Are You the Person Who is Wholeheartedly Happy for Friends?

“A friend in need is a friend indeed.” Yes, I have no gonzo to say that I go against the big idea of this old proverb. When I’m in the soup, I turn to someone who is all ears to my predicament or hardships. That someone could be your hubby, childhood buddy, parents, or the regular crowd in your time slot at the gym. They would feel for your tearful stories and become bitterly silent at the news of your devastation.  But then, I wonder how many of those friends would genuinely feel excited, jump up and down with joy, and give hearty congratulations when they see or hear about my happiest moment or incident? There’s an old saying in Korea that goes “One has an upset stomach with jealousy when their cousin becomes rich.” This expression might penetrate deep down inside common people’s mind. However, in the back of their mind, they wish to live on some kind of mantra or motto that matches our belief that “United we stand, divided we fall!” Yes,  sadness will become smaller and happiness will  become bigger if shared with others, isn’t it?

Expressions

gonzo: (noun = adjective) (of journalism, reportage, etc.) filled with bizarre or subjective ideas, commentary, or the like.

crazy; eccentric.

to be in the soup: (verb) to be in trouble

to feel for...: (verb) to feel sympathy for or compassion toward; empathize with:

mantra: (noun) a word or formula, as from the Veda, chantedor sung as an incantation or prayer/ an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often atruism

Here are some ways to express how happy you are and congratulate people when something wonderful happens to them. The occasions might include graduation, wedding, birthday, college admission, business startup, winning lotteries, ……….or breakup with a nasty partner or happy divorce. ;-) 

Congratulations or congrats (on…..)

Roses are red, violets are blue! Congrats!

Felicitations! It’s your day!

Hip, hip, hurrah! Or Hip hip hurray!

Three cheers (for…..)!

Kudos!

Props!

Hats off (to you)!

Mazel tov! (Jewish expression of congratulating)

I’m so happy for you!

Wow! Groovy!

Nifty! / Amazing!

Future (rockstar/ scientist/ CEO/president/NBA player…etc)! Keep shining!

Super!

Cream of the crop achievement!

Some Thoughts from Running in a Trail Race

Bad, sad news came. My cousin died out of the blue. It was only two months after I said goodbye to my dad. Bitter, painful, and strong disbelief in God’s providence. I said to myself ‘This must not be God’s plisky. What kind of lesson is he showing me through back-to-back losses of beloved family and close relatives?’ I could hardly focus on anything, feeling too confused and flaccid. I even dragged myself while doing my favorite pastime “running” with all the worries and concerns that I might be stepping into some kind of weltschmerz or nihilism. Sigh….

Then a pop-up information page about a trail race caught my eyes on line. I blinked my eyes twice and clicked right away to sign up for the race that was only two weeks away. FYI, I had never run on the territory of the woods or in any kind of technical trails in my life. The registration may sound to you like an impulsive decision just to regain normalcy after my recent agony. Yes, it did. I had regretted every single day of the two weeks reluctantly training on the dirt paths of the trail. Running at my fastest pace on the slippery soil littered with twigs and dog poops was not pleasant at all. For those two full weeks, I had been blaming my thoughtless decision to participate in the trail race with not enough time to train.

Make no mistake, the race day arrived, and it was time for me to stop critical drubbing on myself to get ready to toe the start line. Race day jitter reached all the way up in the midst of serious runners of all ages. Most of them had a perfect outdoor runners’ swarthy face and body with toned muscles all over. Damn! I was Intimidated. At 8:00 A.M. sharp, everyone at the start line began the light(?) and joyous(?) journey of 6.24 miles with no time to take a beat.

