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Profiteering
WotD: Profiteering The base of today’s word, profiteer, can be used as a noun or a verb. As a noun, it refers to a person who takes advantage of a situation in which people are suffering to raise prices excessively on necessary goods and make an unfair profit. Don’t get me wrong, earning a profit…
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Range anxiety
WotD: Range anxiety In the lesson introduction for Going Electric (check it out if you’re interested), I said that 2021 is slated to be the year of the electric vehicle (EV) in the US. To date, there have been three main hurdles to the mass adoption of transportation electrification: price, lack of charging infrastructure and…
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A change of pace
Phrase: A change of pace It’s been a hard winter. Unfortunately, there are a few more months to go before we can wiggle our toes in the sand. That said, we can all use a change of pace right now. You may not be able to go on holiday at the moment due to COVID…
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Digital hoarding
WotD: Digital hoarding How much digital stuff do you have saved in the cloud? Digital hoarding is a growing nightmare for environmentalists and those who want to do right by the environment. Whether you refer to it as e-hoarding, datahoarding, digital hoarding or cyberhoarding, it all amounts to the same thing – storing excessive amounts…
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Get in on the ground floor
Idiom: Get in on the ground floor When entering a building, it may make sense to get in on the ground floor, but this phrase is also an idiom that means to become involved with an enterprise or project in the early stages. That does not always make sense at first. The reason is involvement…
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Pale in comparison
Phrase: Pale in comparison We’re often told not to compare things and instead take each thing at face value and accept it for what it is. This is extremely hard to do, especially when one thing pales in comparison to something else. What I mean is one thing seems less when it’s compared to something…
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Pièce de résistance
WotD: Pièce de résistance The English language is a mashup of words and phrases borrowed from languages the world over. Today we’re going to look at a French term – pièce de résistance. Don’t worry so much about your pronunciation. At first, it’s more important that you know what it means when someone else says…
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In dribs and drabs
Phrase: In dribs and drabs The future holds some enormous changes for Japan. The challenge is that Japan doesn’t like to change. Well, it doesn’t like dramatic and sudden change. Japan prefers change to occur in dribs and drabs. That means change occurs a little bit at a time in small amounts. There’s nothing too…
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Have blood on your hands
Phrase: Have blood on your hands This phrase is all about responsibility, and it’s serious. It’s about being liable for somebody’s death. As always, current events present us with some great examples of where leaders may be said to have blood on their hands. Donald Trump is being impeached for inciting the insurrection that occurred…
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Make headway
WotD: Make headway Age is a funny thing. When we are young, we think anyone over 29 is ancient. Then, once we hit 40, we’re told our best years are already behind us. However, from about 50 onwards, things begin to look up and up and up. I know this because I created a lesson about…
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