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At your fingertips
Phrase: At your fingertips Remember the days of the print edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica? People thought that if they had a set of encyclopedias in their house, they would have the knowledge of the world at their fingertips. To have something at your fingertips means it’s easily available with little effort. My family had three…
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Kleptomaniac
WotD: Kleptomaniac Have you ever had a kleptomaniac in your family? Kleptomania can be a severe mental disease. You see, a kleptomaniac is a person who has an uncontrollable urge to steal things. Often, it doesn’t matter what they steal, just so long as they steal it. As I said, it can be pretty serious, and sufferers of this…
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Rule of thumb
Phrase: Rule of thumb A good rule of thumb is that whenever you want to do something, there is a rule controlling how, where, and when you can do it. Rules govern our world. No matter where you go or what you do, there is a rule, or many, that you should follow. Some rules are stringent.…
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Nurse
Word of the Day: Nurse We all know what a nurse is. In a hospital, the nurse controls the doctors and ensures that they do what they are supposed to do. We all know what it means to care for the sick and injured. But if I told you that I like to sit outside on a…
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Go Figure
Expression: Go Figure Go figure is an expression people use when they think something is puzzling, surprising, unusual or even stupid. If you listen carefully, you can hear people worldwide say this when talking about decisions made by politicians. Recent news in Japan is that the government will purchase 100 more F-35 fighter jets from the…
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Poster child
WotD: Poster child It’s not very often that I get stumped, but I had a hard time coming up with a way to explain poster child. Then I got an idea. In yesterday’s post, I discussed dessert and mentioned that some people eat as much as they want and get away with it. Well, in this post, I’ll…
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Get away with
Idiom: Get away with (something) As adults, there are many things we can do and get away with which we couldn’t do as children. One of them is eating dessert first. Why save the best for last when you can have it first? Adults always tell kids to eat their vegetables first, and then they can have…
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Gender-neutral
WotD: Gender-Neutral The English language contains many gender-specific words which are not gender-neutral. Before I go any further, I want to explain that a gender-neutral word relates to humans or people in general, not only to males or females. A primary example is using the term ‘police officer’ instead of the gender-specific ‘policeman’ or ‘policewoman.’ The usage…
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Devil’s advocate
Idiom: Devil’s advocate Now and then, an English teacher has to play devil’s advocate in the classroom. I’ve been an English language conversation teacher longer than I care to say. One thing I’ve learned is that having differing opinions on something helps to keep a conversation going. Here, I will digress for a moment and use this as a…
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Pun
Word of the Day: Pun The most challenging aspect of a language to understand is humour. When it comes to humour, a pun is very challenging for English language students to find funny. Puns play with the multiple meanings and pronunciations of words. They require intimate knowledge and understanding of a particular language. In addition, the ability to…
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