Let's solve NPR word puzzle!

This week, let me share the NPR weekend puzzle (that was on air on August 25, 2019). It is a bit challenging but fun brainteaser.

For each question, give the name of a famous person with only one name, either because they literally had only one name or because they're generally known by one name. For example, if the question is “usual - U-S-U-A-L - minus U for a biblical king”, the answer is “Saul”.

<1> video - V-I-D-E-O - minus E for a Roman poet.

<2> chrome - C-H-R-O-M-E - minus C for a Greek poet.

<3> Leader - L-E-A-D-E-R - minus R for a singer.

<4> S-H-A-K-E-N - minus N for a singer.

<5> Titanic - T-I-T-A-N-I-C - minus C for an Italian artist.

<6> Pearlash - P-E-A-R-L-A-S-H - minus S for a painter.

<7> Optician - O-P-T-I-C-I-A-N – minus one I, a Native American leader which is also the name of a bygone car.

<8> Palacetour - P-A-L-A-C-E-T-O-U-R - minus U for an Egyptian queen.

<9> Merchandise - M-E-R-C-H-A-N-D-I-S-E - minus N for an ancient Greek mathematician inventor.

<Answer Keys>

    1.   Ovid

    2.   Homer

    3.   Adele

    4.   Kesha

    5.   Titian

    6.   Raphael

    7.   Pontiac

    8.   Cleopatra

    9.   Archimedes

Food Idioms

Let go over some interesting English expressions which have but do not mean food items!

  

   

   1.  to take ….  with a grain/pinch of salt: to accept that …..might be exaggerated

   2.  like chalk and cheese: opposites

   3.  to go pear-shaped: to fail or to turn out unexpectedly wrong

   4.  …doesn’t cut the mustard: ….doesn’t meet or live up to the required standard

   5.  a hard nut to crack: a difficult person to understand or difficult problem to solve

   6.  a bad apple or a bad egg: a bad influence or someone who brings trouble

   7.  to butter someone up: to flatter/ brownnosing someone in the hopes of receiving special

   8.  to egg someone on: to push or urge someone to do (something mischievous or bad)

   9.  a smart cookie: a clever person who makes good decisions

  10.               icing on the cake: This expression can either be used in a positive or a negative situation. In a positive situation, it means “an additional good thing that happens to something that is already good” or “something that makes situation even better”

In a negative situation, it means “an additional bad thing that makes the already bad situation worse”.  In this case, the icing on the cake is used with a sarcastic attitude.

Time to practice! Fill in the following blanks with proper idioms learned above.

   

   1.   Hans’s car is such a fast beauty, and the addition of a turbo adds _______________________________________.

   2.   Everyone in my family knows that auntie Kirsten is a big talker. I just take whatever she says with _________________________________.

   3.   Coach Miller didn’t want to let one bad _________________ ruin the entire team. He made Tim, who had kept picking a fight with other players, benched for a year.

   4.   Have you seen the latest episode of Star Wars? Well, I think it doesn’t cut _______________________________, and most of Star Wars maniacs left the theatre a little disappointed.

   5.   Little have I imagined that you and Paul are brothers!! You guys are so different and totally opposite to each other in every way like __________________ and __________________.

   6.   What’s the answer to question #5 on the pop quiz yesterday? I still can’t figure out what the question itself means. Such a hard __________________________________!

   7.   The surprise birthday party for Ethan went __________________ as he had happened to find out about it.

   8.   Are you snapping at me? Hey, I guess you should at least  __________________ me up if you want to borrow my car!

   9.   I think you are underestimating your daughter. If you give her a chance, she’ll be one ____________________________ and make the right thing to do!

