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Woke
Word of the Day: Woke At first, you may think this is a very simple word: woke, the past tense of wake as in I woke up too early yesterday morning. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it’s much more complicated than that. The idea of being woke is that you are aware of what…
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Whatchamacallit
Word of the Day: Whatchamacallit Congratulations, champ; today is your lucky day! I’m going to teach you what a whatchamacallit is. I’m going to let you in on a little secret that other English teachers don’t teach you. They like to keep it to themselves. They say that magicians never tell their secrets, and it’s…
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The Big Smoke
WotD: The Big Smoke That’s where all the kids want to go, isn’t it? The Big Smoke. They seem to think there is much more opportunity in the big city than there is in the countryside or even in regional towns. I suppose they’re right – to a point. I mean, haven’t most of us…
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In the same boat
Phrase: In the same boat You know, people who do physical labour for a living can be quite philosophical at times. I still remember some of the words of wisdom the fishermen in my childhood community imparted to me as they cleaned fish and cut out the cod tongues. Things such as ‘If you don’t…
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Face the music
Phrase: Face the music Have you ever made a mistake or done something stupid and had to face the music afterward? Of course, you have. We have all had to face the music at one point in our lives or another. The unfortunate ones have had to face the music more than once. Let me…
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Heyday
Word of the Day: Heyday My students know I’ve said for a while now, Japan is entering the age of the woman. Women are not in their heyday yet, but they will be soon, and it will last for a very long time. The word heyday refers to the most successful period for someone or…
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Once in a blue moon
Phrase: Once in a blue moon The phrase once in a blue moon means that something occurs infrequently or very rarely. The strange thing is, though, that blue moons – real blue moons – themselves regularly occur every two and a half to three years. Oh, and I should mention that blue moons are not…
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A chink in your armour
Phrase: A chink in your armour Everyone has a weakness. Although we all do our best to hide it – to put up a façade – we all have a chink in our armour somewhere. It may be that you tend to procrastinate. Perhaps you quickly become discouraged if you don’t achieve immediate results. A…
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You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
Proverb: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks That’s what they say, you know? You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But I think it’s not that you can’t teach them; it’s that they don’t want – or are too stubborn – to learn. As we grow older, we tend to become set…
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In the back of beyond
Phrase: In the back of beyond Have you ever been there or wanted to go there? Have you wanted to get away from it all, to disappear for a while in the back of beyond? I know you have. You’ve done what everyone else has done. You’ve looked at pictures of Iceland, Greenland, the Amazon…
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