Sunday, April 29, 2012

It was delicious~!

Yesterday, I had a fantastic meal and it gave me the idea for this lesson. Everyone knows the word delicious but did you know it has many synonyms? Synonyms are word with the same or similar meanings. They're a great way of building up your vocabulary!


It was yummy.


This is usually used by kids and young people, it sounds a bit childish.


It was tasty.


This also sounds young but not as childish as yummy. It is a bit weaker sounding than delicious.


It was scrumptious.


This sounds a bit casual and a little old fashioned, I rarely hear scrumptious used these days.


It was delicious.


This is the standard way we say something tastes good, in Japanese you say oishii.


It was mouthwatering.


This is casual and to me it sounds stronger than delicious. It was so good that it made your mouth water~!


It was delectable.


This is a really formal way of saying something is delicious.


It was palatable.


This is another formal word but it sounds kind of weak, like someone is forcing themselves to say it tasted nice.


Have a great day,


Phil

Tokyo's a real rat race!

Do you know what this expression mean?


According to thefreedictionary.com it means:


A fierce struggle for success, especially in one's career or business. 


or


A noun meaning a difficult, tiring, often competitve routine  or activity.


To remember the meaning just imagine a bunch of rats fighting or racing each other! Another good image is when you see video of tokyo or New York at super speed...


A: I heard you're quitting your job.
B: Yeah I'm tired of the rat race. I'm going to move to the country.
A: Sounds nice.


Any questions?


Phil

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Sorry for the lack of posts but I lost track of time...

Hey everyone, I've been busy this month with the start of a new year and new classes so it slipped my mind (I forgot) to post~!


I'm not sure if we covered this idiom but have you ever lost track of time?


It means that while you were busy doing something you were so absorbed into it that you didn't notice the time passing.


A: Where've you been?
B: Huh? What're you talking about? It's 6 o'clock~!
A: No, it's 8 o'clock!
B: What?! I was reading a book and I guess I lost track of time.


Ok, have a nice Golden Week!


Phil

Monday, April 16, 2012

Color Idioms Part 5 - red

Today, we'll continue our series about color idioms with the color RED.

Red is the color of embarrassment, anger and losing money.

He's red in the face.

She became red-faced.


Meaning they were embarrassed - their face got flushed and turned red.

To see red means you are really angry~!

When I saw her with another man I saw red~!


When talking about losing money we talk about red ink.

That companies bleeding red...

..meaning losing lots of money, they're dying. Red is also associated with blood.

That company's in the red.

After going bankrupt in 2010, JAL is finally out of the red.

Out of the red means you're no longer losing money.

A few more interesting idioms are:

It's a red herring.

Meaning it is something that draws attention away from the main topic. It is tricking you to focus on the WRONG thing.

I caught him red-handed.

It is similar to "I caught him with his hand in the cookie jar". It means you are caught in the act of doing something wrong or illegal.

Have a good week~!

Phil




Sunday, April 15, 2012

What do you do when you wanna veg out?

Have you ever heard the expression:

to veg out

Veg comes from the word vegetable. So, it is pronounced veh-ju. It is used as a phrasal verb with out to mean to act like a vegetable. To sit and relax without moving.

I like vegging out in front of the TV.

That guy is such a stoner, he's always vegging out smoking weed and listening to Pink Floyd.

A stoner is someone who smokes a lot of marijuana. Weed is another word for marijuana.

Pink Floyd is a band popular with stoners. Here's the video Comfortably Numb for you guys to veg out to!



Ok time for me to continue my Sunday night vegging out watching movies...

See you!

Phil

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Color Idioms Part 4 - blue

Today we're going to continue our color idioms series by talking about the color:

BLUE

This color is usually associated with depression.

You look blue. What's wrong?

I feel blue.

I got the blues.

So as you can see, it means to feel sad. This idiom even gave it's name to the popular American musical style called THE BLUES where people sing about what is making them sad.


Here's a video of a blues song:




Other expressions, that use blue include:

A blue blood meaning a member of the nobility or upper class.

His family are blue bloods. They've been rich forever.


Blue collar means working in manufacturing. This is because people who worked on the assembly line usually wore blue jumpsuits and people who worked in the office usually wore white shirts.

So office work = a white-collar job and factory work = a blue-collar job.

I don't want to work a blue-collar job, it's too tough!


Blue can also mean the sky, which gives us idioms like "out of the blue" or "like a bolt out of the blue". This means that something was a complete surprise/very unexpected just like a lightning bolt happening when the sky is clear blue~!

When he proposed it came like a bolt out of the blue!


Any questions?

Phil

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Hold the mayo!

Do you guys know what the title of this lesson means? It is a useful phrase for when you go to a restaurant and you want to tell the staff NOT TO ADD something. For example:

Hold the mayo. = No mayonnaise.

If you want to be more polite, you can add please.

Hold the mayonnaise, please.

In Japanese, if you don't want wasabi on your sushi you would say:

わさび抜き or

山葵なし

So nuki or nashi is the same as:

Hold/No X.

Waiter: Are you ready to order?

Customer: Yeah, I'll have a hamburger-no pickles.

Waiter: OK, a hamburger hold the pickles. Anything else?

Customer: A martini please, hold the olives.

Waiter: A martini, no olives & a hamburger with no pickles. Got it.

Customers: Thanks.

Waiter: I'll be right back with your order.

Have a nice day!

Phil