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Straight and narrow
Idiom: Straight and narrow It is extremely easy to get off the straight and narrow and find yourself in the weeds in life. What the heck am I talking about? Well, to be on the straight and narrow means living an honest and morally good life. So, if you are living on the straight and…
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Holy cow
WotD: Holy cow To anybody trying to learn English, it must seem like a bizarre language. Let’s take the expression ‘Holy cow!” as an example. A few days ago, a student pointed out that it was used in two of the articles we were using for our conversation topic. This student asked me what it…
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Brownout
WotD: Brownout It’s time I explained the difference between brownout, blackout and rolling blackout due to the strain climate change is placing on our electricity grids. First, a brownout occurs when an electricity supplier intentionally reduces the voltage of the system. You can tell this is happening because the old-style incandescent lightbulbs will dim or…
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Outlier
Word of the Day: Outlier Japan is, in many ways, an outlier. Although it is a Western country, part of the G7, and considered a liberal democracy, it is in many ways very different from other Western countries. To be an outlier means that a person, place, thing or even fact is very different from…
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See through you
Idiom: See through you Let me ask you a question. What do police officers and wives have in common? Yep, that’s right. They have the innate ability to see through you. Cops and wives know what you are really like and can see through you. They are not going to be tricked by you. Now,…
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Make your skin crawl
Idiom: Make your skin crawl We are still about five weeks out from Halloween, but the phrase make your skin crawl has come up on my list of ‘possible posts,’ so I’m going to write about it now. It may be a giant spider slowly creeping up your naked back as you sleep, a snake…
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Do as I say, not as I do
Proverb: Do as I say, not as I do Much of the advice you have received, will receive, or have given in your life probably falls under the category of do as I say, not as I do. I remember being out in the barn on a stormy winter’s night with my father and a…
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Put the genie back in the bottle
Idiom: Put the genie back in the bottle Right off the bat, let me tell you that if you are trying to put the genie back in the bottle, you are trying to stop a situation from developing further and even go back to the way things were. The idiom is always used in the…
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Like a drunken sailor
Idiom: (Spend money) like a drunken sailor Money! You can never have enough! Most of us try to save as much as possible, while others spend money like a drunken sailor. From the moment we learn the significance of money and want to stand on our own two feet, we enter into a ceaseless quest…
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Bring on
WotD: Bring (something) on Here we are again! It’s Monday! Once a week, I feel blue, and Mondays always bring on this blueness. They always bring on this case of Mondayitis. Yes, Monday is the last day of the working week for me, and I am grateful for that, but Monday is also the week’s…
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