At Christmas? On Christmas? For Christmas? During Christmas? Over Christmas?

Hey everyone, the holiday season is coming up so I thought I'd revisit prepositions and their slight variations in meaning. 

during Christmas

This isn't used so often in North American English but the expression is talking about during Christmas vacation or during the Christmas holidays/season. Actually, it is rare to hear during Christmas being used on it's own it will usually be followed by another word such as season/holidays/vacation and is usually preceeded by THE.

I love the all the decorations during the Christmas season.

Where did you go during (the) Christmas vacation?

He's always in a good mood during the Christmas holidays.

A similar expression is over Christmas which is used with holidays or vacation.

What did you do over the Christmas holidays?

I stayed home & relaxed over (the) Christmas vacation?

for Christmas

For is used to indicate a PURPOSE, GOAL or REASON. It's not used to talk about time.

This is for you.

I got this for my birthday.

So for Christmas is talking about the reason you did something.

Dan: What are you doing for Christmas?

Alice: Well, I have to work so we'll have a special dinner on December 22nd. How about you?

Dan: For Christmas I'm putting up a ton of decorations & lights before going skiing in Switzerland!

On Christmas

On is used to indicate a specific DAY so if someone says "on Christmas" they're talking about December 25th only.

On Christmas, I always eat a big dinner.

I loved opening presents on Christmas morning when I was a kid.

At Christmas

At is used to indicate a specific time(noon, midnight, 1PM, etc.), in this case it is a time of year. It has a similar meaning to during the Christmas season.

People tend to tip more at Christmas.

I love it when it's snowy at Christmas.

At Christmas time, I always try & drink Christmas beer or eggnog!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Phil

A few vs few What's the difference?

Way back in 2009 I did a lesson about countable & uncountable nouns today we're gonna look into the difference between a few & few. Both of these are used with countable nouns. HOWEVER, they have a different emphasis.

a few

This is POSITIVE you are stressing that you don't have a lot but you're happy you have a small amount of something.

I'm happy I have a few good friends like you guys.

Do you have a few minutes? I'd like to ask you a question.

On Thanksgiving, when I went to the supermarkets they had a few cans of cranberries left! I got lucky!

Pick up a few beers on your way home.

few

This is NEGATIVE, you're stressing that you're unhappy with how little you have of something.

I have few friends in Kyoto, it sucks.

Few people came to my birthday party, it was a real disappointment.

I got few presents last Christmas.

It's important to note that this usage sounds a bit old fashioned. Nowadays, people are more like to just use a negative sentence.

I don't have many friends in Kyoto, it sucks.

Not many people came to my birthday party, it was really disappointing.

I didn't get many presents last Christmas.

Now if you want to make similar sentences for UNCOUNTABLE nouns use a little and little.

a little

Yeah, I have a little time right now so we can talk if you like.

I had a little extra money left over at the end of the month so I was happy.

Can I have a little water?

little

Hurry up! There's little time left before the dealine.

After finishing our Christmas shopping we had little money left.

A beach with little sand isn't so nice.

Again just like few, little also sounds old fashioned. Any questions?

Phil

He has a hidden agenda.

Have you guys heard this expression before? It sounds somewhat formal so it might be used in business but could also be used among friends or acquaintances (知り合い).

agenda

This word is used in French for your schedule book, this word is used in English to mean a list of things to do or consider. It's often used in British English as well as Business English.

Boss: What's on the agenda today?

Secretary: We have a meeting at 11 & then a factory tour at 2:30.

So the term hidden agenda means that someone has a hidden goal or a secret plan.

I don't trust him, why's he suddenly being nice to me? I think he has a hidden agenda.

My company was bought by an international giant but they had a hidden agenda. They only wanted our software division, now the rest of us are getting fired!

Remember, this is a NEGATIVE expression used when you want to say that a 3rd party has a hidden motive or evil plan. What they say they want is not what they REALLY want.

Have a good week,

Phil

Take it with a grain of salt.

Have you heard this idiom before? It means that you should be skeptical of something, you should have doubts about it, or you shouldn't believe something completely. You can find some example's from the urban dictionary here and in Japanese here.

