Money Idioms

Some may say money is the root of all evil, while others argue that money talks. Some would agree that money can’t buy happiness, whereas others’ ultimate goal in life is to become a multi-millionaire. Regardless of what your take on moolah might be like, living in a capitalistic society – especially in the States where consumption is encouraged more than any other countries in the world – keeps us think about the value or worth of money in life. 

This week, let us work on some interesting idiomatic expressions which contain or are related to money.

(*source from https://www.learnenglish.de/vocabulary/moneyidioms.html and http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/money/money2_deep-house.html )

Fill in the blanks to complete the following sentences with a proper expression for each (using the clues given below the questions)

1.   I love this house because it gives me a sense of coziness, but the other _________________________ is that it is very old.

2.   Roger had already been in deep debt, but took another loan to pay his employees, robbing __________________________________.

3.   Due to the recent crisis in this town, there are more people __________________________ than ever before.

4.   Jody got a part time job at a candy store, but it was just ____________________________.

5.   You can bet ______________________________ that Ted will be come to the party tonight. He NEVER EVER goes even to a small ice cream social on campus.

6.   Laura has recently been given a _____________________________ from the company where she’s worked all her life. She will use some of the money to travel abroad.

7.   If you got some ______________ in your savings, just save it for rainy days.

8.   Well, you may not have thought much of this actor at first, but he ________________________________________ with his latest film! He even won the award for the best actor of the year at the Oscar!

9.   Oil prices are the biggest of all ________________________.

10. Frank had ___________________________________ and got caught at the international airport before he came to flee. He was eventually sent to prison on charges of embezzlement.

<Clues>

dough: (noun) slang for money

to laugh all the way to the bank: (verb) to be amused and gratified by a victory where a defeat was predicted   or    to make a lot of money very easily, often because someone else has been stupid

a cash cow: (noun) a business or a part of a business that always makes a lot of profit

the other side of the coin: (noun) the opposite view of something

(to be) on the breadline: (phrase) to have a very low income or barely enough money to survive.

to rob Peter to pay Paul: (verb) to borrow money from one person to pay back money you borrowed from someone else

to have hand (or one’s fingers) in the till: (verb) to steal money from the place where you work/ to embezzle

to bet your bottom dollar: (verb) to be absolutely certain of something

chicken feed: (noun) an amount of money considered small or unimportant

golden handshake: (noun) a generous sum of money given to a person when they leave a company or retire (sometimes given to encourage early retirement)

<Answer Key>

1.   side of the coin

2.   Peter to pay Paul

3.   on the breadline

4.   chicken feed

5.   your bottom dollar

6.   golden handshake

7.   dough

8.   laughed all the way to the bank

9.   cash cows

10. hand in the till/ or his fingers in the till

What It Means to Bid Farewell to the Loved Ones in This World. Is It the End of Life or the Transitional Point of life?

There are some topics that have been tabooed to talk about in public. Depending on cultures, it could be religion, political inclination, prostitution, some diseases like AIDS, and asking women’s age in public to name a few. Above all, the subject of “death” makes most people feel emotionally charged and frustrated. If anyone (who is in the right mind or does not have a totally aberrant idea about life or death) happened to learn about someone’s death, they would stop for a second and feel their heart welling up with sorrow. What makes people get serious or uncomfortable about death? How should we respond to the end of one’s life? Are we supposed to prepare for the finale in a somber mood? Otherwise, could it possibly be somewhat festive or convivial?

I have personally seen deaths of my close family and friends both in my home country and here in the States as well. As most of you may already know, when the family says their final farewells at the funeral home, the pallbearers will be asked to wait outside until the family has exited. When the family leaves, the pallbearers will be ushered in to lift the casket onto a wheeled device called a “church truck” and roll the casket out of the building to the hearse. This is the very moment when everyone present are surrounded by the unbearable feelings of deep sorrow and congested with complicated emotions. How would you describe the way you feel or respond facing the death of someone in your life? I was lost for words in that bleak moment. Empty. Blank. Consumed. Feared. Depleted. Lonely. ……..and totally separated from the ones I was saying goodbye to. However, as times went by, I found myself in the process of reminiscing the good old memories that I had shared with the ones I lost. It was more of celebrating and reconnecting with their past lives rather than of painfully grieving the loss of my precious people. The beautiful moments shared at some points in my and their lives would remain unperturbed even by many a vicissitudes after they left me for good.

