20130102

Words of the Day: mumble and nut


Use the word "MUMBLE" when a person speaks softly or unclearly. It's not a good idea to mumble, but some people do it when they don't want another person to hear what they're saying.
  • The teacher told the students to stop mumbling and finish their work.
  • A lot of people in the office were mumbling about their supervisor, saying she was being unfair. 
  • What are you mumbling about?(People mumble when they complain privately about something.)
NUT
This is a nut. It goes onto a bolt or a screw.
This is a nut. It's a pistachio. Do you like to eat nuts?
This is a nut. He works in an office and his job has driven him crazy.
The word "nutty" is an adjective:
  • This has a nutty flavor.
  • She's kind of a nutty person.
  • His job is making him nutty.
The word "nut" is found in some common expressions:
  • The store sells everything, from soup to nuts.
  • It feels like I got kicked in the nuts. (nuts = testicles. Be careful if you say this. It's kind of vulgar, and only men use it.)
  • Aw nuts! (Darn! I'm disappointed.)

Words of the Day: mumble and nut


Use the word "MUMBLE" when a person speaks softly or unclearly. It's not a good idea to mumble, but some people do it when they don't want another person to hear what they're saying.
  • The teacher told the students to stop mumbling and finish their work.
  • A lot of people in the office were mumbling about their supervisor, saying she was being unfair. 
  • What are you mumbling about?(People mumble when they complain privately about something.)
NUT
This is a nut. It goes onto a bolt or a screw.
This is a nut. It's a pistachio. Do you like to eat nuts?
This is a nut. He works in an office and his job has driven him crazy.
The word "nutty" is an adjective:
  • This has a nutty flavor.
  • She's kind of a nutty person.
  • His job is making him nutty.
The word "nut" is found in some common expressions:
  • The store sells everything, from soup to nuts.
  • It feels like I got kicked in the nuts. (nuts = testicles. Be careful if you say this. It's kind of vulgar, and only men use it.)
  • Aw nuts! (Darn! I'm disappointed.)

Popular American Expressions


add insult to injury: make someone feel worse than he or she already does.
Samantha's sprained ankle meant that she couldn't walk on it for a few days. Adding insult to injury, she was unable to go to her waitress job during the busiest week of the year.

add fuel to the fire: make a bad situation worse.
When the man in the car behind him got too close, Tony slammed on his brakes, causing an accident. Then Tony got out of the car and smashed the man's headlights, which justadded fuel to the fire.

call it a day: stop working; to decide to quit working and go home.
David called it a day and snuck out of the office a little after 3:00.

Popular American Expressions


add insult to injury: make someone feel worse than he or she already does.
Samantha's sprained ankle meant that she couldn't walk on it for a few days. Adding insult to injury, she was unable to go to her waitress job during the busiest week of the year.

add fuel to the fire: make a bad situation worse.
When the man in the car behind him got too close, Tony slammed on his brakes, causing an accident. Then Tony got out of the car and smashed the man's headlights, which justadded fuel to the fire.

call it a day: stop working; to decide to quit working and go home.
David called it a day and snuck out of the office a little after 3:00.

20121231

Are we worse now than 30 years ago?


According to recent reports, we’re actually 
worse off now than we were 30 years ago.
 
And if you think about it, it’s easy to see why.
 
The media’s filled with doom and gloom – stories 
about recessions and hard times. These influence 
our dominant thoughts. 
 
The result? We’ve started to really believe that 
the things we want will always be just out of reach...
 
But this doesn't really have to be true.
 
We've identified 24 thought patterns that hold people 
back from abundance.  And you're not alone in having them. 
 

Are we worse now than 30 years ago?


According to recent reports, we’re actually 
worse off now than we were 30 years ago.
 
And if you think about it, it’s easy to see why.
 
The media’s filled with doom and gloom – stories 
about recessions and hard times. These influence 
our dominant thoughts. 
 
The result? We’ve started to really believe that 
the things we want will always be just out of reach...
 
But this doesn't really have to be true.
 
We've identified 24 thought patterns that hold people 
back from abundance.  And you're not alone in having them. 
 

20121230

What does "Dutch treat" mean?

An outing or date in which each person pays his or her own expenses.
For example, Her parents agreed that she might date if it were a Dutch treatHe wanted to pay the bill, but I objected and we settled on Dutch treat.
 The related expression go Dutch means “to go on a date with each person paying their own way,”(=pagar a medias) as in Students often elect to go Dutch. The first term dates from about 1870, and the variant from the early 1900s.