level gets lower and lower... so:

I'm running low on rice.

I'm starting to run low on gas, I'll stop at the next gas station.

To run out is a bit stronger than to run low, it means you are out of something. You have none left! So it is often used in the past tense:

I ran out of gas and had to walk 5km to the nearest gas station!

When I was on my date, I ran out of money and she had to pay for me, how embarrassing...

It can be used in the present progressive tense but it is STRONGER than running low.

I'm running out of time!

or in the future tense

I'm gonna run out of gas! I need to find a gas station quick.

Well that's my quick mini-lesson for this cloudy Sunday afternoon in Kyoto. I hope you enjoyed it,

Phil

You need anything? No, I'm good.

Hey everyone! Yesterday, I was talking to my coworkers and I said:

I'm good.

They thought I meant:

私は行ける。

or

私はいい。

BUT what I meant was:

大丈夫です。

The expression "I'm good" is pretty recent English, it is a casual yet nice and friendly way to TURN DOWN AN OFFER. It means that I don't need anything. I'm OK. For example:

A: Would you like some coffee?

B: No, I'm good.
(meaning I have some coffee already or I don't need any)

A: Need any help?

B: I'm good.

Which in full proper English would be:

A: Do you need any help?

B: No, I don't.

As you can see, using "I'm good" in casual English is much faster and friendlier.

So hopefully now you can all answer this question:

Do you need me to explain a bit more?

with

No, I'm good.

That's it for now, have a good week!

Phil

It depends on my mood...

Hey everyone, today we will talk about two really useful words:

to depend (v)

mood (n)

to depend (v)

Now this verb has three main meanings:

1- to trust, have confidence in,

Don't worry about it, you can depend on me~!

2- to rely on someone for support, often financially

My Mother depends on my Father.

3- to be contingent on something... if A then B. So what happens will be decided by something else and many times part of the information is not mentioned directly.

I'm not sure if I will get the job or not, it depends on how my interview goes.

Meaning, If my interview goes well (A) then I will get the job (B). Here the thing getting the job depends on is mentioned directly.

A: Are you hungry?

B: It depends on what's for dinner.

Meaning, if dinner is food I like then I am hungry, if it is food I don't like then I am not hungry~! Here the thing being hungry depends on has been omitted, it is not mentioned directly.

Mood

This is a feeling, state of mind or, emotion. It is often used to mean what do you feel like doing/eating/drinking/etc. In Japanese, you would say:

気分 (きぶん)

I'm in the mood for Mexican food.

meaning,

I feel like eating Mexican food.

I'm in a good mood.

meaning,

I feel happy.

A: What kind of music do you like?

B: It depends on my mood. Sometimes I like rock and sometimes I like hip hop.

meaning, it depends on how I feel (my mood) at the time I am listening to music.

Ok, I hope you enjoyed the first lesson of the month of April. I will try and post 8 this month... wish me luck~!

Phil