Leigh's Lingua #15: "Behind the Eight Ball"

If you like looking up new phrases, this is a wonderful website:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/behind-the-eight-ball.html

I used "behind the eight ball" in a letter last night.  And a friend asked me, "What does that mean?"

I had to go looking myself!  According to the website above, it is an American slang expression that means, "to be in a difficult position."  We could also say, "to be in a tight spot."   In the difficult position, you also see no easy escape.

If you are "behind the eight ball," you might be --- on a train, it's moving, and you realize you lost your ticket.... Or... you get a call from school that your child is sick, but your boss just said YOU MUST GET THIS JOB DONE BY 1:00...... Or... the landlord is at your door, and you do not have the rent money for him or her.  That is being "behind the eight ball."  Not a happy day. 

We think the expression comes from a game called "pool."  In pool, there are balls with numbers on a table that you have to poke with a long stick.  The balls roll and drop into pockets at the corners of the table.  Trouble comes if you hit the ball number "eight."  So, you do not want to be "behind" the eight ball with your stick.

When was the last time you were "behind the eight ball"?  I was behind the eight ball yesterday.  I came to my class and realized... I had done the homework all wrong.  Uh-oh!

Leigh's Lingua #14 - "Handy"

If you think the word "handy" looks like "hand," you are pretty smart.  :-)

American English-speakers use "handy" as an adjective that means nearby (close to your hand!), or easy to work (easy).   People may say that the remote control of a television is "handy".  The remote control lets you sit and watch TV and movies without getting up.  You can just press a button from your chair -- that's easy!  (Except for me.  I like to get out of my chair.)

People may say that an extra bathroom for guests is "handy".  If you have two bathrooms, guests won't be trying to take a shower when you are trying to shave.

In Germany, a cell phone is called a "handy" now.  Actually, they are pretty handy, aren't they?

What do you keep near you -- so your hand can quickly reach it?  A salt-shaker on the table?  A box of kleenex by your bed?  What things also work easily for you, and so are "handy"?  Maybe phoning someone is easier than writing a letter. 

Sometimes being handy is good.  Sometimes, it just makes us lazy. 

Leigh's Lingua #13: "The Big One"

What a lot of snow Vermont had in February... and March!  Shovel.... shovel.... shovel....

I was reminded of the phrase "The Big One" as I shoveled.

Many Americans refer to a heart attack as "The Big One."  It means it is the "big thing" that will cause their death.   Actually, people can die from shoveling too hard, too long.  People can die from working too much.

No one wants to have "The Big One."   Some American TV comedies have had "The Big One" as a topic.  See "Sanford & Son" -- a popular show in the 1970s and 1980s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stdi-1tIUhM

Keep care of your heart.  Don't work or worry too much.  We don't want you to have "The Big One" too soon.  

Leigh's Lingua #12: "It's pending!" Something needs to happen...

Have you ever seen the word "pending" on a form or application?  It comes from the Latin word "to hang" -- as in, to hang a picture.  It means that something needs to happen, or that something is missing until the form is complete.  Until someone does something necessary, the form will never go anywhere.  It will just "hang" or remain "pending."

We get the word "pendulum" also from the Latin word "to hang."  A pendulum hangs from a clock.  It goes back and forth -- tick-tock!

Do you want to see your teacher's eyes pop out?  If you forget your homework... and he asks, "Where is your homework?," you can say (with a big smile), "It's pending!"     Or, if your children ask you for supper, and it is only 4:30, you can say, "It's pending, children."

What is something you have pending now?  A Ukrainian friend of mine is waiting for her son from Russia.  His visa to the U.S. is "pending."  I hope that Mama and Son can be with each other soon.

Leigh's Lingua #11: "Jump Like a Fish, or a......"

My husband tells me a funny poem sometimes. 

It goes:  "Jump like a fish, jump like a porpoise, all join hands and a habeas-corpus!"   (A porpoise is a dolphin, and "habeas corpus" is a Latin legal phrase.)

But I was thinking about the verb, "Jump."

If we jump, we bend our knees and then -- up! into the air we go!

Some people can jump high!  Many animals jump.  Fish can jump.  Who doesn't jump? 

Jumping sounds like a happy thing to do.  "I jump, you jump, he/she/it jumps, we jump....."

But Americans use "jump" in other ways also. 

"To be jumped" can mean:   1)  Someone fixed my car's dead battery, or 2) Someone mugged me. (They hurt me and stole things from me.)  In 1), picture the battery "jumping" back to life.   In 2), picture someone "jumping out" in the dark to hurt you.  Everyone likes to "be jumped" in 1).    No one likes to "be jumped" in 2).

I hope you are well and happy.  Can you tell me the last time you "jumped for joy"?  That also is a wonderful English expression to remember.  Write or talk about it.  I will jump for joy with you!  

Leigh's Lingua #10: Never Too Late for Valentine

Last Monday we celebrated Valentine's Day.  Although lovers celebrate romantic love on this day, the day celebrates a man called St. Valentine --- who was never married!

Christian legend offers that St. Valentine was put in prison for his faith --- something many refugees have experienced.

The Roman Emperor Claudius had Valentine killed.  He became a martyr.  But before he died, he was said to marry several couples in prison.  And to perform miracles, such as cure blindness.

In English, we get the word "valor" (which is a noun, meaning courage) and "valiant" (an adjective, meaning courageous or strong) from the same root as Valentine.  Valentine showed strength and courage in prison.  I want to be like Valentine.  And not just on Valentine's Day.

Leigh's Lingua #9: "Viral"

Have you been sick this winter?  If so, you may have had a "virus."   A virus moves very, very quickly.  It can go very fast from person to person -- or even from computer to computer.  Have you ever heard of a computer "crashing"?  If so, it may have caught a "virus" -- something bad another computer sent to it.

"Viral" is related to "virus." It means something moves very, very fast.  Did you watch the American football game, the "Super Bowl"?  The newspaper said that some commercials, or advertisements, from the Super Bowl "went viral" even before Sunday.  That meant the ads traveled very quickly over the Internet (over computers).  They probably were on "You-Tube".  People saw the ads on computers even before the Super Bowl on TV.  The commercials went "viral" or "became viral."

What is something you know that "went viral"?   Would you like to share it with us?  Please do!  We can make it viral!