English Corner

Welcome to the English Corner!

If you are visiting this site, I hope you enjoy it. You will find articles about English usage, and some photos, and many links to other sites. 

Please write to me if you have questions about English. I taught in China many years ago (1983!), and I liked my Chinese students very much. I know that I will like you too.

Ten Canadian words

Welcome to English Corner! I hope you enjoy this site.

Here are ten Canadian words that even Americans don't know! They come from Chinook jargon (CHI-nook JAR-gun), the language used in the Canadian fur trade long ago. Chinook jargon is a mix of English, French, and native words. We still use some of them in British Columbia.

Skookum (SKOO-kum): Big, strong, good.

Tillicum (TIL-li-cum): Friend. A good friend is a skookum tillicum.

Saltchuck (SALT-chuck): Salt water; the ocean. We go out on the saltchuck to catch fish.

Tumtum (TUM-tum): Think, feel, heart. 

Wawa (WA-wa): Talk. A serious talk is a tumtum wawa -- you are talking from your heart.

Klahowya (kla-HOW-ya): Hello.

Hyak (HY-ak): Fast.

Klahwa (KLAH-wa): Slow.

Muckmuck (MUCK-muck): Food.

Tyee (ty-EE): Chief, leader. Also a big salmon.

I hope you enjoy learning these Canadian words. And I hope you ask me lots of questions! Just leave a comment, or email me.

Look!

"Look" is a common English word. It means to pay attention to what you see. But its meaning can change when you put other words with it. For example:

Look into: Explore, study, investigate. The police are looking into a mysterious murder.

Look over: Examine. The teacher looked over each test very carefully.

Look on: Watch. The crowd looked on while the two men fought.

Look up to: Admire. Dashan is a Canadian who speaks beautiful Chinese. I look up to him.

Look down on: Dislike. She looks down on her poor relatives. She thinks she is better than they are.

Look after: Take care of. My sister looks after our mother and father.

Look forward to: Expect with happiness. We're looking forward to the holidays.

Look back on: Remember. I look back on my school days very happily.

Look in on: Visit someone informally. I was on Qingping Lu, so I looked in on my friends who live there.

Look out: Danger. Look out! The icy street is slippery.

Look out for: Protect, be careful. I must look out for my young cousins. Look out for bad drivers!

Look to: Attend, get help. I must look to cleaning up my room before I can go to the movies. We can look to my uncle for good advice.

Look the other way: Ignore. The foreman looked the other way when workers arrived late.

Look like: Resemble, predict. Our teacher looks like Bruce Lee. It looks like it's going to rain.

Look for: Search. I am looking for a good book about English.

Here are some related "look" words:

Looker, good-looking: beautiful, handsome. Nancy is a real looker. Bill is good-looking too.

Overlook: Ignore, see from a high place: The teacher overlooked my absence. Our apartment overlooks a park.

 

Stories about English words

Jane Liu asked a good question: 

I like to read books, especially books about the English language. I have heard a lot about THE MOTHER TONGUE written by Bill Bryson. It is said that there are many interesting stories about words. But it is nowhere to be bought in Qingdao. Would you please tell us interesting stories about English words?

Here is a good site for learning about English words. It's called the Big List at Word Origins.org.And here is a story about the word "bankrupt."

Long ago, markets in Europe needed moneylenders. If I wanted to borrow money, I would go to the marketplace. I found men sitting on benches with boxes full of gold and silver coins. The old word for "bench" was "bank." The men who sat on banks were bankers.

If I borrowed a lot of money from a banker, I had to pay it back. If I could not pay him, he could not lend more money. His bank was broken. 

The Latin word for "break" is "rupt." So a man who lost all his money was bankrupt—his bench was broken, and he could not do business.

Now we use "bankrupt" for businesses and for individuals. If I can't pay my debts, I may have to "declare bankruptcy." I will have to sell all my property to pay my debts. Many people in North America are doing this now.

Here are some related expressions: "bankroll" means money from a bank. It can also be a verb, meaning to pay for something: "The government is bankrolling the new factory." "Take it to the bank" means something is reliable: "You can take that advice to the bank." So does "bank on it": "It's going to rain tomorrow. You can bank on it."

"Rupt" is also part of many other words:

Erupt: break out. The volcano erupted this morning. John erupted with anger when he got the bad news.

Interrupt: break in between. The audience interrupted the speaker with questions.

Irrupt: break into. The invaders irrupted into the country.

Corrupt: morally broken. The corrupt official took a bribe.

Rupture: break in relations. The two countries ruptured their relations and prepared for war.

