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

Are you a slob?

Hey everyone, have you heard the casual English noun a slob before? It means someone who is VERY MESSY, they often have food stains on their clothes, their rooms have garbage everywhere, etc. I think it might be similar to the Japanese: ふしだらな人.


A: I had to break up with Paul.


B: Really? Why? He was such a good guy.


A: Yeah, but he was a total slob! His apartment was really gross.


-----------------


Hal: Jill, you have to stop being such a slob at work!


Jill: Huh? What do you mean?


Hal: People are starting to complain about all the empty take-out containers all over your desk and your overflowing trash can.


Jill: Oh, uh... sorry. I'll try to clean up more often.


So,


Are you a slob?


Phil

Tom's such a chicken!

Do you know what it means when someone calls you a chicken?

It means you are a coward, you get scared easily. If you saw the movie Back to the Future you will remember that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox's character) HATED being called a chicken!

Bill: Let's go bungee jumping!

Tom: What?! No way!

Bill: Are you chicken Tom?

Tom: No, it's just I heard it's expensive...

Bill: Pock pock pock paowk (chicken noises)

Tom: Ok, I'll go bungee jumping.

-----------at the bungee jumping site------------

Tom jumps: ahahhah haha haha This is fun~!

Bill: ...I ...I can't! It's too high.

Tom: What? You make me jump and now you're chickening out???

Bill: Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm a chicken. I'm scared of heights.

Tom: Unbelievable!

As you can see, chicken can be used as a phrasal verb (to chicken out), an adjective (he's chicken) or a noun (I'm not a chicken!).

Any questions?

Phil

I got hitched~!

Sorry everyone, I got married last month so didn't really have time to post any lessons but I want to try and make it up to you guys by posting 7-8 times this month~! To start I will cover a bunch of expressions that mean "to get married".

A: Hey, I heard you tied the knot last month!

B: Yup, it's true. I got hitched to my longtime girlfriend Anastasia.

A: So was it a shotgun wedding?

B: What?! No way!

A: Ha ha, gotcha! (got you)

B: Ha ha ha, very funny (said sarcastically). But seriously, we want to have kids in a few years.

A: Well good luck with the old ball and chain.

B: Ha ha, you're a real comedian today aren't you? (more sarcasm)

A: I do try to be funny.

B: You're not succeeding.

A: Ok, I get it. Anyways, congratulations. I hope you and Anastasia are really happy together.

B: Thanks.

A shotgun wedding in Japanese is dekichatta kekkon,　出来ちゃった結婚 . Meaning, you are getting married because you got the woman pregnant. It comes from the fact that farmers used to chase down boys who got their daughters pregnant with a shotgun and force the boys to marry their daughters!!

Got you (gotcha) means I tricked you or you fell for my joke.

The old ball and chain is an expression men use to describe their wives--it isn't very polite so men usually use it when their wives are NOT around. It comes from the fact that prisoners in jail used to wear a chain attached to a heavy metal ball that stopped them from running away!

More lessons soon, have a nice weekend!

Phil

Sticker Shock~!

Hey everyone do you know what

Sticker shock

means? It means that after you look at the price tag(the sticker-in Japanese you say seal) you get a shock because the price is super high~!

Customer: Wow, that's a beautiful coat.

Store clerk: Yes we have it in brown and black.

Customer (looks at the price): ...

Store clerk: Is everything ok? You're very quiet all of a sudden.

Customer: I'm fine, just a bit of sticker shock. Unfortunately, it's out of my price range.

Store Clerk: Ah, ok. We have something similar but much cheaper one over here...

Do you understand the usage of sticker shock?

In the conversation, you also saw the expression "it's out of my price range" which means it is TOO EXPENSIVE FOR ME.

Price range is the price you are willing or able to pay. For example, from 300 to 1500 yen is my price range when I go shopping for t-shirts.

Man: I wanna go to Hawaii with my wife.

Travel Agent: What's your price range for the trip?

Man: Not too expensive maybe 1000$ each for 4 days...

Have a good week,

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

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

Stop hogging the remote~!

Hey everyone, today I will be talking about the verb to hog. Now the noun hog means pig or in casual English it can mean motorcycle(usually like a Harley Davidson).

The verb to hog means that you are NOT sharing, you are being selfish and keeping something for yourself. It is often used among family members, young people and close friends.

It's early in the morning and your house has only one bathroom, your sister has been inside for 30 minutes so you bang on the door and say:

"Stop hogging the bathroom~! I gotta get ready for work!"

You are watching TV and your brother has had the remote (in Japanese, rimocon) for over one hour so you yell:

Philip: Mom, Marc's hogging the remote!

Mom: Give your brother the remote Marc, you have to share.

Marc: Oh OK, here you go...

Well I hope you enjoyed this mini-lesson, have a nice week,

Phil

Watch out for her she's a total cougar!

Today we are going to talk about a pretty new slang word: a cougar. This is a pretty popular new word and there is even a new sitcom (situational comedy - a 30 minute comedy show) on TV called Cougar Town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HLhOrQuy9U


A cougar is an older woman who dates younger men often to use them for sex. I heard that the word started in Canada(maybe Calgary?) but I am not sure if that is true. Some young guys like to go to "cougar bars" to meet older women for sex and not have to think of the complications you get from relationships...

...it is an interesting phenomenon because when older men date younger women people are not so surprised and consider it normal but when older women date younger women it is still considered a bit shocking. This is what we call a double standard, meaning one thing is ok but the opposite isn't.

Hope you enjoyed this mini-lesson on recent slang~!

Phil

P.S. slang is what we call a very casual form of speech for example gyakunan is slang for gyanku nanpa or reverse picking up in Japanese ^_-