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Rose-coloured glasses
Phrase: Rose-coloured glasses It would be nice to look at the world through rose-coloured glasses and not have a care in the world. Waking up and beginning to doomscroll, even before getting out of bed, has become a habit for most of us. Now I have two things to explain before we make any more…
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Put (someone) up on a pedestal
Phrase: Put (someone) up on a pedestal Around America and in Britain, statues were hauled down from pedestals and even thrown into harbours in some cases. I used to think the fall of Saddam’s statue in Iraq was pretty cool. This all just goes to show the danger of putting someone up on a pedestal.…
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Not your cup of tea
Idiom: Not your cup of tea It’s hard for me to believe that I have not written about the idiom ‘not your cup of tea‘ until today in five years of writing these posts. The expression comes from our good friends on the other side of the world, the British. When the British Empire dominated…
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Make do
WotD: Make do English students are often baffled by two verbs appearing together, as in ‘Go wake up your father.’ I’m frequently asked if there should be an ‘and’ in between. In this case, you could because the two verbs are not one term. However, in the case of make do, you cannot separate them.…
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Famous last words
Phrase: Famous last words Confidence and belief in yourself are both essential for success in life. Overconfidence, however, could lead to tragic results. When others are aware of your overconfidence and are sure you will later be proved wrong, that’s when they use the phrase famous last words. They can use it immediately after you…
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Serendipity
WotD: Serendipity Today I have a beautiful word for you. It looks like serenity, but it’s not – it’s serendipity. Serendipity is the fact of finding interesting or valuable things entirely by accident or chance. If you want to find someone to spend your life with, you’re not going to do it watching TV. You…
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Dither
Word of the Day: Dither There is no such thing as luck. Luck is a combination of making the hard decisions to prepare for the future and grabbing an opportunity with both hands when it comes along. Those who dither or act indecisively rarely take advantage of opportunities in a timely fashion. If you think…
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Reality Check
WotD: Reality check It’s time for a reality check, people. Look at the world around you, leave your opinions behind and consider the facts. During the end of 2019 and early 2020, Australia experienced the worst wildfires in recorded history. An area larger than many countries burned while millions of koalas, kangaroos, wombats and various…
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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Proverb: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it It’s never easy to convince most people to change their ways and adopt new ways of doing things. Most of them will have some reluctance to change. Then there will always be the ones who say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. These people will always…
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Bet your bottom dollar
Phrase: Bet your bottom dollar I’m not a betting man, but when the Japanese government approved Integrated Resorts (IR) with gambling casinos, I told my wife she could bet her bottom dollar there would be corruption and scandal. Well, there are no IRs yet, but the corruption and scandal are here all the same. On…
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