I had been on the continuum of getting annoyed and frustrated each time I was passed by outrageously fast runners. However, as dopamine ran down through the path of my body while I was picking up the pace, a thought came to me that this pain is something that I can control. It is different kind of physical and emotional pain from that of my past father and cousin. This pain has an end, while theirs was not until their lives came to an end. I’ve tried to believe my loved ones that I lost have gone up to some place better than here or not just better, but rather some place that we can barely imagine how beautiful it is and is filled with the taste of ambrosia. Well, what really happens up there may be kept secret based on the nondisclosure agreement between God’s world and His angels that take people from this place on earth. What I know for sure at the moment is that I need to thank our Lord for another day in which I can run with the pain that has an end and smile in the shower!

Expressions

plisky: a mischievous trick; practical joke or prank

flaccid: lacking force, weak

weltschmerz: sorrow that one feels and accepts as one's necessary portion in life; sentimental pessimism

make no mistake: have no doubt, certainly

critical drubbing: a beating, as with a stick, cudgel

swarthy: (of skin color, complexion, etc.) dark

to take a beat: to stop for a moment to relax; pause and think about what you are doing

ambrosia: nectar of the gods; at celebrations the gods would feast on ambrosia

English Proverbs

Life is a series of ups and downs. Rosy, peachy, and margaritaceous days seem like short and soon drown out by unexpected contretemps. When things are going tough and knocking you for a loop, you would shiver and scream in that eldritch circumstance with your head hanging down in despair. Some other days full of love and happiness would make you feel bubbly and buoyed up in high hopes. I am not talking about schizophrenia or morbid bipolar disorder that requires some serious therapy. It is very natural for you to understand that life is no picnic all the time, but still can feel like red-letter days from time to time. Old sayings or proverbs originate from these very pictures of human life. They describe human nature, duties, dark sides, bright corners, awkward feelings, madness, …….to name a few. Reading the proverbs might help you get the meaning of life. No matter how challenging it is, you don’t have to keep yourself on a short leash. Tomorrow will be another golden day for you all.

Here’s some interesting English proverbs.

If you can’t beat them, join them.: If you can hardly ever defeat them, join forces with them.

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.: Do not hurt the hand that rocks the cradle. / Do not hurt someone who supports and takes good care of you.

A miss is as good as a mile.: Losing by a narrow margin is no different than losing by a wide margin. (*Thus, a stitch in nine saves nine!)

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.: If you do not try, you can’t make anything come true or achieve anything.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.: Most elderly people cannot change their thoughts or behavior or learn anything new.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.: Children take after their parents. They mostly tend to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

Barking dogs seldom bite.: People who threaten others usually do not hurt them.

One man’s gravy is another man’s poison.: What is pleasing one person may not be pleasing to another.

Charity begins at home.: One should pay attention to one’s own family first before taking care of others.

After the feast comes the reckoning.: People should always pay the price of their excesses.

e.g., You have spent too much money. What happens if you get laid off?  After the feast comes a reckoning.

Hindsight is better than foresight.: Hindsight is the ability to understand and realize something about an event after it has happened, although you did not understand or realize it at the time. 

Expressions

peachy: (adjective) pleasant, fine, excellent

margaritaceous: (adjective) pearly, resembling mother-of-pearl

contretemps: (noun) pronounced "CON-tre-tahn," is French word (*contre means "against," and temps means "time." ) a mishap, perhaps caused by bad timing. Another meaning is an argument or conflict, especially an awkward one which can be caused by misunderstandings or miscommunication. It also means a blunder in both ballet and fencing.

to knock somebody for a loop: (verb) to upset or confuse somebody because they do not expect it

e.g., John knocked me for a loop when he said he’d leave me for good.

eldritch: (adjective) weird, spooky, ghostly

bubbly: (adjective) full of energy, high spirit, and enthusiasm

buoy up: (verb) to feel cheered up/ lifted up

schizophrenia: (noun) mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations

no picnic: (adjective) something difficult/ unpleasant at all

red-letter days: (noun) a day that is pleasantly noteworthy or memorable

to keep someone on a short leash: (verb) to have a lot of control of someone’s behavior giving them little freedom

Let’s Practice English Idioms VI

What’s the biggest obstacle in your journey of exploring English? It could be grammar, pronunciation, or huge amount of vocabulary that seems to be endless. Above all, idiomatic expressions that have hidden, figurative meanings. Without understanding the cultural background or conventional usage of idioms, one can hardly imagine what those words are supposed to mean.