   10.               Don’t _______________ him on to drive faster. The speed limit on this road is only 45 mph!

Answer Keys

   

   

   1.  icing on the cake

   2.  a grain of salt  or a pinch of salt

   3.  apple or egg

   4.  the mustard

   5.  chalk and cheese

   6.  nut to crack

   7.  pear-shaped

   8.  butter

   9.  smart cookie

   10.              egg

Find a "Missing Word" in Sentences

It is not impossible but very hard to get your ideas across in English, using incorrect grammar. Why don’t you test out your grammatical competence? One word is missing in each sentence. Find and rewrite the sentence with the Missing Word.    (source from http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/mw001.html)

    

    

    1.   When visitors come, don't forget keep these chipped dishes out of sight.

ð   ________________________________________________________.

    2.   The car wasn't a success, so they decided to work a new model.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

    3.   The books used in our school published in the USA.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

    4.   If you don't know the meaning of a word, look up in the dictionary.

ð  ________________________________________________________.

    5.   She was little late, but still in time for the closing session.

ð  ______________________________________________________.

    6.   Young boy finally plucked up courage to invite his beautiful classmate to dinner.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

     7.   You shouldn't live memories of your childhood.

ð   ________________________________________________________.

     8.   The girl was dressed in blue head to foot.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

     9.   When they looked through the window, saw a boy hiding behind a tree.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

     10.Don't fill the glasses to brim.

ð  _________________________________________________________.

<Answer Keys>

1.  “to”:      When visitors come, don’t forget to keep these chipped dishes out of sight.

2.  “on”:    The car wasn't a success, so they decided to work on a new model.

3.  “are/ were”:  The books used in our school are/ were published in the USA.

4.  “it”:  If you don't know the meaning of a word, look it  up in the dictionary.

5.  “a” :  She was a little late, but still in time for the closing session.

6.  “The”:  The young boy finally plucked up courage to invite his beautiful classmate to dinner.

7.  “on”:  You shouldn't live on memories of your childhood.

8.  “from”: The girl was dressed in blue from head to foot.

9.  “they”: When they looked through the window, they saw a boy hiding behind a tree.

10.              “the”: Don’t fill the glasses to the brim.

Are You Saying It Right or Wrong???

Prescriptive Grammar   VS    Descriptive Grammar

Are you a grammar Nazi? Grammar is definitely needed to learn and speak a language the proper way. Then, what is “proper” and what is not? Who decides if an expression is grammatically correct or wrong? The criteria to tell correct ways of saying English from wrong ones is becoming blurred today. According to Linguistic Society of America, “The prescriptive grammarians follow the tradition of classical grammars of Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin”, whereas descriptive grammarians focus on describing what people actually use in various situations.

This week, let us take a look at the expressions based on the classical prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar in use.

PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

1.   If I were….            2.   A: Do you mind if I …?      B: No, go ahead.      3.   There’re a couple of things to do.      4.   It’s a whole other story.      5.   It’s I.      Between you and I       6.   I lay down at the beach and basked in the sun for hours yesterday.            7.   Whom did you go to the party with?      8.   (at a grocery store) If you have 10 items or fewer, use this checkout counter.      9.   Tom got it free.     10.               Does anyone have some cash?           11.               They don’t have any.      12.               Could you speak a bit slowly?            13.               I couldn’t care less.

ð  If I was … ð  Sure/ Absolutely, go ahead. ð  There’s a couple of things to do. ð  It’s a whole nother story. ð  It’s me.         Between you and me ð  I laid down at the beach and basked in the sun for hours yesterday. ð  Who did you go to the party with? ð  If you have 10 items or less, use this checkout counter.     ð  Tom got it for free. ð  Anyone have some cash?        ð  They don’t have none. ð  Could you speak a bit slow? ð  I could care less.

Dr. Jedidiah's Diary Episode #24: Walter Left His Heart in Saigon

Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures. As a single father who lost his wife Demi to drug overdose 10 years ago, he has not been his old perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he has met hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all over the world. Meeting new people and listening to their stories outside his office have given him different feelings from the ones through the formal encounter groups or support groups for therapy. These people he has accidentally come across were the paths through which Dr. Jedidiah could look on his own life, being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr. Jedidiah’s monologue that has left him with some food for thoughts in life….or a fodder to justify his own mistakes in the past.

