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Cash in your chips
English Phrase: Cash in your chips When gambling, sometimes, but not often, people win. If you win, the dealer doesn’t give you money. They give you chips, which, when you stop gambling, you cash in your chips and receive cash for your chips. In the vernacular sense, if you cash in your chips, you stop…
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Off-grid
Word of the Day: Off-grid On Friday, I introduced the term power grid. It’s the system of power plants, power lines, etc. that bring electricity to our homes and offices. Well, some people prefer to live off-grid without being connected to the main power supply. Traditionally, this meant that they did not live close to…
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Go without saying
English Phrase: Go without saying Go without saying is a little phrase people use to mean that something is obvious or easily understood. For example, for an English teacher from a foreign country to enter Japan, they must prove they have a university degree. Therefore, it goes without saying that all the foreign teachers in…
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Power grid
Word of the Day: Power grid A power grid or electrical grid is a complicated system of solar farms and other power generation plants that bring electricity to homes. We use electricity every time we turn on our computers or TVs, charge our smartphones or tablets or use anything else that requires energy to operate.…
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A pretty penny
English Phrase: A pretty penny When we describe something as costing a pretty penny, we mean it must have been expensive. The above sports car is definitely on the high end of the cost scale. If you’ve managed to put away quite a bit of cash, you may be able to afford it, but that…
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Every cloud has a silver lining
Saying: Every cloud has a silver lining No matter how bad a situation may seem, it is essential to remember that every cloud has a silver lining. Nothing is 100% bad. There is always some advantage in a bad situation. Thinking positively is essential; when you do, you should tell yourself that every cloud has…
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Guilty pleasure
WotD: Guilty pleasure Please don’t lie to yourself or me. You have a guilty pleasure. I know you do. Remember that extra muffin you bought at the bakery yesterday? Yes, you’re on a diet and should not have eaten it, but it was so good. A guilty pleasure is something that you enjoy but also…
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Marry
Word of the Day: Marry Isn’t English great? Don’t you love how one word can have multiple meanings? Well, everybody, marrying is one of those words. You see a new word, study its meaning, learn how to use it, and then one day, you see or hear the word again, but it’s being used in…
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Get wind of
A: So, you’ve heard Christine is getting divorced. B: No! A: Oh, in that case, forget I said anything. English Idiom: Get wind of (something) If you get wind of something, you hear about something secret or unknown. For example, perhaps a friend of yours is having a party, and they didn’t invite you. Your…
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One-trick pony
Word of the Day: One-trick pony A one-trick pony is a person or company that can only do one thing. Now, this one thing could be a specialty, and as long as that specialty is needed, then being a one-trick pony is not bad. Things change, however, when the specialty or the one trick…
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