Category Archives: The Language We Speak
Docile Whale
Here’s one of those little things that amuses me far more than it should: my wife gave me this notebook to use at work. She said, “It’s friendly. The children will like it.” And it is and they do. But … Continue reading
LOLing
During episode 105 of Californication, the protagonist, Hank Moody as played by David Duchovny, sets off on a beautiful diatribe about the decline of the English language through blogspeak while appearing on the Henry Rollins show. It’s a great speech … Continue reading
Filed under Learning From the Master, The Language We Speak
Impractical Linguistics
It’s no secret that I love languages. It’s also no secret that I think learning languages is a royal pain in the fundament. My students know that I study Japanese and Spanish, although I freely admit that I usually only … Continue reading
Yo' Mama
I just spent my evening translating “yo mama” jokes into Japanese. Go ahead and take a second or two to wrap your little mind around that. Can’t quite do it, can you? No, me neither. It’s a strange little life … Continue reading
Last Kyoto Notes
Saturday night, heading back to our hotel from the Gion area, the cab driver took us to the wrong hotel. We had piled into the cab and I spoke to the cab driver in Japanese, telling him the name of … Continue reading
Tourist Talk
Kyoto is a beautiful city. There are hundreds, literally, of shrines, temples, gardens, and historic places to visit. There are also some fantastic restaurants and shops tucked into the back alleys and side streets. I have now visited Kyoto four … Continue reading
Incesticide
It’s amazing how some things just get stuck in one’s head. Well, not stuck. More like put away in the mental equivalent of a kitchen drawer and forgotten about. For years even. I came up against this today when trying … Continue reading
eBible.com Invitation
My invitation to join eBible.com was in my gmail when I got home from soccer tonight, so I went over to check it out. My first impression, after about five minutes of playing is that this is a great service … Continue reading
The Best Class I Have Ever Taught
Tonight’s class was the easiest class I have ever taught. It was also one of the more fun. I had only two students and none of us felt like doing much in the way of proper study. So we watched … Continue reading
Pod People
One of the projects I’ve been working on, one that is taking up an extraordinary amount of time, is finding podcasts for work. I teach between 12 and 15 classes a week, all focused on either Public Speaking and / … Continue reading
Filed under All the Baby's Linkage, The Language We Speak
Slang
Tonight’s impossible-to-answer-easily question from a student: When watching or listening to English media, how can one identify slang usages? My too-difficult-to-understand-easily answer: The best way to identify slang usages in English is to listen for adjectives used out of context, … Continue reading
Filed under Learning From the Master, The Language We Speak