Take this with a grain of salt but I've heard Sega will launch a new game console in 2014.

This means, I'm not sure if this is true but...

Gerry: My teacher said I'm his favorite student!

Kal: I think you should take that with a grain of salt he told me that last week, too. 

This means that you shouldn't believe what he said completely.

I always take online product reviews with a grain of salt, many reviewers are getting paid by the manufacturers!

This means that I don't completely trust online product reviews.

Have a great week,

Phil

Do I hear wedding bells?

Have you ever heard this expression?

People use it to comment on someone else's relationship. When you hear someone talking about a boyfriend/girlfriend in a really happy loving excited way someone might ask you this question!

Jill: Jack's such a great guy, handsome, kind, funny. I can't wait for you to meet him!

Kris: So, do I hear wedding bells?

Jill: Well, it's only been a few months but...

"Do I hear wedding bells?" is a cute fun way to ask someone "Would you marry them?" or "Do you think you're gonna marry them?". So the verb to hear wedding bells means that you think someone will get married (usually soon).

Josephine: I hear your grandson's dating a doctor.

Francesca: Yes, I hear wedding bells in their future!


Have a nice week,

Phil

Ditto

Does anyone know this word & how it is used?

It means the same as what someone said before. We use it when we're in groups.

Al: I hope you had fun.

Bob: Yeah, it was a great party, thanks for inviting me.

Carl: Ditto.

In this case it means: "Great party, thanks for inviting me too."

Kay: The new math teacher's horrible.

Helen: Ditto.

In this case it means: "I think so too".

Have a nice week,

Phil

Oh! You startled me!

As it is Halloween I decided to look at an expression that is commonly used when describing what happens when watching a horror movie. Today we'll look at the verbs: to startle (someone) or to be startled.

These verbs are talking about when someone is suddenly surprised and they jump & say Oh! or aargh!

To startle (someone)

In Japanese, this would be ケツ毛を抜く. 

(turns on the light)
Aargh! You startled me! What are you doing sitting in the dark?

When the murderer suddenly showed up in the third scene, it really startled me! I jumped in my theater seat!

To be startled

In Japanese, it would be　ギョッとする.

When she smiled and I saw her crooked yellow teeth I was really startled!

When the alarm suddenly went off, everyone in the office was startled.

Here are some examples:




Happy Halloween~!

Phil

On TV vs On a TV

Here's a quick lesson on the importance of properly using a.

If you say:

I was on TV.

This means that you appeared on TV. You were on a TV show.

http://www.goodenoughmother.com/2013/08/good-enough-mother-tv-alert-rene-on-today-and-the-bill-cunningham-show/

My mother is on TV all the time, she works for a news show.


I am on A TV.

This means that you are standing on top of a TV~! Of course now that we have flatscreen TVs it is harder to do...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brennapercyphotos/4176678287/

Hey get down~! Standing on a TV is dangerous!

Of course, usually we talk about the TV set in our own homes so in that case we usually use THE TV. Because we are talking about one specific TV.

The cat is sleeping on top of the TV again.

Don't put heaving things on the TV.

Grant: Where's the remote?

Ned: I think it's next to the TV.

Any questions?

Phil

Can I ask you a question?

Hey everyone, today we're going to have a quick lesson about cultural miscommunications. These often occur when you use a sentence in a language that has an added meaning or connotation.

A few weeks ago I asked a class of students, "Does anyone have any questions?" and one of my students said "Can I ask you a question?". Now this sent up a red warning flag! Another sentence that does this is "We need to talk".

She didn't need to ask this question, I had just offered to answer any questions so she should have simply gone directly to her question.

For native English speakers when someone asks you "Can I ask you a question?" we take it as a WARNING that the next question will be something personal or it will be an uncomfortable question.

Usually we simply ask the question directly or we will see if the person has time to answer our question by saying "Do you have a minute?".

A: Does anyone have any questions?

B: Can I ask you a question?

A: Uh... yeah... ok, shoot.

B: What halloween party should I go to?

