yummy vs yucky

Hey everyone, I haven't posted an opposites lesson in awhile and I thought of a good pair people should know.

YUMMY vs YUCKY

Both of these are KID's English. Children use them when talking about food, when adult's use them it sounds kind of cute so men tend not to use these words so much (unless they are talking to kids).

Yummy means delicious, the food or drink tastes great. In Japanese, you'd say おいしい.

This cake is delicious~!

This cake is yummy!

このケーキはおいしいよ！

These sentences all have the same meaning but yummy sounds cuter more childish.

Yucky means something tastes bad or is digusting/gross. It is usually used to talk about food/drinks but can also be used to talk about things. It's almost never used by adults... In Japanese, when talking about food you'd say まずい. Adults might use the interjection "Yuck!" which is where yucky comes from (add y to make a noun an adjective).

A: Try this milk...

B: YUCK! Why did you ask me to drink that? It's gone bad!

A: I just wanted to double check.

B: I could have smelled it! I didn't have to drink it. Gross.

A: Sorry.

Here's an example using yucky:

Mother: Eat your natto.

Kid: Natto's yucky! No!

Mother: It's healthy, just try some...

Kid: Yuck~! No more it's yucky >_<

Have a good week,

Phil

TH sound practice 2

Ok so for a quick Saturday night lesson I thought I'd give you guys a sentence I like my students to use to practice saying the TH sound correctly. You can see a previous post on this topic here.

The TH sound is made by placing your tongue between your front teeth and pulling it back. Here is a nice graphic:

I got this image from englishsecret.com's page on the TH sound which also has a video. You can visit it here.

The sentence I like is:

Think things through thoroughly.

The first part "Think things through" is from the idiom "think something through" which means to think about your plan and work through it in your mind to see the possible results/outcomes. It basically means to consider something carefully before making a decision.

By adding thoroughly, I am making the sentence stronger. Thoroughly means completely or carefully.

Have a great night,

Phil

must, have to, got to

Today we'll talk about things that you are obligated to do. You have no choice, you are required to do it. In those situations you can use the following verbs:

Must

This is very formal sounding and isn't really used in casual conversation.

I'm terribly sorry but I must be going.

Have to

This is a fairly standard verb used to talk about obligations.

I'm sorry but I have to go.

In more casual English you would say hafta.

I'm sorry but I hafta go.

I hafta clean my room, it's a real mess right now.

In the past tense, to talk about things you were obliged to do before, use had to.

I had to wear a uniform in high school.

If you want to sound more casual use had TA.

I had TA do my homework when I was a kid or I'd get in trouble.

Got to

Another verb with exactly the same meaning is got to.

I'm sorry but I got to go.

I got to work hard to realize my dreams.

In casual English, we say godda.

I godda call my Mom, it's her birthday today!

I think got to sounds slightly more friendly/casual than have to. It is also only used to talk about current obligations NOT things you had to do in the past.

Well, I godda go. I hafta get ready for work.

See you,

Phil

Famished, Starving, Parched...

Hey guys, I have eaten breakfast yet so I am famished. Do you know what that means? It means I am really hungry. It is a pretty high level word. A more common expression is I'm starving. This actually means that you are dying from a lack of food but is often used to mean you're really hungry.

If you're really thirsty you can say I'm parched. Or maybe "My throat's dry as a bone".

Another common expression where people exaggerate is:

I'm dying of NOUN...

I'm dying of thirst.

I'm really really thirsty.

I'm dying of hunger.

I'm really really hungry.

I'm dying of boredom.

I'm really really bored.

I'm dying of cold.
I'm really really cold.

It Japanese you would say 死ぬほど寒い. 

OK it's time to eat, I'm hungry~!

Phil

Make up your mind~!

Today I am going to talk about a really common basic idiom that I am a little surprised I haven't already covered. 

make up my/your mind

This simply means to decide, to choose something.

Al: Where do you want to eat?

Beb: I dunno, how about you?

Al: Anywhere is ok, how about Italian food?

Beb: No, I had Italian last night.

Al: Ok, where?

Beb: Thai? No, Chinese... no, no, I got it Morrocan... no.. how about...

Al: Hurry up and make up your mind, it's freezing outside and I'm hungry!

Beb: Ok, ok. Morrocan it is.

So in this case it is used to tell someone to pick a place to eat.

Helen: Have you decided where to go to college?

Glenn: I can't make up my mind. It's either Harvard or Oxford.

Here someone is using it to say they can't choose between 2 different schools.

Any questions?

Phil

Do you have a phone? vs. Do you have your phone?

Hey everyone, so today I was out with my wife and she asked me:

Do you have a phone?

What she meant to say was:

Do you have your phone?

Let's take a quick look at the difference between the two.

Do you have A phone?

Means simply if somewhere in the world there is a phone that belongs to you. In Japanese it would be something like:

携帯電話を持っていますか？

Whereas "Do you have your phone?" means "Did you bring your phone with you?". In Japanese it might be something like:

携帯電話を持ってきますか？

This just goes to show that using A can truly change the meaning of a sentence!

I ate some watermelon.

Meaning I ate a few pieces of watermelon.

I ate A watermelon.

Means that you ate a WHOLE watermelon by yourself!

Have a nice weekend,

Phil

I'm feeling a bit below par...

So cold & flu season is here and many people are feeling a bit sick. So I decided to  present a few useful expressions!

below par

This means that you are not feeling as good as usual or normal. We use it when we feel a little tired or sick.

Glen: Hey Jerry, how's it going?

Jerry: I'm feeling a bit below par.

Glen: Oh Really? Why's that?

Jerry: I think I've been working too much...

Glen: That's too bad.

under the weather

Here's a similar expression we also use when we feel a little sick.  

Helen: How's your husband doing these days?

Jen: He's been feeling under the weather lately, he caught a cold.

Helen: That's too bad. Tell him I hope he feels better soon.

I hope everyone got their flu shots, remember to wash your hands and take care of yourselves!

Phil