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Willful blindness
WotD: Willful blindness Humans want to know everything. The desire for knowledge is behind the human passion for climbing mountains, crossing oceans and space exploration. However, there are times when knowledge is not as beneficial as not knowing. It’s moments like those when we choose willful blindness. We call a lack of knowledge willful blindness…
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The nature of the beast
Phrase: The nature of the beast Are you thinking about how to be happy? I bet you are thinking about it now because I’ve asked you. Here’s a little secret. If you want to be happy, you have to learn to accept things. Life is full of stuff that we don’t like, that gets on our…
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Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
Proverb: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned Yes, I write about women quite often. Is that a crime? Women are lovely people until they aren’t. Oh, yeah, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Sure, I’ll admit all of the problems in the world are caused by men. Women didn’t invade Ukraine,…
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Grassroots
WotD: Grassroots If you know anything about politics, you know most of the money comes from big corporate donors, but the votes are won at the grassroots level. Grassroots are interpersonal connections at the most basic level. The ordinary people at the community level make up the main body of any organization. It’s why prominent…
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The wolf is at the door
Idiom: The wolf is at the door It’s a feeling perhaps a majority of people have had at least once in their lives. There’s an unexpected illness, natural disaster or the primary breadwinner loses their job, but the bills keep coming. You can rob Peter to pay Paul for a while, but eventually, you’ll fall…
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Significant other
WotD: Significant other Society tends to place much pressure on people to acquire a significant other. It’s not only in modern times but throughout history that married couples have pushed single people to settle down and start a family. Why? Is it because misery loves company? Is it because strapping on the old ball and…
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The dark side
WotD: The dark side Beware the dark side. No, we’re not talking about Star Wars here. We’re talking about every person you know, from the lovely elderly lady down the street to the nice man who cuts your hair. Everyone, absolutely everyone – with no exceptions – has a dark side. What? What is the…
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Go nuclear
Idiom: Go nuclear While at first blush, the idea of going nuclear may be an extremely delicate topic for some Japanese, the term itself is more of a euphemism for extremism. If you go nuclear, you become outraged and use force to the full extent of being extreme and perhaps in an irrational way. Imagine…
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Wolf down
WotD: Wolf down Working as an assistant language teacher (ALT) in Japan is a great way to expose yourself to the grassroots of Japanese culture. You’ll see how students in sports clubs wolf down their food with unbelievable speed. When you wolf food down, you eat as much as you can as quickly as possible…
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Wake-up call
WotD: Wake-up call Remember the old days when you could request room service or a wake-up call in a hotel? It wasn’t that long ago. Although room service may be gone for good, you can still request a wake-up call at the front desk, but often the call itself is an automated call made by…
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