It would probably take forever for us to let all the miscellaneous things in our lives fill the void caused by the absence of our beloved family members or friends. With hopes that someday we will reunite with them elsewhere, I would like to view their demise not as the tragic, frustrating end of life. It could be seen as the transitional point of one’s life, which is leading them to another world that we have yet to know. It is true that death physically do us part, but cannot easily get us emotionally separated with one another, because our time with them has not been over yet.

Expressions

be tabooed to do…: be prohibited to do…/ to urge us to avoid …. resulting from social custom or belief

aberrant: deviating from accepted standard

well up with…: to rise/ spring/ gush ….

somber: dark and depressing or dismal

convivial: related to feasting or lively

funeral home: a ​place where a ​dead ​person is ​prepared to be ​buried or ​creamated, and where ​relatives and ​friends can ​see the ​body

pallbearers: a ​person who ​helps to ​carry a ​coffin at a ​funeral or who ​walks at the ​side of the ​people ​carrying it

hearse: a ​vehicle used to ​carry a ​body in a ​coffin to a ​funeral

congested with: too ​blocked or ​crowded and ​causing difficulties

bleak: cold and empty/ unpleasant

unperturbed: not ​worried about something, ​especially when this is ​slightly ​surprising  

e.g., It is hard to stay unperturbed when you have to make a speech in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

vicissitudes: ​changes that ​happen at different ​times during the ​life or ​development of someone or something, ​especially those that ​result in ​conditions being ​worse

for good: forever

demise: the death of a person

do us part: make us separated

Workout Jargons

Each time I see people who look incredibly fresh and young for their age, I start my guesswork like ‘She must be taking some kind of elixir plants’ or ‘Does he sleep in an Oxygen chamber or what?!’. In most cases, their ‘younger-than-physical age’ lineaments can be attributed to their active life style. As a recreational but dedicated runner, I know why so many people drag themselves out of bed in the wee hours and head out to the gym or take to the streets. Exercises pump up their days and stay upbeat throughout their lives.

*Expressions

elixir plants: herbs/ plants that would give you immortality

lineaments: a distinctive feature or characteristic, especially of the face

attribute A to B: regard A as being caused by B.

Let us take a look at some gym terms this week.

(Source from http://www.coachmag.co.uk/lifestyle/4234/28-gym-slang-terms-explained)

1. beasting it up: intensity training, anything involving intense effort and mentality

e.g.  “That guy is proper beasting it up in the pit!”

2. boulders: shoulders that are solid as rock and built as strong as steel

e.g. “Look at your boulders! They are solid.”

3. Bro science: word of mouth ‘knowledge’ passed off as factual

e.g. Bro Science in action: “Bro, you must take 50g of protein within 10 minutes of finishing your workout or it’ll be wasted.”

4. bulking: the process of adding muscle mass to one’s body through strength training and nutrition.

e.g. “Breakfast of champions this morning?” “Yeah, I’m bulking up - need the protein.”

5. cardio bunny: a female Gym-Goer who spends her entire workout on cardio equipment

e.g. “Look at that cardio bunny, she’s been on that treadmill for over an hour!”

6. cheat reps: When muscle fatigue begins to set in or the weight is too heavy, some athletes employ improper form to make a lift, using surrounding muscle Groups or even momentum to assist in the movement.

e.g. “You’re getting lazy doing those cheat reps. Go hard or go home.”

7. cutting up: stripping the body of excess bodyfat while retaining maximum muscularity

e.g. “Big night out Friday- it’s time to start cutting up.”

8. DOMS: Delayed onset of muscular soreness. That aching feeling you get days after a workout

e.g. “Talk about sore. I’ve got a bad case of Doms.”

9. forced reps: Additional repetitions of an exercise performed with the help of a partner when you’re unable to do anymore reps on your own.

e.g. “How many more forced reps are you doing?” “I’m getting beasted today - give me more.”

10. guns: another word for pumped upper arm muscles, biceps and triceps.

e.g. “Sun’s out, guns out!”

11. progressive overload: gradually adding more resistance during training exercises as your strength increases.

e.g. “It’s progressive overload time - I’m gonna stack and go!”