A: Umm...?

In this case A is confused because he offered to answer questions, so by asking "Can I ask you a question?" he expected a more serious question to be asked. She should have said:

A: Does anyone have any questions?

B: Can I ask you a question unrelated to English?

A: Sure.

B: What halloween party should I go to?

A: Umm... how about the one at Tadg's?

In this case, A is curious about the topic but it doesn't sound so serious. If you want to ask a question about a different topic than what is being discussed ask "Can I ask you an unrelated question?".

Here's the kind of usage we expect from "Can I ask you a question?":

Al: So how's it going?

Betty: Not bad, can I ask you a question?

Al: Uhm, ok. 

Betty: What would you do if I was pregnant?

Al: What!? You're pregnant?!?!

Betty: No, not yet but what would you do if I got pregnant?

Al: Uhh... well, I don't know... I guess I'd...

Have a nice cloudy day,

Phil

hit, hat, hot, hut...

Today, we'll have a quick little pronunciation lesson. Let's look at the difference between these four words.

hit

This means that one thing knocks into something else. It has a flat mid-tone intonation - hit.

hat

This is a piece of clothing people wear on their head. It has a rising intonation // hat.

hot

This means that the temperature is high. It has a flat high-intonation ─ hot.

hut

This is a sort of simple house, often found on tropical islands made out of reeds. It has a low flat intonation hut.

Now let's practice~~!

He hid his hat in the hot hut.
--------------//----------──___

So the intonation is constant for "He hid his" then it rises on "hat" then is a flat high tone for "hot" before being a low flat tone for "hut".

Have a nice night,

Phil

We go way back...

This weekend one of my ex-students & good friends came into town for a visit so I thought I'd introduce a few expressions you can use in casual English to say that you've known someone for a long time.

We go way back.

You often use this when introducing an old friend or someone you've known for a very long time.

Alice: Kay,I had no idea you knew Jerry.

Kay: Yeah, we go way back but I haven't seen him in years. We kind of lost touch.

To lose touch with someone is when you lose contact with them & don't know what they are doing anymore...

Another way of saying the same thing:

We go back a long way.

Fred: How long have you been friends with Jack.

Jim: Jack? Oh, we go back a long way... maybe 15-20 years.

Fred: Wow, that's a long time!

Have a great week,

Phil

No sweat.

For the last lesson of the month and as summer is ending we will look at two idioms/expressions that use the word SWEAT. In Japanese, it means 汗, あせ. Idioms or expressions that use this word tend to be Guy's English. Women don't usually talk about sweating so they rarely use these expressions...

No sweat.

This simply means no problem. It comes from the fact that doing something is easy and won't cause you to sweat.

Jill: Can you help me fix my car?

Jack: Sure, no sweat. I'm good with cars.

----

General: How did the mission go?

Soldier: No sweat. Everything went according to plan.

I'm sweating like a pig.

This is used when you want to say you're sweating like crazy or sweating a lot. It is very casual and kind of crude so it's usually used between close male friends.

Warren: Wow, it's 42C! 

Dick: Yeah, I'm sweating like a pig.

Warren: Me too, let's go somewhere with air conditioning.

Dick: Good idea.

If you use this expression to talk about someone else it is HIGHLY NEGATIVE so be careful. In this situation men or women may use it.

Nancy: My new boss is always sweating like a pig.

Fiona: Eww... gross!

Enjoy the upcoming cooler weather~!

Phil

Close but no Cigar

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I've been busy with many things since I got back from Europe. Including my other blog: Kansai Beer Lovers & it's Facebook Page. But I thought it was high time(which means the appropriate or urgent time) that I get off my lazy butt and post some English tips~!

Today we are looking at the popular saying close but no cigar. This came from the days when carnival games would give out cigars as prizes in the US during the early 20th century. It basically means you almost won. It means you came close to succeeding but no prize for you.

In terms of usage it is most often used by your opponent. This is something the carnival staff would say when you nearly won the game.

Al: I knocked down 3 glasses one more and I get the biggest prize!