Using the given list of idioms and your imagination, try to choose a proper expression to fill in the blank of each sentence below.

a.      mind one’s p’s and q’s

b.      in the gutter

c.      have a familiar ring

d.      monkey business

e.      Easy does it

f.       know something inside out

g.      final fling

h.      give someone tit for tat

i.       drag one’s feet

j.       (to) add insult to injury

1. You had better pull yourself together and straighten out your life, or you’ll ____________________________________.

2.  Jamie studied hard for his driver’s test until he knew the rules ____________________________.

3. Be careful with that porcelain doll when you touch it. __________________________ please.

4. Jane messed up with me, and I did the same thing to her. Each time she throws shadow at me like that, I become ready to do the same to her. Yes, I am ______________ her ______________________.

5. The city council and planning department seem to ____________________________. Otherwise, the local roads would have been revamped by now.

6. This term paper has _______________________________________. I can tell it’s been definitely copied.

7. First, our basement got flooded in the three-day-long icy rains, and then to ____________________________________, the water heater started act up! UGH!!! Just my luck!

8. Joe’s friends offered him a bachelor’s party as the __________________________ before his marriage, but Joe did not want to join the party.

9. You’d better mind ___________________________________ before you make the same mistake at the presentation again.

10. Stop trying to deceive me with such a cheap skullduggery! I just cannot put up with your ___________________________ anymore!     

Clues to Solve:

mind one’s p’s and q’s: (verb) to mind one’s manners; to pay attention to small details of behavior. This expression orginates from an old caution to children learning the alphabet or typists to watch carefully for the difference between p and q

in/into the gutter: (adjective phrase) (for somebody to be) in a low state or depraved

have a familiar ring: (verb) to sound familiar

monkey business: (noun) peculiar or out-of-the-ordinary activities, especially illegal or mischievous

Easy does it! : (sentence) to act with care. You can also say “Nice and easy does it.”

(*You can get this expression from your workout/ yoga instructor while doing some posture. “Easy does it, everybody! )

know something inside out: (verb) to know something thoroughly; to know about something completely

final fling: (noun) the last act or period of enjoyment before a change in one’s circumstances or lifestyle

give someone tit for tat: (verb) to give someone something equal to what that person has given one; to exchange a series of things, one by one, with someone

drag one’s feet: (verb) to act very slowly, often deliberately/ intentionally

(to) add insult to injury: (verb) to make a bad situation worse; to hurt the feelings of a person who has already been hurt

Answer Keys:

1.  b. in the gutter

2.  f. inside out  

3.   e. Easy does it

4.   h. giving tit for tat 

5.   i. drag their feet   

6.  c. has a familiar ring

7.   j. to add insult to injury

8.  g. final fling

9.  a. your p’s and q’s

10.  d. monkey business       

Let’s Talk Money In Terms of Its Various Names, Not the Value.

What makes people recalcitrant enough to stand up to the power or superior authority? Is it their intransigent characteristic in personality they were born with? Is it their amaranthine determination and bravery to go against people who deny others justice? Well, quite often times, it is “money” that that makes people confident and square no matter what others tell them to do. To wit, as long as one has enough money to carry on his/her life with, they don’t need to be reluctantly amenable to others.  However, it could be quite the opposite. If they are deprived of money, they are apt to get spiteful in the state of insufficiency and seek after money that seems to miche all the time.  Yes, “pecuniary matter” is such a necessary evil that could make us happy or miserable and end up showing turpitude that often goes with money.  