I would be happy to try to tell more stories about English words.

Reading English

Jim Ma asked:

I am a student of English at Binhail College in China.Would you please tell me how to study reading? Would you please introduce to me some learning methods that you asked your students to use when you were teaching English in Guangzhou?

Good question! 

First, try a website like English Club, which has some reading exercises. It's good to practice reading different kinds of English.

Second, when you start to read, look at the whole page. In English, we put the most important ideas at the beginning of the paragraph. If you read the beginning of each paragraph, you will know what the paragraph is about.

Then go back and read each paragraph carefully. Write down the words you don't know. Look for them in your dictionary, and write down the meanings. Or go to Google and write the word. For example:

define dictionary

Google can find many meanings of English words.

Third, talk with your teacher and classmates. Maybe someone else knows a word that you don't.

I hope this helps!

Visit some English Corner schools

I've created a new list in the left-hand column, English Corner Schools. It includes schools of people who come to the English Corner. If you would like to add your school, please send me its name and the address of its website.

Welcome!

This is English Corner. You can learn more English words here, and ask questions. You can also visit other sites by using the links on this site.

My name is Crawford Kilian. I taught English here in Canada for over 40 years. I also taught in China, in 1983. So I am interested in China, and I like Chinese students.

I hope you enjoy your visits here. Please ask questions by writing in the Comments, and I will try to answer them.

A Job After Graduation

Here is an article in China Daily: Job market demand varies, responsible workers welcomed. This is how it starts:

Chinese college students have graduated to find the job market vary from when they entered school and those so-called "hot courses" might fail to land them good jobs.

Graduates with different majors have very different experiences in the job market. But degrees in finance, economics and a few other fields often guarantee good jobs.

"I have applied to 15 companies online, and most of them show interest in hiring me," said Wang Ming, a postgraduate of Labor Economics at Southwest University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

He said that all the students of economics, finance and accounting in his university had received at least two job offers.

Students of mining and materials science which were not popular before, however, have observed more employment opportunities than before. The employment rate of graduates from the two courses was 100 percent at Guizhou University in southwestern Guizhou Province.

"Many companies would come straight to our school to find employees," said Wang Hua with the university's employment guide center.

On the contrary, some so-called "hot courses" including law, journalism and computer science which have received large groups of students, failed them in the job market.

What kind of job do you want after graduation?

Words about Noses and Smelling

We have a lot of words and expressions about noses and the sense of smell. Here are some of them:

A good reporter has a nose for news—she knows where to find a good story.

A person who asks personal questions about you is nosy—he's pushing his nose into your life. You can tell him: "Quit nosing around! Keep your nose out of my business!"

If a horse wins a race just ahead of the next horse, he wins the race by a nose.

If you buy something for a high price, you are paying through the nose for it.

If you have the correct answer for a question, you're right on the nose.

If you buy very cheap seats at the top of the theatre, you are in the nosebleed seats...because you are so high in the air that your nose starts to bleed!

If an airplane loses power, it may nosedive and crash. If someone fails a course, his classmates may say, "He really nosedived."

We have different words for smelling things.

"Aroma" is the word for food that smells good. If something smells very good, we say "I love the aroma [a-RO-ma] of fresh coffee!" or "What a great aroma coming from the bakery!"

Other good smells are scents[sents]. "We enjoyed the scent of the roses." "Your perfume is a lovely scent."

An odor [O-dor] is usually a pleasant smell. We may say, "The odor of the flowers was very fragrant [FRAY-grunt]." But if you have not bathed for days, you may have an unpleasant body odor. That is why many people use deodorants [de-O-dor-unts]--then they don't smell bad.

If you haven't noticed something, your friends may say, "Wake up and smell the coffee!" You've been asleep—now it's morning.

And if you're always working, your friends may say, "You should stop and smell the roses." Just enjoy the good things you find in your life.

A bad smell is a stink or a stench, or it's just smelly: "We turned away from the stink of the chemicals." "The stench of the pig sty was unpleasant." "The room was smelly with old tobacco smoke."

If we're suspicious about something, we say, "Something smells fishy," or "I smell a rat."

Can you think of other English expressions about noses and smells? Do you have such expressions in Chinese?

How do you do?

What do you say when you meet an English speaker?

If you don't know the person, you say:
"How do you do? My name is — —. I'm pleased to meet you." And you shake the person's hand. If the person is older than you are, you say, "How do you do, sir?" (man) or "How do you do, ma'am?" (woman). "Ma'am" is short for "madam," which means "my lady."

North Americans, Australians and British people expect you to look in their eyes when you shake hands. If you look away, they think you are shy.