(throws the ball and misses)

Carnie: Close but no cigar, better luck next time kid.

Carnie is North American slang for someone who works at a carnival.

You could also use it when talking to yourself or friends to describe nearly getting what you want or almost winning.

Glen: Did you get the promotion?

Harry: Close but no cigar, I got a raise though.

Glen: Not bad!

--------
(playing a crane claw game at an arcade)

Dan: Almost there, just a little more... now.

(misses the Nitendo DS)

Dan: Oh! Close but no cigar. Ok one more try...

In Japanese it means: もう一歩の or すれすれの. You can find more about this expression on weblio or on phrases dot org. Another good example would be when talking about online auctions on ebay or similar sites...

Tim: Did you win the auction for that new pc?

Jim: Nah, close but no cigar... I lost by just 25 cents!

Tim: That sucks dude.

Ok everyone that's it for now. I'll leave you with a song by Weird Al Yankovic called "Close but no Cigar!

Practice your onomatopoeia~!

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posting last month but I was busy traveling. Today we will look at onomatopoeia are words that are based on sounds. For example, squeak is the sound of a rusty door hinge and boom is the sound of a bomb exploding.

This is a cute funny video that starts of listing a bunch of English onomatopoeia for animals and then asks the question "What does the fox say?" because it is true in English no one seems to know what sound a fox makes... maybe because they're so quiet?

Enjoy the video!




A cow goes moo moo.

A bird goes tweet tweet. (which is where the word twitter comes from)

A dog goes woof woof or bow wow.

A cat goes meow meow.

A pig goes oink oink.

A chicken goes cluck cluck.

A duck goes quack quack.

Have a nice day,

Phil

Wanna go for a dip?

Hey everyone, summer vacation has started so I am not sure how often I will be posting on this blog so here  is a small lesson.

to dip

This is a verb that means to go down briefly. It can be used in many ways:

When he slow-danced with me, he dipped me & we kissed. It was romantic!

I dipped my toes into the pool to check the water's temperature.

Don't dip your chips into the dip twice! No double-dipping!

You can see in the last example that dip can also be a noun. The first meaning is a kind of sauce that you dip your chips or vegetables in to give it some extra flavor.

The second meaning is a short swim. This is a word we often use during the summer. So if someone asks you:

Wanna go for a dip?

They mean:

Do you want to go for a quick swim?

Have a great summer vacation!

Phil

Let's grab a bite!

Way back in 2010 I did a two part series on the word bite. During this summer vacation you can revisit that lesson here.

The most useful expression is:

to grab a bite

Bite means ひとくちin Japanese. Kids often say:

Wow, that looks good! Gimme a bite!

which in Japanese would be:

ううわー美味しそう！一口ちょうだい！

When someone uses grab a bite they are talking about having a quick light meal.

Wanna grab a bite together sometime?

This is a casual invitation to a date.

I'm hungry, let's grab a bite somewhere.

This means let's take a break and eat something.

Another interesting use of bite is an idiom you can use when you are full.

Man, I'm stuffed. I couldn't eat another bite.

or

I'm so full if I eat another bite I'll explode!

Have a nice weekend,

Phil

What's he like?

Today I'm gonna look at three very similar questions that non-native English speakers can easily mix up.


What's he like?

This is asking about PERSONALITY. Let's look at some correct responses:

He's dependable (頼りに出来る). <----> He's undependable.

He's really funny & outgoing.

He's pragmatic (practical).

He is a bit scatterbrained (in Japanese おっちょこちょい).

What does he like?

This is asking about his PREFERENCES. It is often used by shop staff when someone is gift shopping.

He likes golf.

He loves playing tennis.

He enjoys reading.

He's always gardening.

What does he look like?

This is asking about his APPEARANCE.

He's tall and good looking.

He's short & stocky.

He has blue eyes and short blond hair.

He has dark brown hair & a small nose.

He's average height & wears glasses.

Notice that we use is + adjectives and has + nouns or noun phrases.

Have a great week!

Phil

Some words are older than they appear...

This is a great article about many slang words which are much older than most people think.

