Boxing Day

Boxing Day is December 26, the day after Christmas. It is a statutory holiday in Canada, but I think not in the U.S.

Nativity scene

 

'Nativity scene' is an expression for a display like this with statues of people and animals for the birth of Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BENTO = box lunch

BENTO is a Japanese word; the closest English expression is "box lunch".

How many foods can you name?

On the left, on top of the rice is:
- some kind of dumpling
- shrimp tempura
- something like a sausage, I think

At the top of the left side, the yellow thing is a TSUKEMO - pickle. This is a pickled DAIKON - Japanese radish. Just under it are 2 peanuts and a piece of pickled ginger.

On the right side, at the top is a piece of seaweed tied in a knot, a dumpling (I forget the Japanese word); the yellow triangle is a piece of scrambled egg; under it is half a hard-boiled egg and some miscellaneous tidbits.
The main course is chicken with GOMA - sesame seeds - on top, garnished with a piece of that fake crab which is really KAMABOKO - fish baloney.

Curiosity killed the cat.

... is an expression meaning: It is dangerous to be too curious (or nosy).

Don't let the cat out of the bag. ...

... is an expression meaning: Don't tell the secret.

snow

It snowed on Friday. It's unusual to have snow in November. The roads were crappy. It took me more than 2 hours to drive home and I fish-tailed several times. There were a lot of accidents on the road.

crappy - is vulgar (rude) slang. 'crap' is the rude slang noun for poop. 'crappy' is the adjective.

fish-tail - is slang for when a car moves left-and-right on wet roads. The slang comes from the way a fish tail moves left and right when a fish swims.

Xmas

"Xmas" is an abbreviation for "Chirstmas".
The Xmas shopping season has started already. The stores are full of shoppers.

November

November 11

November 11 is not a statutory holiday, but it is the day that World War I ended.
It is called Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in the U.S.
There are ceremonies at 11am to honour military veterans of all wars.

DST end

Daylight Savings Time ends in North America today.
Spring forward, fall back.
In the fall (autumn), we turn the clocks back one hour.
We are now 14 hours behind Japan.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Happy Halloween

October 31 is not a statutory holiday, but it is the day when kids have Halloween parties.

The word comes from Old English: All Hallow's Eve

The Perfect Storm / Frankenstorm

The Perfect Storm - was a movie a few years ago about a storm where every condition made the storm worse. It is an expression meaning: when the worst possible thing happens.

Frankenstorm - is an expression for the current Hurricane Sandy on the eastern seaboard of North America. It is an expression from the Frankenstein horror novel and monster movies; because Hallowe'en is soon.

self serve / full serve

self serve - means that you pump your own gas.

full serve - means that the gas station employee pumps the gas.

Some gas stations have both kinds of pumps. Usually the 'full serve' pumps are on the outer side.
Sometimes you have to wait for the employee to appear.

black cat

There is a superstition that black cats are bad luck.
Pictures of black cats are sometimes used in Halloween decorations.

Distillery

The Distillery District

...

Distillery District

The Distillery District is an area of downtown Toronto where there used to be an old distillery (a factory for making alcohol). Now it is a restaurant and theatre area.

Hydro right-of-way

"Right of way" means: who has the right to drive through an intersection or road first.
For example, fire engines and ambulances always have the right of way.
Cars facing a green light have the right of way at an intersection over cars that have a yellow or red light.

-

A "Hydro right-of-way" means: the land under a high voltage hydro-electric line (wires).
There is a law that hydro lines have the right-of-way; this means that you cannot use the land for anything else, and you cannot block the hydro lines. If you own a piece of land and the government wants to run hydro wires across your land, you cannot stop them.
It is also illegal in Ontario, Canada to build a building under a hydro right-of-way, because the electrical field may have a negative effect on the health of persons nearby.

Teriyaki Steak

If you order steak in a restaurant, the waiter will ask: "How do you want it done?"

Your answer should be:

a) rare - means cooked lightly, so that the meat is still pink or bloody
b) medium
c) well done - means cooked for a long time, dark or almost burned/burnt

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

... is an expression that means ...

you shouldn't criticize other people because
if you criticize other people, then other people will criticize you. (throw stones at you)

Comparatives - more and less (adjectives)

Adjectives of one syllable: tall -> taller
old -> older

The bottle on the left is taller than the bottle on the right.
The bottle on the left is older than the bottle on the right.



Adjectives that end in "y":
funny -> funnier
dusty -> dustier

The bottle on the left is funnier than the bottle on the right.


Adjectives of 2 or more syllables:
expensive -> more expensive
interesting > more interesting

The bottle on the left is more interesting than the bottle on the right.

LESS
The first bottle is not as old as the second bottle.

The first bottle is less funny than the second bottle.
The first bottle is less expensive
The first bottle is less interesting.

Spitfire

English Expression of the Week: Spitfire

1. originally, a small fighter plane used by the Allies during World War II

2. slang, a small but aggressive animal or person, usually female