If you know the person, you don't have to shake hands. You smile and say:
"Good morning! How are you?" (until 12:00 noon)
"Good afternoon! How are you?" (from 12:00 until about 5:00 or 6:00 in the afternoon)
"Good evening! How are you?" (from 5:00 or 6:00 until you go to bed)

If the other person asks you first, you say: "Good morning! Very well, thank you. How are you?"

If you see the person again that day, you can say, "Hello," or "Hi." Or you can just smile and nod if you pass each other in the hall.

If you are good friends, you say hello differently:
"Hi, how are you?" or:
"Hi, good to see you!" or:
"Hey, how's it going?"

The answer is also informal:
"I'm fine, thanks! How about you?" or:
"Great! You?" or:
"OK!"

If you are feeling ill, or you're unhappy, don't tell the other person unless it's a good friend!
"Hi, how are you?"
"OK, thanks."

To a good friend:
"Oh, I feel awful. I have a cold, and I got a bad grade on the test."
"That's too bad! I'm sorry to hear it."

Sometimes we enjoy "small talk":
"Isn't this a beautiful day!"
"Yes, it's lovely!"

"Can you believe how hard it's raining?"
"Terrible! I hope tomorrow is better."

"Oh, you've cut your hair! It looks great!"
"Thank you. It was getting too long."

When we end the conversation, we say different things:
"Excuse me. I must leave now, but I've enjoyed talking with you." (formal)
"It's been a pleasure." (formal)

"I've got to run, but thanks for this." (informal)
"It was fun. Talk with you soon, I hope. (informal)

"Gotta run. Catch you later." (very informal)
"Take care!" (very informal)

Do you know other ways to say hello and goodbye in English?

"Heart" Words

In English, the “heart” is the organ that pumps blood.

But it also means bravery, kindness, energy, and love.
“I didn’t have the heart to tell him the bad news.” That is, I was not brave enough to tell him.

“Have a heart and let me go on the trip!” Be kind to me!

“What a heartless man!” He is very cruel!

“They gave us a hearty welcome.” They were very happy when they welcomed us.

“My wife cooked a hearty meal.” She made lots of good food.

“When my boyfriend left me, he broke my heart.” I was very, very sad.

We even have a symbol of the heart that means "love": ♥ You see it in expressions like "I ♥ NY"—that means, "I love New York City."

We have another word for “heart” that comes from the French word “coeur.” It gives us words like “courage” and “discourage.”

“The soldiers’ courage gave them victory.” They won because they were brave.

“My bad test score discouraged me.” I didn’t want to go on studying.

Does the Chinese word for “heart” also mean brave or kind?

English invades Chinese language

I found this story in People's Daily Online: English invades Chinese language. Here is part of the story:

Does technology pose a threat to the purity of the Chinese language?

Many Chinese use instant messenger tools such as MSN or QQ, listen to music on MP3 players and log on the Internet using ADSL - most without knowing the literal Chinese translation of the abbreviations.

But they don't have to, as many English letters have become part of the local lexicon.

A dozen abbreviations including GDP, NBA, IT, MP3, QQ, DVD and CEO are among the 5,000 most-frequently used words in the Chinese-language media last year, according to a report on the 2006 Language Situation in China, which was released yesterday in Beijing.

The report said some parents are so keen on English letters that a couple tried to name their baby "@", claiming the character used in email addresses reflects their love for the child.

While the "@" is obviously familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word "at" to pronounce it - which with a drawn out "T" sounds something like ai ta, or "love him", to Putonghua speakers.

Do you use English expressions like MP3 or DVD when you speak Chinese? Can you think of other English words that people use?

We have some Chinese expressions in English. If someone is a hard worker, we may say, "He's really gung ho about his job." I believe "gung ho" means "work together." Am I right?

"Dead" Expressions

"Dead" means without life, but in English we also use it to make an expression more lively!

"Dead center" is the exact middle of something: He hit the target dead center.

"Dead of winter" means the coldest, darkest time: She had to travel a long way in the dead of winter.

"Stop dead" means to stop moving: We stopped dead when we heard him shout.

"Dead ahead" means directly in front: When I went up on deck, Hainan Island was dead ahead.

"Dead end" means a street with no exit: I had to back the car out of the dead end.

"Dead heat" means a tie: The two race-horses crossed the finish line in a dead heat.

"Dead letter" means two things: a letter that can't be delivered, or a law that's not enforced: Her postcard ended up in the dead-letter office. The law against smuggling is a dead letter.

"Deadline" is the time when something must be done: The deadline for completing the report is noon on June 5.