Check it out:

http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51857/16-words-are-much-older-they-seem

Enjoy,

Phil

When it rains it pours...

Have you guys heard this saying before? 

We use it when many bad things happen to someone all at once. It means that when it rains it isn't just a light drizzle it is a torrential downpour!  So people use it when suddenly many bad things happen to them at once and they'll just say "When it rains it pours..." meaning that is life, bad things tend to all happen at the same time.

Ah man, my bike chain popped off, I missed my train and now I'm late for work!!~! This sucks! When it rains it pours!

Any questions?

Phil

English pronunciation poem

I found this as a status update one of my friends shared on Facebook. It is an interesting poem full of words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. Unfortunately, it is kind of long...

Are you up for the challenge of reading it aloud?

By English Language Coach

If you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world.

After trying the verses, a Frenchman said he’d prefer six months of hard labour to reading six lines aloud.

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Fe0ffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

English Pronunciation by G. Nolst Trenité

A black joke..? huh? - Katakana English

Hey everyone, today while I was at work I heard my co-workers talking in Japanese and they used a Katakana English word in their conversation. I was kind of shocked because they said black joke.

Now, from they context I could see they meant a kind of dark joke about death or some other horrible event. BUT in English a black joke meands a racist joke about black people!

It is not politically correct and not funny. I told my coworkers they should have used a different expression because people may get offended if they hear you saying black joke... instead use one of the three following terms

black humor

Whenever something bad happens I also use black humor to lighten the mood.

dark humor

Tom has a really dark sense of humor, he's always joking about death and other tragedies.

gallows humor

This is when people make jokes about death before a coming battle, execution(gallows are the execution platform for hanging) or other terrible event happens.

So tomorrow we all lose our jobs when the factory closes, I guess it is time for some gallows humor...

Be careful guys! Sometimes katakana English can be misunderstood and get you in trouble~!

Phil

familiar to vs. familiar with

For the first lesson this month, I am going to look at the difference between familiar to and familiar with. These two expressions have almost identical meanings only what you are emphasizing is different. They are both saying that someone has knowledge about something, they know about it.

familiar to -------->

This means that the person after familiar to knows about something.

topic + familiar to + person

I'm sorry you're name isn't familiar to me, have we met?

Magic: The Gathering is really familiar to me, I used to play it in high school.

<-----familiar b="" with="">

This means that the person BEFORE familiar with knows about what comes AFTER.

person + familiar with + topic

Are you familiar with computers?

I'm familiar with the Korean writing system, I used to live in Seoul.

She's familiar with unarmed combat, she's done judo since she was 5.

Have a good week,

Phil

Other than vs except

Hey everyone, for my last lesson of the month I'd like to talk about something that non-native english speakers often mix up: other than and except.

These have really similar meanings but t heir usage is slightly different.

Other than

This is the same as in Japanese, ほかに, it is used at the start of the sentence to exclude the next thing you mention.

Other than chocolate, what sweets do you like?
(What other sweets do you like(not including chocolate)?)

I know you've been to Seoul so... other than Seoul where have you been in Korea?

Other than that, how was your trip?

Except

This is used at the middle of end of sentences, it is usually used with LISTS.

I like all kinds of chocolate except white chocolate, I hate it.

He loves playing sports, except he doesn't play winter sports. He dislikes the cold.

I am usually free on weeknights except on Thursdays...

You can choose anything on the menu except the lobster.

Have a good week,

Phil

Let's get this over with...

Hey guys, here's a quick lesson for the weekend. Have you heard this expression before?

get (something) over with

This is a set phrase people use when they have to do something but DON'T want to do it. In that situation it is better to get it over with and finish it as quickly as possible.

Ugh, dinner with my in-laws? Ok, let's get this over with...

Alright, neither of us wants to be here. The faster we start the faster we finish. Let's get it over with as quickly as possible so we can both go home.

I wish my results would arrive! I want to get all this waiting over with!

Have a nice weekend,

Phil

sometime vs. sometimes

Hey guys, do you know the difference between the two?

Sometime in Japanese would be いつか meaning someday or at some unknown point in the future.