Today, let me give you a variety of English names for money.

buck: derived from “buckskin” (=deer skin or sheep skin) back in the mid 19^th century in America. Native American Indians and frontiersmen used buckskin as a unit of exchange in their trading.

cabbage: green paper money

clam: slang for dollar bill. (In ancient times, it is thought that various shells were used as units of exchange.)

ducat: derived from the Latin word for “Duke”. The Duke of Sicily first issued the currency and it was called ducat.

greenback: In 1862, the U.S. President Lincoln signed the first Act to print paper currency using green ink. Since then on, the dollar bill has been called as the greenback.

shekel: a slang term for “cash” used in English since the first half of the 19^th century. It is also the national currency of Israel.

cheddar: This name would firstly remind you of cheese, but the expression is related to the cheese distributed to welfare recipients by the US government (i.e., Government Cheese)

dough: This expression derives from “doughface”, the notorious nickname given to Northern Democrats working for the South for financial purpose preceding the Civil War.  

*mammon: the word from the Bible meaning  wealth and riches that imply the connotation of  "unrighteous," because the abuse of riches is more frequent than their right use.

Expressions

recalcitrant: (adjective) resisting authority or control/ not obedient or compliant/ hard to manage or operate

intransigent: (adjective) refusing to agree or compromise/ inflexible or uncompromising

amaranthine: (adjective) unfading/ everlasting

to deny somebody justice: (verb) to not treat somebody in a fair or equal way as with others

to wit: (idiomatic phrase) that is to say, in other words

amenable: (adjective) obedientdeny

miche: (verb) to lurk out of sight

pecuniary matter: (noun) financial matter/ things related to money

turpitude: a vile or depraved act/ shameful character/ depravity

Thoughts on Code-switching in Conversations

As stated by Gal (1988, as cited in Wardaugh, 2002), code-switching is used as a very useful conversational skill through which people can build, break, or make changes on their relationships with one another on the basis of their rights, obligations, or purposes. Since bilingualism or multilingualism prevails throughout the world, code-switching is viewed as a natural phenomenon which has attracted a great deal of research attention.

According to Blom and Gumperz’ study (1972, as cited in Sridhar, 2002), there are two different kinds of code-switching: One is called a situational code-switching which occurs with the change of situation without altering the topic, and the other is a metaphorical code-switching which takes place for signaling a quotation, giving a laughing marks in a joke, or putting emphasis on a particular point in lectures of conversations. In this respect, code-switching happens in a fairly systematic and functionally motivated way but quite subconsciously, not in an arbitrary or random fashion. These notions of code-switching were well developed and presented in Adendorff’s study in a highschool classroom in South Africa which is a multilingual society. As shown in his study, teachers switched their code from English to Zulu for two broad purposes: social and educational objectives. In other words, the teachers used Zulu language when they needed to provide the students with scaffoldings to establish better understanding of his lecture (i.e., conveying or introducing technical terms for the first time, repetition or reinforcement of the key concepts), check the students’ comprehension, and give the class some clues as to what comes next in the teacher’s lecture. I have always believed that some senses of predictability in sequence would promote feelings of security among students in class.

Regarding social functions or purposes, the teachers in the study code-switched when they are to provide compliments on the students’ achievement or to make special bonds between the teacher and students.

Based on my understanding of code-switching as well as the experiments and results from Adendorff’s study in South Africa, if I had an opportunity to teach grammar in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class for newly immigrated or international Korean students here in the U.S., I would be highly sensitive to the situations where code-switching or mixing is required. For example, in such a classroom where the students and I share the common first language (L1) and use English as the formal medium of learning and teaching, sporadic use or switch into our common language during the lecture would establish solidarity as Korean, thereby promoting the students’ confidence and comprehension in class. Although subconsciously occurring, when it comes to introducing the culture-bound expressions or subtle semantic meanings in nuance that English expressions have, the students would better figure them out when code-switching takes place into their L1. This way, the cultural gap between two languages in this multilingual community would be reduced by means of code-switching or mixing. However, this code-switching or mixing would not occur as the lexical gap-filler for one or two words, but take place in any forms such as words, phrases, clauses or sentences. In other words, it would not be an involuntary code-mixing, but rather be the stylistic switching.