Heartwarming Quotes about Friendship

(source from www.dictionary.com )

The Chinese letter 人 means “human being”. The letter is from the hieroglyph of two humans leaning on each other. Figuratively and literally, humans can hardly live alone. Living in this incredibly connected world of instant messaging, emailing, and social networking, we might feel more lonesome than those in the old days when people were happy with snail mail and seeing one another only in the offline world. However, we can make the best use of today’s super fast-paced ways of contacting and greeting, can’t we? Even though it might not seem to have the old day’s romanticism, we can let our precious friends know how much we think of them at any time. Instant messaging does not have to mean instant love. This week, I would like to share many heartwarming quotes about true friendship.

1.   "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." ...Aristotle

2.   "The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." …. Bob Marley

3.   "A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you."….Elbert Hubbard

4.   "I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light."….Helen Keller

5.   "Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart."….Eleanor Roosevelt

6.   "One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about."…Mindy Kaling

7.   "Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life." ….Mark Twain

8.   "Don’t walk in front of me

 I may not follow

 Don’t walk behind me

 I may not lead

 Walk beside me

 just be my friend."……..Albert Camus

9.   "Stay is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary." …Amos Bronson Alcott

10.       "The language of friendship is not words but meanings."…. Henry David Thorea

11.       “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”….Martin Luther King Jr.

12.       “I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.”….Abraham Lincoln

13.       “Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.”…. Euripides

14.       “Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”…. Socrates

15.       “Friendship that insists on agreement on all matters is not worth the name. Friendship to be real must ever sustain the weight of honest differences, however sharp they be.”….Gandhi

Educators’ Right Mindset

I still remember the day like yesterday when my son Hans felt so frustrated at the news that his 8^th grade English teacher (i.e., final year in the middle school) had not recommended him for an honor’s English class in high school. FYI, Hans’s grade in English subject had been A+ throughout the four years of middle school.  His participation in class activities and extra credit projects had always been praised by his teachers. Since we were not able to find a clue behind the teacher’s decision, Hans and I talked with her over the matter. What she said about the reason why she did not recommend Hans for the honors English course left us all dumbfounded. She said as follows: "Hans is a great student who always goes all out in preparing for class, class participation, writing assignments, quizzes and tests, and always gains perfectly wonderful grades in them all. However, I believe that honor’s English course in high school is for students who are inherently talented and still doing a great job without putting many hours of efforts." Wait.....whaaaaaaaaat?!!!!!!! Hans and I doubted our own ears when she made that absurd and illogical comment about what she believed. So…..I asked her if she seriously believes that hard-working students who always try to do their best in school work would not deserve to belong to honor’s class???!!! She kept silent with a stuck-up look. Hmmmm….. no offense, but that moment, Hans and I were on the same page inside. ‘She must be a racist.’ Hans was not the only student who was flabbergasted by her addle-headed, clueless explanation about why they were not eligible candidates for honor’s English class in high school. Most of those sadly surprised students from previous years were all super smart and hard-working Asian Americans. Very uncomfortable guess, but we couldn’t think of any other reasons behind this teacher’s own weird consuetude of victimizing smart students for no reason at all in class. If we were wrong interpreting her intention, she must have had an extremely dangerous mindset as an educator.

In the field of Sports Psychology, there is the belief called "growth-oriented mindset" which says“talents and abilities can be developed, and it harnesses the power of “not yet” thinking.” In other words, they are constantly self-checking to develop their current skills to improve them by thinking “not good enough yet”. It refers to a powerful concept that the key to success is in how the students/ athletes view learning: Students who believe talent is innate may tend to underachieve when they experience setbacks, while students who believe they can develop skills and knowledge over time often perform better” (page 24, Runner’s World, September, 2017). I believe it is the fundamental idea and attitude that all educators and students need to become successful and gain confidence in whatever they do. As an English educator and a mother, I have a firm belief that every learner has potential deep down inside, which can be honed and grown to the next level. Educators’ role is to find the students’ skills and abilities and help them to focus on promoting what they’ve gotten, NOT discourage or deter them from stepping forward.

“Dear the 8^th grade English teacher (who has retired this year) that I mentioned above,

Those hard-working, not inherently smart (in YOUR LIMITED OPINION) students (including Hans) whom you had dropped from the list of eligible candidates for the honors English course in high school all successfully finished not only the honors English class but also even the AP English courses as well. Thank goodness you have retired from the education forefront, ma’am.

