Learning English is tough.

Hey everyone, today we'll talk about the word:

Tough

It is pronounced tuff and is a pretty useful word with a bunch of different meanings.

1- difficult -

My math test was tough.

Lately my job's been kind of tough.

I had a tough day at the office.

In spoken English difficult is a higher level and more formal word so it isn't used so much, especially in casual English or by young people.

2 - strong or durable physically +

My new bag's really tough.

Those soldiers look tough.

3 - hard, as in hard to chew -

This steak is tough. I can't even cut it!

Ouch! These cookies are too tough!

So you can see that tough has both positive and negative meanings. I hope this lesson wasn't too tough for all of you, ^_-



Have a good week,

Phil

It's a piece of cake!

Hey everyone, here's a quick idiom lesson. I'm not sure if I've taught you this before but the idiom:

to be a piece of cake

is really common and quite useful. It means it is VERY EASY. It is most often used when you are trying to get someone to do something.

A: Can you help me move?

B: What?!? Move, that sounds like a lot of work.

A: No, it'll be a piece of cake. I only have a couch, a bed and 2 boxes to move.

B: Ah, ok then.

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C: How was your test?

D: It was a piece of cake!

C: Great.

Ok, that's it for now. Time to get ready for work!

Have a nice day,

Phil

Trypanophobia

Here's a cool post I saw on thefreedictionary.com it is about phobias.

Phobias are fears. It means you are afraid of X. It is most often used as a SUFFIX at the end of words...

arachnophobia

The fear of spiders.

I have arachnophobia.

Phobias are nouns.

agoraphobia

The fear of open or public spaces.

I'm an agoraphobe.

~phobe is used as a noun meaning a person who is afraid of X.

Claustrophobia

The opposite of agoraphobia, it is a fear of narrow, small or enclosed spaces.

I'm claustrophobic.

~phobic is an adjective meaning a person who has X~phobia.

So what does trypanophobia mean? I had no idea until I read this article:

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Trypanophobia

Check it out!

Phil

I bumped into my friend the other day ^_^

Hi everyone here's a quick mid-week lesson for you all. In English, we often use these two phrasal verbs:

to run into (someone)

to bump into (someone)

To bump into in Japanese is 打つかる (ぶつかる). They have a literal meaning, where you ACTUALLY bump/run into someone:

A: Ouch, watch where you're going!

B: Sorry, I didn't mean to run into you like that.

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C: HEY!! What the hell?!?!?

D: Sorry for bumping into you, let me help you pick up your things.

They also have an idiomatic meaning, where you meet someone by chance. In Japanese, you would say 出会う (であう).

I bumped into an old friend from high school at Book Off yesterday. It was a nice surprise.

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A: Ah hey, fancy meeting you here! I didn't know you liked old movies.

B: Yeah, I love black and white films but I never thought I'd run into you here.

A: Oh? Why not? You know I've seen Casablanca, like, 10 times.

That's all for now, see you soon,

Phil

That movie was a total flop.

Hello everyone, here's a quick mini-lesson for a lazy Sunday. Do you understand the word FLOP?

It means something completely failed. We use it for new products, movies, books, etc. that are NOT a success.

HD-DVD was a flop.

Both Crystal Pepsi and Pepsi AM flopped.

The word flop can be replaced with the word bomb.

Betamax totally bombed, VHS won the VCR wars.

In Japanese, you could say 失敗作 (しっぱいさく).

The movie Love Guru was a flop. It sucked.

I'm not surprised that Kiss of Death flopped, it was unwatchable! I left before the movie ended.

So guys what are some famous Japanese movie flops?

Phil

The carrot and the stick.

Have you heard this expression before?

In Japanese you'd say: 飴と鞭 (あめとむち). It means that if someone does well or what you want, you reward them (the carrot) and if they don't do well or don't do what you want, you punish them (the stick). Like this:

from http://www.verus-co2.com/blog/?p=836

So if the donkey moves faster it can eat the carrot (reward) but if it slows down it will get hit with the stick (punishment).

I use the carrot and the stick in class. Good students get prizes and students who misbehave get kicked out of class.

A: You should try a carrot and stick approach.

B: Huh?

A: You know, if your daughter does well in school you treat her to ice cream at Haagen-Daaz. If she does OK she gets nothing and, if she does badly she gets no dessert for a week!

B: Yeah, that might work! She loves sweets.

Enjoy your week,

Phil

My house's nearby.

Hello everyone, do you know the difference between near and nearby?

Near is a preposition. It means close to something. So, it will usually be used with the structure:

near + place

My house is near here.

Bob lives near Don Quixote.

Nishi-Honganji is near Kyoto station.

Tully's is near the post office.

Nearby is an adverb NOT a preposition. So you use it with a verb, most often the verb "to be". It means close to here (where we are now).

X is nearby

My house is nearby.

There's a nice cafe nearby wanna grab a bite to eat?

It's nearby. You can walk there in 5 minutes.

But it can be used with other verbs.

My aunt lives nearby.

My kids are playing nearby let's go check on them.

I heard gunfire nearby, let's get out of here!

Have a good weekend!

Phil

What are you implying?

You will hear this often in crime dramas. Today, I will teach you about the verb:

to IMPLY

It means to STRONGLY hint at something. You don't say something directly, instead you drop many hints.

The teacher is implying I'm cheating! He doesn't believe I studied and passed the test on my own. What a jerk!

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A: Yesterday, you came over to play video games. When I got up this morning ,my new Monster Hunter 3 was missing...

B:What are you implying? Do you think I stole it???

A: Well, the game's gone...

B: You probably misplaced it or your brother took it. I can't believe you'd accuse me of stealing!!!

A: Hey calm down, I'm not accusing you of anything... yet. Let's look for the game and I'll text my brother to see if he took it.

As you can see, it's usually used in a negative way. Often when someone accuses you of something.

Have a good week, I hope to post 6-8 times this month.

Phil