I know for sure that if teachers are well aware of the effects that code-switching have in their classrooms, students and the teacher can be united around solidarity which would lower the affective filter within each ESL student, and thereby improving their language learning in the end.

Expressions

code-switching/ mixing: (noun) the term identified in 1977 by Carol Myers-Scotton and William Ury as the “use of two or more linguistic varieties in the same conversation or interaction.”   Code-switching is the practice of moving between variations of languages in different contexts.

arbitrary: (adjective) based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system

scaffolding: (noun) contextual supports for meaning that are provided through the use of simplified language, teacher modeling, visuals and graphics, cooperative learning and hands-on learning

solidarity: (noun) unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.

semantic: (adjective) relating to meaning in language or logic

lexical: (adjective) relating to the words or vocabulary of a language

gap-filling: (noun) conscious of subconscious vocabulary compensatory strategies used in solving a vocabulary problem or deficiency

e.g., circumlocution

References

       Kachru, B., & Nelson, L. (1996). World Englishes, In N.H. Hornberger, & S. L. McKay (eds.), Sociolinguistics and language teaching (pp. 71-102). NY: Cambridge University Press.

       Wardaugh, R. (2002). An introduction to sociolinguistics. MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Life is filled with a lot of Curveballs, but ……

Are you a firm believer of “living to the fullest of your potential“ reassured by Joel Osteen? Otherwise, you might be a constant grumbler who is sold on the idea of the adage of Murphy’s law that goes “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!”  

No matter how we define or look at “the journey called life we are going through” (as the pop icon Prince had put it), there is no way we can avoid all different kinds of life’s challenges and obstacles. Yes, life can be filled with a fusillade of curveballs and grueling upslopes to overcome. Quite often times, crocodilian niceties given to us by two-faced fellas leave mortal wounds in life. Some other times, promises would turn into an empty talk or an illusion of a lotus-eater. The harsh reality that life is filled with a lot of curveballs can make us bitterly listless or hopeless.

I know some of you out there are in the middlescence, going through so called ‘midlife crisis’ when nothing in the world quite makes you impressed or enamored. But wait a second before you dig yourself into a hole by self-pity. We’ve got another day named “tomorrow” that gives a possibility for us to make things better and feel better! As long as we are determined to get up and move on, nothing in the world can defeat us. It might not because we are invincible, but rather that we are reconcilable and flexible. Got tired of connecting the dots in life each time you face hardships? Let us just live here and now instead of trying to reach for a big “tried-and-true” picture of our entire life through processing bits of difficulties at every corner. It is simply because YOU are the owner and leader of your life, NOT the vice versa. If it feels like “life” is taking the wind out of your sails, drop the thought that “life sucks” and say “BRING IT ON! I’ve got another day!”

Expressions

adage: (noun) a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.

Murphy’s Law: (noun) an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong

a fusillade of something: (phrase) a simultaneous or continuous discharge of/ a series of…..

curveballs: (noun; figurative meaning) something which is unexpected, surprising, or disruptive.

crocodilian: (adjective; figurative meaning) hypocritical; insincere.

mortal wound: (noun) severe and serious injury (almost always a form of penetration or laceration) whether accidental or inflicted intentionally (by either suicide or homicide), which leads directly to the death of the victim.

lotus-eater: (noun) a lazy person devoted to pleasure and luxury

middlescence: (noun) a portmanteau of middle-aged and adolescence/senescence used to describe restless, middle-aged baby boomers (ranging from age 35-60) who deal with the negatives of frustration, burnout, boredom, confusion and alienation

to connect the dots: (idiomatic expression; figurative meaning) a metaphor to illustrate an ability (or inability) to associate one idea with another, to find the "big picture", or salient feature, in a mass of data.

tried-and-true: (adjective) trustworthy/ dependable

to take the wind out of somebody’s sail: (idiomatic expression) to rob …. of an advantage; deflate