"Deadlock" means lack of activity because of two equal forces fighting each other: The talks have reached a deadlock because neither side will give up anything.

"Deadpan" means a face without expression: He's got such a deadpan that I never know what he's thinking.

"Dead set" means very determined: She is dead set on going to China this year.

"Deadwood" means a useless person or thing: That company is losing money because it has so much deadwood in its management.

"Dead shot" means very accurate: He is a dead shot with a pistol or rifle.

"Deadbeat" means someone who doesn't pay his debts: I lent him $100, but the deadbeat never paid me back.

Here are some other "death" expressions.

If a girl is drop-dead gorgeous, she is so beautiful that the boys die when they look at her.

If a ship is dead in the water, it has no power.

A person who sleeps very hard is dead to the world.

A dangerous building is a deathtrap.

If you like something very much, you are willing to die to get it; so some people say, "This chocolate cake is to die for."

If a person dies violently, we might say, "He died with his boots on." (This is why in the American West, the cemetery was called Boot Hill--because the people buried there died with their boots on.)

Do you know any other "death" expressions in English?

Job Search

Here is the material I use when I teach my Canadian students how to look for a job. The English may be hard to follow. But I hope the samples resumes and letters will be helpful.

I've included both a PDF and a Word version of the material. If you have questions or comments, I would love to hear them!

Download ResumePackage.pdf

Download ResumePackage.doc

Up and Down

"Up" and "down" appear with many English nouns and verbs, and they can change the meaning in strange ways. Here are some examples:

Drug Expressions in English

In the 1960s, millions of American and Canadian young people began to experiment with drugs. It was mostly marijuana (mare-ee-WA-na), but some also tried a strange drug called LSD. It could create hallucinations—you would see and hear things that didn’t exist.

LSD means “lysergic acid diethylamide”—many users called it “acid.” If they took just a tiny drop, they would spend hours in a very different state of mind. LSD users called this an “acid trip.” It was like going on a journey to a faraway place. The British author Aldous Huxley invented the word “psychedelic” (syke-a-DEL-ic), meaning “mind-expanding,” to describe the experience.

Taking the drug became known as “tripping.” If the experience was happy, it was a “good trip.” But sometimes people saw terrible, nightmarish images. Then it was a “bum trip,” or just a “bummer.”

Because most people considered drug use very bad by most people, LSD users called themselves “freaks”—very different from others. If a drug user became hysterical because of his hallucinations, people would say, “He’s freaked out!”

These words were soon adopted even by people who didn’t use drugs. This was because so many popular rock bands were using LSD and marijuana, and singing about them. If you were enjoying something very much, you were “tripping.” For example, you might say, “I’m really tripping on this ice cream.”

But it could also be a negative word. A “power tripper” was a person who ordered other people around, or bullied them. If someone criticized you for doing something bad, you might say: “You’re laying a guilt trip on me!”

“Freak” also changed its meaning to mean anyone with a strong interest in something. A “neat freak” is a person who likes everything very tidy. A “chocolate freak” loves to eat chocolate. An English teacher might be a “grammar freak”!

Forty years later, young people still use these expressions. If they arrive late because they missed their bus, their friends will say, “Bummer!” If they feel sad, they’ll say, “When I heard the news, it really bummed me out.” And if someone is very upset, his friends might say, “Don’t freak out about it, dude!”

A few other drug expressions came from using marijuana. The drug comes from the hemp plant, but many users call it “pot” or “grass” or “dope.” A user may be a “pothead” or “doper.” (In recent years, “dope” has become teenage slang for “very good.” But “dope” also means a stupid person.) To inhale a marijuana cigarette is to “toke on a joint.”

Cocaine and heroin were not used much in the 1960s, but they are more common now. A user of cocaine is a “cokehead,” and the drug is called “nose candy” because it’s inhaled through the nose. Heroin is usually injected into a vein; this is called “mainlining.” The effect of heroin is a “rush.” (For marijuana and LSD, it’s “getting off.”)

Drug use continues to be a big problem in North America. But many people who don't use drugs will use these drug expressions without even thinking about where they come from.

Chinglish on Beijing's signs shocks foreigners

Here's an article from China Daily that might interest you: Chinglish on Beijing's signs shocks foreigners.

What strikes foreign visitors the most in Beijing may not be the interesting customs, unique architecture and enticing dishes, but the Chinglish on signs.

China Centennial Altar is a landmark building completed in 1999 to greet the new millennium. However, a name plate near the front door reads "China Centennial Temple" and another sign about 50 meters away confidently offers "China Centennial Monument."

