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Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today
Proverb: Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today At first blush, you may think this proverb is more of a cliché and not one you want to use very often. I think you would be wrong to think that. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today is a proverb…
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Power nap
WotD: Power nap Seeing as how we talked about taking a power walk yesterday, today may be the perfect opportunity to take a power nap. I know that people rarely achieve the recommended eight hours of sleep a night, especially here in Japan. Long commutes, long working hours and a penchant for staying up late…
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Power walk
WotD: Power walk A power walk is for people what a long drive is for diesel engines. Diesel-powered vehicles are meant to be driven. If you don’t drive a diesel-powered vehicle often and for long distances, the exhaust will not become hot enough to destroy the particulate matter which diesel engines are famous for creating.…
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Defy belief
WotD: Defy belief Some students have asked me what it means to ‘defy belief.’ This little phrase came up in one of the articles my students and I read recently. Naturally, when I get questions about a word or phrase, I put it on my list of idioms to write about. When you hear someone…
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Tarnish
Word of the Day: Tarnish Social media is a tricky beast. It’s one of the best ways to communicate with friends and potential customers, but if you put one foot wrong, you can quickly tarnish your reputation and never get over it. What I mean is that when you tarnish your reputation, you do, say,…
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Out of your hands
Phrase: Out of your hands Most of us do not sit at the top of the food chain when it comes to our workplaces. Full disclosure here: I sit at the top of my workplace because I am self-employed and the only one working. I also simultaneously sit at the bottom. As I was going…
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End of an era
Phrase: End of an era It’s sad to say, but we may be witnessing the end of an era not only in Japan but also worldwide. The end of an era means something ends and will never return. Until now, the Western world has been gradually switching to digital wallets and cashless transactions to make…
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Vitriol
Word of the Day: Vitriol ‘And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate’ is what Taylor Swift sang in her song ‘Shake It Off.’ She is so right. For some reason, vitriol is all around us, and if we let it, it will drown us faster than we can say retail therapy. So, what…
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Caught short
WotD: Caught short Here’s one we can all understand. Every one of us has been caught short at one time or another in our lives. When someone says they were caught short, they mean they suddenly had to use the bathroom, but there was no bathroom nearby. There’s nothing worse than not being able to…
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Buyer’s remorse
WotD: Buyer’s remorse It’s one of life’s little consistencies—highs are followed by lows, which are followed by highs, which are, in turn, followed by more lows. Yeah, life sure has its ups and downs. One of those downs is what we call buyer’s remorse. Buyer’s remorse is a feeling of regret after buying something too…
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