Episode # 24. Walter left his heart in Saigon

I became a head turner the moment I stepped inside the recreation hall where a lot of garrulous senior citizens were playing bingo games. I could tell at a glance that I was the youngest ever bingo player there. All their eyes towards me seemed to be full of pride as if they’d been the highest intellects in town. A man sitting far in the corner never looked at me. His eyes were glued to his score card. I walked all the way to his table and sat right next to the man, saying “hope this isn’t taken.” No answer came back.

This stolid looking man named Walter did not even say hi until the night’s bingo game was over. As I started to pack my things and head out, this old man finally broke the ice by some throwaway remarks. “Care for a nightcap, young man?” He might have needed someone new who could hear out his life story with no prejudice or judgmental look. “I go by coldhearted Walter here in this town, but I used to be called a man of love back in the 70s. You wanna hear about my life in the Vietnamese War, kiddo?” I did not let Walter know about my occupation, because I wished to hear the raw story of his life in the Vietnam War without his touch of embellishment or distorted reflections about the bitter experience in the war zone.

Walter and his fellow soldiers were stationed as a ground combat unit in Vietnam until the point of withdrawing by November, 1971. I wondered what made Walter’s memory of the war not entirely brutal and poignant. As he mentioned, he went by ‘a man of love’ among his comrades. Yes, he was in love with a local Vietnamese woman named Mimi. Mimi was working as a waitress at a hole-in-the-wall eatery near the military unit. Walter would always eat Bánh Mì, which never seemed as good as his hometown grilled cheese sandwich, but tasted like heaven to him. It was simply because of the lovely girl Mimi at the place that Walter could enjoy any abominable dish there. She was a shy lady with an angelic smile.  Since they did not speak each other’s language, most of their conversations were misled, misunderstood, and misinterpreted. However, Mimi loved to hear Walter humming “Brown Eyed Girl” in the corner. She gave him a shy smile each time Walter sang the song, and all that Walter could do in return was just look her in the eye while carrying the tune. Their love had grown before they even noticed they were in love with each other. In the war zone, loving someone was like throwing caution to the wind and running against the quirk of fate at full throttle.

The time has come that Walter’s unit was ordered to be withdrawn from the camp. When Mimi found out about Walter’s leaving, her face was not shining with her angelic smile anymore. Walter could not show up at the restaurant to say goodbye to Mimi before he left for America. His mind was full of thoughts and blaming himself for being such a bad ass. He’s been asking himself all his life the same questions over and over again. ‘Should I have brought Mimi with me here? Had she ever felt that I’d made an unspoken promise to Mimi that I’d come back home with her? Then did I flake out on her?’  

Walter’s life as a normal family guy back in America had always been tinged with his old memories with Mimi in Vietnam. Whenever his old comrades from the war bragged about their love affairs and even called those girls as their beautiful concubines in the past, Walter said he became so mad. Then he felt ashamed of himself inside. He was one of those irresponsible lovers who ditched their brown eyed girls and left their hearts in Vietnam. Walter put a coin in the jukebox at the bar and chose the song that still hurt him so much. "Do you remember when we used to sing....."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3fPFv-lByM 

Expressions

  

   1.  garrulous: tiresomely talkative

   2.  intellects: a person of great intellectual ability

   3.  stolid: having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; impassive

   4.  nightcap: a usually alcoholic drink taken just before bedtime

   5.  to hear out: to listen to the entirety of what one has to say, often when the listener is reluctant to do so

   

   6.  to throw caution to the wind: to disregard any risk or potential disaster when undertaking any enterprise, venture, etc

   7.  at full throttle: at full speed

   

   8.  to flake out on someone: to make a plan/ promise with someone, but never follow through on their word   (*She is such a flake! = She is so untrustworthy!)

   9.  concubine: mistress/ a woman with whom a man cohabits without being married