From Jean Lee, the mother who feels so proud to have a hard-working son instead of the so-called inherently smart kids that always easily achieve things as if they were all low hanging fruits”

Expressions

flabbergasted: utterly amazed/ astonished/ surprised

consuetude: an established custom, especially one having legal force

to harness: apply, employ, exercise, exploit, use, operate, utilize

setbacks: a problem that makes progress more difficult or success less likely

Time to Look Back on Your Life and Shift Gears!

As an avid runner with a firm belief in all the positive effects of taking multivitamins and probiotic, I have NEVER expected that I’d be attacked someday by this weirdly named disease “SHINGLES”. Each time I saw the advertisements or heard about the warnings/ preventions regarding this disease, I was like “Shi…what?!”, thinking that it was completely not my business at all. I have been quietly taking pride in myself being health-savvy, doing all the well-known good things for body and soul. Daily running, eating smart and healthy, reading and writing, daily meditation, participating local running races from time to time, being a good wife and mother, ….etc, etc, etc.

However, I was way too focused on abiding by all the strict guideposts that I set for myself to realize that I was too tired by my own limited rule of thumb. Shingles came to me abruptly like a huge bomb dropped on a placcid land. Pain from a child delivery, severe low back pain, and this burning sensation caused by Shingles. Yup, Shingles takes the cake when it comes to the physical pain!

As described by the South Korean pediatric psychiatrist named Seo, Cheon Seok, we all learn a precious lesson – whatever it is – from the unexpected pain in the slaps from life.  Even a paladin of healthy life style can go through power outage inside his/her body out of the blue when the so-called “balance” of everything in life is broken. I have learned and am still in the process of learning that everything has a reason for existence, and we need to look back on our lives from time to time. At some point, maybe we should even shift gears or directions of our lives.

Small Thoughts on Shingles

By Jean Lee 

Shingles gave me all those tingles.

They are no jolly, merry jingles.

When survived, it’d make you feel as if you’ve hit bingles!

I have promised myself that I will try harder to strike a good balance of things in my life, going through this tunnel of ‘endurance test’ named Shingles.  

  

Expressions

health-savvy: (adjective) experienced, knowledgable, and well-informed; shrewd about health

rule of thumb: (noun) a general or approximate principle, procedure, or rule based on experience or practice, as opposed to a specific, scientific calculation or estimate

to take the cake: (verb) to win a prize; to be the winner

paladin: (noun) an advocate of a noble/ great cause

to shift gears: (verb) to change modes or suddenly switch what you are doing

Teacher Roles in Communicative Language Teaching (TLC) in an EFL Setting

As noted by Gumperz (1972, as cited in Wardhaugh, 2002), “communicative competence describes speakers’ ability to select from the totality of grammatically correct expressions available to them, forms which appropriately reflect the social norms governing behavior in specific encounters” (p. 249). In this sense, it can be concluded that teachers must give consideration to combining those two different types of communicative activities in the EFL conversation class. Such an attempt can be realized through the syllables designed to encourage students to participate both in “planned discourse” (e.g., eacher-directed situation drills) and “unplanned discourse” (e.g., free discussions) throughout the classroom activities. In other words, adopting the different “teacher roles” from each type of activities (i.e., authentic vs. non-authentic communicative activities) in classroom will be effective to help students achieve improved communicative competence in the target language.

According to Johnson (1995), teachers are responsible for making the classroom atmosphere encouraging, supportive, and open to any and all students’ contributions and participation. As shown in the authentic communicative language activities, such as free discussions and interview, where the interaction takes place with the main focus on meaning of conversation, teachers should adopt non-authentic communicative activities. That is because the EFL students need the sufficient amount of accurate input and the opportunities to get feedback on their performance through controlled communicative activities. (Through the course evaluation, students in my conversation classes expressed this need for formal instruction on their grammar and vocabulary.) Therefore, incidental feedback or form-focused instruction in the shape of communication during the authentic communicative activities will be effective ways to supplement students’ ability to participate beyond their current level of competence in the second language.

In addition, students are encouraged to strategically use a certain type of expressions in predictable discourse situations. Providing students with opportunity to learn the second language norms as well as to negotiate meaning in class will lead the students to higher levels of L2 proficiency.