Some menus of Chinese dishes are also confusing. The "Italian spaghetti" is translated into "ideas' powder," which derives from the literal translation of the Chinese name.

A thick wheat-based noodle in Japanese cuisine is literally translated according to the Chinese name into "fry the dark winter in the sun's way," which makes no sense at all.

To Jill, an Australian student in Beijing, the Chinglish translations she has collected serve as a chronic laughing stock.

"It is not too difficult for the foreigners who know some Chinese to understand the Chinglish although the translations are very funny," said Jill, who has taken almost 100 pictures of the ridiculous translations.

In addition, some English translations seem horrible. In a restaurant menu, the name of a dish made of young chicken is translated into "young chicken without sex," which makes foreign customers flinch.

The signboard of a small noodle restaurant near the Beijing West Railway Station reads "face powder restaurant," because the two Chinese characters of "noodle" in a whole can be separately translated to "face" and "powder."

Seeing the translation on the sign, a foreigner named David said he would not eat there. He said, "I feel horrible!"

English language is catching on in China. About 250 million Chinese people are learning English as a second language, according to an estimation of the organizers of the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program, which is working hard to ensure all of Beijing's English signs are grammatically correct and free of "Chinglish" by the end of 2007.

What do you think about Chinglish? In Jinan, do you see signs in bad English?

New Exercises

I am learning how to do more with my blog. In the left-hand column you will see "English Exercises." If you click on "Download Exercise 1," you will get a PDF with some sentences. Most of the sentences are incorrect. Print the PDF and correct the sentences. Then compare your answers with the corrected versions on the second page.

I will try to post more exercises soon.

Words About Hands

The word "hand" has many meanings. Here are some of them:

A hand can be a worker: We have hired two new hands for our office. A hired hand is a worker on a family farm who does not belong to the family. A cowhand works on a cattle ranch.

Hand can also mean a skill: "He keeps his hand in" means he keeps practicing a skill like playing a sport or doing a job.

A hand can be an experienced person: "He's an old China hand" means a foreigner who has lived and worked in China for many years.

A left-handed compliment is a kind of insult: "You play tennis very well...even though you're a girl." If you reject someone very rudely, you give him the back of your hand.

A handshake can be an agreement: "We shook hands on buying the house." (We didn't sign a contract, but we made a promise.)

When you are the boss, you have the upper hand. If you are a hard boss, you are heavy-handed. If you give orders in a rude way, you are high-handed. When you work closely with someone, you work hand in glove with that person.

When you are poor, you live hand to mouth. All the food you have is in one hand!

If you have obeyed the law, you have clean hands. You are innocent.

When you help someone rise, you give that person a hand up. If you win a game easily, you win it hands down.

When you give your little sister your old sweater, it's a hand-me-down.

When you are very busy, you can say: "I have a lot on my hands" or "I have my hands full." When you can't do anything about a problem, you throw up your hands. When you don't want to do anything, you wash your hands of the problem.

When you give your teacher an assignment, you hand it in. When she returns it, she hands it back. She may praise you: "I've got to hand it to you—it's a very good essay!"

When you perform well, the audience will give you a big hand—they will clap loudly.

Do you have similar "hand" words in Chinese?

Moon Words

I hope everyone had a happy Autumn Moon Festival. We don't celebrate such a festival, but we have many words about the moon.

If someone has a round face, we say: "He's moon-faced."

Some people think they can see a face on the moon, so they talk about "the man in the moon."

When someone is in love, people say: "He's always mooning about her." He can think only about his girl friend.

When someone is very, very happy, we say: "She's over the moon about her good luck." Because she is happy, she has jumped very high—over the moon! When someone is very ambitious, but can't reach their goal, we say: "You're reaching for the moon."

When the moon gets bigger every night, we say it's waxing (WAK-sing). When it gets smaller every night, we say it's waning (WAY-ning).

The Latin word for moon is "luna." A lunar eclipse happens when the earth comes between the sun and the moon.

Long ago, people thought the moon made some people crazy. They called crazy people "lunatics" (LOO-na-ticks). Such people are "moonstruck."

When Americans make their own liquor, they call it "moonshine." That's because it's illegal—so people would make liquor at night, in a secret place, using the light of the moon. Moonshine also means something silly: "He's always talking a lot of moonshine."

If you have two jobs, you are "moonlighting" on your second job. "Bob is a taxi driver, but he moonlights as a cook."

When we get two full moons in one month, we call the second one a "blue moon." This is very rare. So we may say, "I go to the movies once in a blue moon"—not very often.

Do you have many moon words in Chinese?