Give me a call sometime.

I want to check out that new bar sometime.

If you're in the neighborhood sometime, drop by.

It is usually used to talk about the relatively near future. If you want to talk about something that is a dream of yours you'd like to do at some point but probably can't use someday. It has a bit of a wishful feeling to it, you aren't sure if it will happen but you'd like it to.

Someday, I wanna visit Antarctica.

We will meet again someday.

I'll be back in Peru someday.

I'll marry that woman someday, I just know it!

Sometimes in Japanese would be 時々（ときどき）it means every once in awhile, occasionally, etc.

I like to shop online sometimes.

Sometimes, I have a drink on the way home from work.

Jim: Do you & Gary often hang out?

Darryl: Yeah, sometimes.

He sometimes takes lessons on Sundays, but usually he goes to the Friday class.

Any questions?

Phil

When I was a kid...

...I always used to play using my imagination. It was great!

Today we are looking at the word:

kid

This word has a few meanings.

The original meaning is a baby goat!

Wow, what a cute mama goat & kid!

These gloves are many of the finest kid skin.

These days most people don't use this meaning as most people aren't farmers anymore.

The most common usage in North American English is as the casual word for child.

Saying "When I was a child" sounds very formal and old fashioned to people in Canada & the US. Instead, we say "When I was a kid".

Did you see that kid break the window?

Do you want to have kids?

Kids often get into trouble.

When I was a kid, I loved Star Wars!

I'm not a kid anymore, I'm 19!

He's just a kid, he can't play with us.

That's my kid brother.

The last two are a related meaning that says someone is younger than yourself.

The last major meaning of kid is as a verb: to kid. This means to joke, to pull someone's leg, to try and trick someone, to tease.

No kidding, Tom got married again?
meaning really, you're not trying to trick me

I was just kidding.
meaning I was just joking.

Stop kidding around this is serious!
meaning stop making jokes

My Dad likes to kid around.
meaning my Dad likes to make jokes & trick people

Are you kidding? No way!

The last one can be used to ask someone "Really?" when they tell you something incredible or add me at the end to express frustration when something unbelievable happens.

Are you kidding me? Someone dented my car! Again!

Are you kidding me? The train is late again!?

Have a nice week,

Phil

Let's talk about parking!

Now here in Japan if you live in the city you don't really need to think about parking all that much but in many parts of North America the car is king and parking can be a big issue so today we'll look at some parking related words.

Most homes have a driveway. This is the strip of asphalt or gravel you drive up to get to your house, in the countryside or for rich people with a big estate the driveway can be quite long but most people simply have enough space to park one or two cars.

When we talk about parking we use three similar sounding words:

parking lot

This is usually the big parking area around a shop or mall. It's also the area under buildings or the lot where many people leave their cars and have to pay an hourly(or daily) parking fee to park their cars.

A: Did you hear about that innovative parking lot in Florida?

B: No, what's so special about it?

A; It's a multi-story parking garage but instead of being all gray concrete it's full of shops and even trees. Take a look!

http://www.isaacsandcompany.com/listings/1111-lincoln-road/

B: Wow, I can't believe that's a parking lot!

Often, when it isn't a lot (a piece of land, usually empty) but is instead a building we call it a parking garage. 

parking space

This is used as a place where you regularly park your car. Think of an office building where many parking spaces are assigned to employees and have their names written on them using paint. The key thing here is when you say parking space, you emphasize it's yours & you probably often park there.  It conveys a sense of possession.

This morning when I came into work, some car was in my parking space!

I moved into the city and I need to find a parking space for my car.

parking spot

This is more casual than parking space and it feels more temporary. We often use this when looking for a place to park... Parking space & parking spot can be used interchangeably. It is more of a feeling than a hard rule and can change based on different English dialects

I spent 30 minutes driving around the mall parking lot looking for a parking spot!

I hate driving downtown, it takes forever to find a parking spot on the street & I refuse to pay the high prices at paid parking lots.

Can you believe it? We found a parking spot so close to the elevators? We got lucky!    

Have a nice weekend,

Phil