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Eureka
Word of the Day: Eureka Eureka is used when we make a sudden discovery. Its meaning is ‘I have found it.’ The English language is very good at borrowing words from other languages. Today’s word originates from the Greek word heurēka. In case you think it is not an important word, it’s the motto of California.…
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Eureka moment
Word of the Day: Eureka moment A Eureka moment is the moment many teachers live for. They are very rewarding for teachers who want to see their students have them again and again. When one of their students has a moment of realization, a teacher smiles and has a great sense of satisfaction. So, what is…
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Reap
Word of the Day: Reap In my stay-the-course post, I mentioned that people who work hard reap the rewards in the end. It is quite common to see the word reap used in the phrase reap the rewards. Reap has two meanings: 1) to harvest a crop. Example: Farmers reap their rice in the fall.…
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Stay the course
English Phrase: Stay the course For the next five days, I’d like to introduce you to idioms that should help motivate you to continue studying English. We’ll start today with stay the course. We can say that staying the course is very similar to the Japanese がんばって because it means to continue to do something until you…
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Horizon
Word of the Day: Horizon Yesterday, I said that Sundays were made for solitude. Many people enjoy the solitude of being on a deserted beach, not having many people around them, staring out over a calm ocean where they can see the curvature of the earth, which is the horizon. Just looking out over the ocean,…
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Matter at Hand
Phrase: Matter at Hand Hey, it is Monday again. Congratulations, everybody. You have survived another weekend, and now you can go to work for another week. YAY! Anyway, I want to get to the matter at hand for the day and not talk about the weekend. Five days a week, I add a new post to…
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Put on Airs
Idiom: Put on Airs Some people try to put on airs. Yes, it is ‘airs,’ not ‘ears.’ To put on airs means to pretend to be better than you are. You try to create a certain aura about you that you usually don’t have. A poor lady who dresses up in fake designer goods is…
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Solitude
Word of the Day: Solitude Today is Sunday, and Sundays were made for solitude. The word solitude describes a quiet situation when one is alone and wants to be alone. Some people (like me) enjoy a peaceful time alone because it allows us to think or contemplate. I believe the person who built the cabin…
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Towering
Word of the Day: Towering If you live in a city, then there are probably many towering buildings around you. I am using towering as an adjective here, and it means very tall and impressive. Being a Canadian, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a towering building is the CN Tower in Toronto,…
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Second pair of eyes
Idiom: Second pair of eyes Many times, when we work alone on something, we can make mistakes. Because we are working alone, we may not notice these errors. Therefore, having a second pair of eyes to check your work is helpful. A second pair of eyes means to have someone else check your work for errors.…
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