December 31 - New Year's Eve

Roman numerals:
M = 1000
MM = 2000
X = 10
I = 1
MMXI = 2000 + 10 + 1 = 2011


New Year's Eve is not a holiday, but a lot of people leave work at noon.
Some people go to parties and count down the New Year at midnight.

left-to-right

In English, we look at pictures from left-to-right:

right-to-left

In Japanese, we look at pictures from right-to-left.

Nativity scene

At Christmas, we send Christmas cards to our friends.

A picture or statue of the birth of Jesus is called a "nativity scene".

"Natus" is the Latin word for 'birth'.

In a hospital, the 'natal clinic' is the place for having babies.

'prenatal' means 'before birth' or 'pregnancy'.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day, December 26, is a statutory holiday in England and Canada, but not the U.S.
No one know why it's called "Boxing Day".
There are Boxing Day sales in a lot of stores, but they are very crowded.
The stores are supposed to be closed by law, but a lot of stores seem to ignore the law.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 25 is Christmas.
December 24, Christmas Eve, is not a statutory holiday, but people usually leave work at noon (unless they are computer workers).

my friend's dogs

expression of the day: bad hair day

this means that you wake up and your head is messed up; you try to comb it, but it won't go the right way.
If it's a bad hair day, you should wear a hat.

expression

'Whatever goes around, comes around.'

means: if you do good (or bad) to someone, then good (or bad) will happen to you.

Winter Solistice

December 21 is the official beginning of winter and also it is the winter solistice - the shortest day of the year.

This is a picture of a Christmas wreath. Wreaths used to be made from a plant called holly, but I don't think it grows in Canada, only England. Nowadays wreaths are made of plastic :)

expression

It rolled off his back like water off the back of a duck.

means

It didn't bother him.

snow

Thursday

tomorrow is another day

FIRST SNOW

FORECAST: SNOW FLURRIES ALL THIS WEEK

MERRY XMAS

WE HATE SNOW BECAUSE IT MAKES IT HARD TO DRIVE :(

cold feet

Charlie Brown wants to talk to the little red-haired girl, but he gets cold feet.

or:

He has cold feet.

tit for tat

means 'you do the same thing to someone as they do to you'.

expression of the day

"dog's breakfast" means "a mess".

For example: "My room looks like a dog's breakfast."

-3 today

'lake-effect snow' is an expression. When cold air from the north hits moist air from Lake Ontario, there can be a lot of snow.

I give it to him.

There are 2 forms in English for giving something (the direct object) to someone (the indirect object).

This is the more formal form:

I give the ball to Snoopy.
I give it to Snoopy.
I give it to him.

This is the more casual form:

I give Snoopy the ball.
I give him the ball.
X I give him it. < -- we don't use a pronoun for the direct object in this form.

mainland

'mainland China' is the part in light green - the part that is not an island; it is sometimes called Communist China or The People's Republic of China.

Taiwan is the part in dark green, also called ROC - the Republic of China.

'mainland' means a big piece of land, like a continent: bigger than an island.

in the old days ...

or ... when I was a kid ...

In the old days, the TV was black and white.

In the old days, people cared about each other.

-1

it's minus 1 degrees
blah

AGE

'AGE' can mean a long period of time, thousands or millions of years.
The Prehistoric Age is the time before man, when the dinosaurs were alive.
The Stone Age is the time when men used stones.
The Bronze Age is the time when men used bronze.
The Iron Age ... etc.
The Atomic Age is from 1945 to the future.

DIY

DIY is an acronym for 'Do-It-Yourself'. For example, DIY Christmas decorations are decorations that you make yourself.

BLACK FRIDAY

... is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the USA. American Thanksgiving is on a Thursday in November. But I saw this term in Canada this year, so it must be creeping across the border.

round

a round of golf is 18 holes.

a round of poker is a set of games where each player around the table takes turns dealing.

a round of nightclubs means going to a series of nightclubs, and then back to the first one.

a round in boxing is 3 minutes.

a round in MMA is 5 minutes.

a circle is round.

a round-robin tournament is where each player/team plays each other team.
for example, in international hockey, a round-robin tournament means that Canada plays Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Russia and the U.S. Then the teams with the most wins go on to the semi-finals.

Friday

I'm tired. I'm beat. I'm bushed.

Warp 10

I got a new bigger monitor.

Now I can see the Star Trek movies more clearly :)

take in

take = view, e.g., take in a movie

or

pay close attention to, e.g., take in everything he says

Expression: (noun) is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Star Trek

my favorite TV show is 'Star Trek' ... sometimes abbreviated to 'Trek'. Trek fans are called Trekkers or Trekkies. Some lines from the show have become English expressions; for example, 'Beam me up, Scottie'.

ADVERBS

In English, you don't put an adverb between a verb and its object.

So you can say:

Quickly I read the comics.
I read the comics quickly.
I quickly read the comics.










But you can't say:



I read quickly the comics.

"Spring Forward, Fall Back"

This is an expression for Daylight Savings Time. In the SPRING, we turn the clocks FORWARD one hour. In the FALL (today), we turn the clocks BACK one hour.

