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Get out more
Phrase: Get out more We probably all know someone who needs to get out more: that person who spends every weekend watching reruns on TV, the girl who plays online games for countless hours a month or the friend whose wardrobe is outdated because they’re not up on the latest trends. What I mean is…
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Raise an eyebrow
Phrase: Raise an eyebrow Japanese people are known for their stoicism. After Typhoon 15 on September 8-9, 2019, thousands of Japanese didn’t raise an eyebrow when they had to line up for hours to get a train to work. The fact that they lined up at all caused me to raise both my eyebrows in…
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Alluring
Word of the Day: Alluring It’s Thursday, summer’s over, and it’s not Halloween yet, but I have a word that may be a nightmare for many Japanese – alluring. The word doesn’t mean nightmare; it means something or someone is attractive or exciting. However, look at all those L’s and R’s in there. I can…
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Late to the table
Phrase: Late to the table More than 13,000 people were stuck at Narita Airport during Typhoon Faxai. One of the chief complaints was that there was very little information in English. When it comes to English language fluency or bilingualism, Japan has been late to the table. It’s not too late to change, but the…
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Do your own thing
Phrase: Do your own thing In Japan, doing your own thing has traditionally been frowned upon. Following the crowd was what got you rewarded. However, with the decline of lifetime employment and good pension plans, more and more Japanese are deciding to take a chance and see if doing their own thing can get them…
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Tie one on
Idiom: Tie one on Alcohol is one of the great social lubricants in the world. Students everywhere understand that when you go out to tie one on, the more you drink, the better your second language becomes. When you tie one on, you get drunk. The idiom tie one on may come from cowboys tying…
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Snowflake
Word of the Day: Snowflake The meaning of snowflake that you already know is not the one I’m using today. The definition I’m introducing today is modern slang. A snowflake is an overly sensitive member of the millennial generation who believes they deserve special treatment because they are unique. If you disagree with the term…
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Ignorance is bliss
Proverb: Ignorance is bliss I’m going to start my publishing week with a handy little proverb: ignorance is bliss. In only three words, it states a considerable truth. If you don’t know about the bad things in life, then you are not bothered by them. More often than not, knowing about the unpleasant things which…
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Hair of the dog
WotD: Hair of the dog If you drink alcohol, eventually, you’re going to have a hangover. There’s nothing worse than the morning after the night before, so today, I’m going to introduce you to the hair of the dog. Now, there are as many hangover ‘cures’ as there are types of alcohol. Of course, we…
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Exercise in futility
Phrase: Exercise in futility Did you know that most people in the world are bilingual? Yep, it’s true that being monolingual is not the norm. Many Japanese may feel that studying English is an exercise in futility, but they are mistaken. People around the world learn to speak English every day. It enables them to…
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