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Hug
Word of the Day: Hug We all know this word. We can hug our wives, husbands or children. Did you know that houses can hug? When two things are very close or stay close to one another, we can say they are hugging each other. For example, in the picture of my hometown below, the…
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Dog days of summer
Idiom: Dog days of summer The weather has been quite hot and humid recently. It feels like Japan has already entered the dog days of summer. The dog days of summer are the time after the rainy season between July and September when the weather is scorching and humid. Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test This post is…
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American muscle
Word of the Day: American muscle Being 40-something, I am a bit of a car guy. Actually, I love cars. Even though I like all kinds of cars, I really love American muscle cars. Good ol’ ‘Detroit steel.’ American muscle refers to cool American cars from the ’60s and ’70s with big engines and the…
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Throw good money after bad
Expression: Throw Good Money after Bad Today’s post is the last money-related idiom for a while. Today’s idiom throw good money after bad means to continue to waste money after you have already lost money on the same thing. It is very closely related to yesterday’s money pit idiom. If you continue investing money in a business that is not…
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Money pit
English Idiom: Money pit A money pit is some form of investment, such as a car, business or a private helicopter (some people buy helicopters), that always needs to be fixed, repaired or invested in. The problem is we never get anything back from the investment. If you buy a cheap, used car and then discover that…
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Shopaholic
Word of the Day: Shopaholic Today is Sunday. Can you believe that when I was a young boy in Newfoundland, Canada, none of the stores were open on Sundays? Yep, that’s right. There was no Sunday shopping. One of the arguments against Sunday shopping was that everybody would become shopaholics. A shopaholic is someone who…
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The bank of mom and dad
Phrase: The bank of Mom and Dad What do you do if you 1) don’t have money but 2) want to buy your own home? Well, you could try the bank of Mom and Dad. The bank of Mom and Dad means that your parents will give you the money that you need to get something.…
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Down-to-earth
WotD: Down-to-earth My students all know that I am a pretty down-to-earth guy. I live in the countryside of Wakayama. I grow my own vegetables as a hobby; my second hobby is eating the vegetables that I grow, and I love teaching English! So, what does down-to-earth mean? Well, it doesn’t mean that I am short. It…
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Cash Cow
WotD: Cash Cow Still, with the theme of money idioms, today’s idiom is cash cow. What is that? No, you do not need to be a farmer to have one. A cash cow is a product or service that steadily makes a profit for a company or person. A good example would be the Toyota Camry or the…
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Threadbare
Word of the Day: Threadbare It is getting close to the time when we all put away our cool-weather clothing and take our summer clothes out of storage. It is also the time when we throw away our old threadbare clothes to make room for new clothing. Sometimes, our favourite pair of jeans is just…
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