Hanshin Tigers

Left brain

'left brain' means the part of the brain that is creative. Some people think that left-handed people are more intelligent.

I'm hooked

"I'm hooked" is an expression that means "I'm addicted (to something)"; for example, "I'm hooked on skiing".

Dilbert

"Dilbert" is a popular comic strip about a computer programmer / engineer.

Mie

here's a picture of fields in Mie-Ken, Japan. That's where my grandmother was born.

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

This expression comes from an old TV commercial where a man says "I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

HALLOWEEN

Tomorrow is Halloween.

Life has its ups and downs.

is a common expression

tonite

I had to work late tonite.

'tonite' is not the correct spelling of 'tonight', but it is often used in casual writing; also, 'lite' for 'light' and 'thru' for 'through'.

expression -- his/her nose was out of joint

meaning -- to be offended

for example: John didn't invite Bob to the party, so Bob's nose was out of joint.

meaning, he turned his face away and didn't speak.

graffitti

graffitti - is spray painting on walls like this.

'graffitti' - is a Greek word, that is used in English.

flowers

Canada Geese

The Canada goose is a big bird with a wingspan of up to 6 feet (2 meters). Some people feed them, and some people think they're a nuisance. They eat grass or bread and they poop all over the place. They used to fly south for the winter, but now they are too fat to fly very far, so they stay here all year round. If they fly into an airplane engine, they can bring down the plane. I think that's what happened to that pilot who landed in the Hudson River in New York.

TGIF

bears KUMA

It's cold

I like it cold.

old car

I saw an old car on the weekend.

warmup

'warmup' means to slowly get ready, before doing sports or something else. For example, the first 5 or 10 minutes of an English class should be a warmup where you say hello to the students and ask them what they did yesterday. This gets the students used to speaking English.

friday

Real Life is not like Star Trek

Happy Birthday

Monday is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, Columbus Day in the U.S.

Thanksgiving Day

Today, the second Monday in October, is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Thanksgiving is earlier in Canada than the States because Canada is colder than the States.

In the U.S., Thanksgiving Day is on the 4th Thursday in November. I think that people take the Friday off work too, so that it's a 4-day weekend.

Thanksgiving Day is a day in North America where people in the old days celebrated the harvest (when the food is finished growing.) In Europe and Asia, they don't have Thanksgiving.

new PC

I got a new laptop with Windows 7.

I couldn't stand Vista any more.

Still Life

'Still Life' is an expression that means: a painting (or photograph) of something that is not moving, for example, flowers.

Wednesday

Hydro

'hydro' is the Latin word for 'water'.

'Hydro-electric power' is electricity from running water, for example, Niagara Falls.

'Hydro' is short for 'hydro-electric power'; for example:

"The hydro is out." (blackout)

"The hydro bill is too high."

Blue Monday

'blue' means that you feel sad.

'Blue Monday' is an old rock & roll song by Fats Domino, referring to the fact that Monday is the first work day.

Blueberries are blue.

'horse sense'

'horse sense' is an expression meaning that someone has common sense; they can 'smell' what's happening.

This is a horse ride in the park today.

weather forecast cold and rainy Saturday and Sunday :(

Japanese Maple

This kind of tree is called a "Japanese Maple". It is small, and it has red leaves.

Order of Adjectives in English

The 9 different adjective groups are listed below.

The order of the adjectives is as followed:

1. Determiner- a, an, her, five, many, much several etc.
2. Opinion - pretty, ugly, smart, cheap, etc.
3. Size - big, fat, thin, tall, large, small etc.
4. Shape - circle, square, tall, short etc.
5. Age - old, young 10 years, a year, a week, new etc.
6. Color - yellow, green, pink etc.
7. Origin - American, English, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, European, Chinese etc.
8. Material - cotton, wood, plastic, cloth, glass, gold etc.
9. Purpose/Qualifier - hat box, sleeping bag, computer table,safe island, football field.

When there are 2 or more adjectives that are from the same group "and" is placed between the 2 adjectives.

• The house is green and red.
• The library has old and new books.

When there are 3 or more adjectives from the same adjective group, then place a comma between each of the adjectives. Please note that a comma is not placed between the adjective and the noun. Place "and between that last 2 adjectives.

• We live in the big, green, white and red house at the end of the street.
• My friend lost a red, black and white dog, if you see it please let me know.

eagle-eyed

'eagle-eyed' means someone who can see very clearly, who watches very carefully, who can see small details ...

Life

stonewall

'stonewall' is an expression which means that someone is stubbornly refusing to do something.

for example: He stonewalled the requests for information.

Old houses in Canada were made of stone. Later they used brick. Today it's wood-frame and chip-board.

wise owl

rapids

rapids - means: a place where water in a river flows quickly (rapidly) over rocks.

for example: Don't try to canoe through the rapids.

boardwalk

His name is mud.

... means: "He has a bad reputation." or "People don't respect him."

for example: "Ever since McCain lost the election, his name is mud."

I'd rather be fishing.

"I'd rather be fishing." is a famous bumper sticker.

A bumper sticker is a piece of coloured paper that people stick on the back (bumper) of their cars.

Other bumper stickers are: "I'd rather be sailing. ... etc."