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Scared Stiff
WotD: Scared Stiff Where does being scared stiff fit into the fight or flight response? They say that when faced with danger, most animals will fight or run away. I suppose that’s true for the most part, but what if you’re so scared that you can’t move? You see it in horror movies all the time. People…
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Old Man Winter
WotD: Old Man Winter Try as he might, this is one battle Old Man Winter, a personification of winter, will not win. It’s March in subtropical Wakayama, Japan. He’s fighting a losing battle if he’s trying to maintain his cold grip on us. Mother Nature knows what she’s doing, and nature will always find a way…
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Get something off your chest
Idiom: Get something off your chest Movies tend to glorify the strong, silent type of character who never feels the need to get something off their chest. Generally, these types of characters are very good at keeping their problems bottled up inside until they erupt in violent revenge. We’ll have to leave that to the action movies, though,…
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Variety is the spice of life
Proverb: Variety is the spice of life What do you do when your steak is a little tough and bland? You put a little pepper on it. What do you do when life is a bit tough and humdrum? You add a little variety to it. Why? Because variety is the spice of life, my friend. Variety…
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Fall guy
Word of the Day: Fall guy Nobody wants to be the fall guy, so you better be sure you know who your friends are. The fall guy is the person who gets the blame when something goes wrong, or they are the person blamed for a crime they did not commit. Most of the time, the person who…
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Pick up steam
Idiom: Pick up steam Here we are in Japan, waiting for the economy to pick up steam. The Japanese economic bubble, which lasted from 1986 to 1991, burst in ’92. Although the economy has been chugging along and most people have been working, it has never boomed like in the ’80s. The problem is, in my…
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Brainstorm
WotD: Brainstorm Ideas, creativity, and originality are all considered requirements for success today. So, how do companies stay ahead of the game and continue developing fantastic ideas? They brainstorm. Brainstorming occurs when many people throw out different ideas without strict controls before choosing a few to focus on and develop further. Brainstorming sessions can be a really energetic…
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Get under someone’s skin
Phrase: Get under your skin English is a beautiful and fantastic language which can get under your skin in both senses of the idiom. Sorry to tell you, but yes, this idiom also has two different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. The first meaning of this idiom is that something is an…
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Second-guess
WotD: Second-guess There are two ways to look at the meaning of second-guessing. The first is to criticize someone after the fact. What I mean is that after you have completed something, someone else tells you what you should have done or how they would have done it better. In other words, they’re second-guessing you. Don’t you…
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Your own worst enemy
Phrase: Be your own worst enemy Sometimes, even though you bend over backwards trying to prevent someone from having problems, they always get into trouble because they are their own worst enemy. You can try, but some people just can’t be helped. When someone is their own worst enemy, they cause most of the problems…
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