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Bean counter
Word of the Day: Bean counter Bean counter is a negative term for people who are accountants or otherwise responsible for the details of financial matters. When someone wants to make an investment or spend company money, but it’s not approved, they often blame the bean counters. Al Capone was an infamous Chicago gangster in…
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Third time’s a charm
Saying: (The) third time’s a charm We can connect this saying to the adage (wise saying): If you don’t succeed at first, try again. If you have failed twice trying to accomplish something, you should say (the) third time’s a charm to wish yourself luck. Plus, if you have already been unsuccessful at something twice, you…
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Bug
Word of the Day: Bug You can think of a bug as an insect, bacteria, or virus that you can catch, such as a cold. You can think of it as a device or software that someone secretly puts into your phone to hear your private conversations. You can think of bug as a problem…
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Tap into
Word of the Day: Tap into (something) If you can tap into something, you can use it in a way that benefits you. Japanese companies want to tap into the North American market to sell their goods and benefit by earning a more substantial profit. As you can see in my picture, if you can…
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The more things change, the more they stay the same.
English Proverb: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Originally, from the French plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose in 1849, the proverb—the more things change, the more they stay the same—in English is still true today. Although the form of our problems may seem more complicated today, the fundamental issues remain…
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Hump day
Word of the Day: Hump day A hump can be like a mountain or a hill. Hump day is Wednesday, the middle of the week. Think about the five workdays in a week as a metaphor for climbing a mountain. We start to climb the mountain on Monday, continue climbing on Tuesday and then on…
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Leave someone be
Better to leave her be and enjoy the moment. English Phrase: Leave someone be Here we are back to our first idiom after hump day. We have a phrase today: leave someone be. If we leave someone be, we do not bother them and let them continue their actions. Imagine you have a young…
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Go the extra mile
English Idiom: Go the extra mile If you go the extra mile, which is standard procedure in Japan, you do more than is expected. If you go the extra mile, you do more than is expected. To go the extra mile involves giving a task special effort and attention. In fact, the government and big…
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Touch-type
WotD: Touch-type How are your typing skills, and how did you learn to type? If you’re as old as I am (in the neighbourhood of forty), you probably learned to touch type in school on a word processor. If you can type without looking at the keys, you can touch type. Touch typing is an…
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All hands on deck
Expression: All hands on deck The expression all hands on deck comes from the days of sailing when sailing ships were the primary form of transportation worldwide. First, I need to explain that hand can be used to refer to a person who does physical work or has some particular skill that’s required. Sometimes, a…
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