執筆者 Modern English | 2012年06月14日 | Trivia
Baikingu: This is a katakana rendering of Viking. The Vikings were Scandinavian people of the 8-11th Centuries who raided and traded mainly in Europe, but also reached as far as Canada and North Africa. When referring to the Japanese バイキング native English speakers...
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年06月13日 | Idioms
“Man! I asked Carl to show me how to fill in this form, and when I didn’t get it right away he just blew up!” “Yeah, he has a really short fuse.” If a bomb or a stick of dynamite has a long fuse, it will take a long time for the fuse to burn before the bomb explodes....
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年06月12日 | Words
“Do you like this paisley wallet?” Paisley is a design using tear-drop shapes. The drop is twisted on the narrow end. It looks a little like a Japanese magatama. 「このペーズリーの財布はどうかな？」...
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年06月11日 | Pictures
A multi-lingual road warning sign: Beware of kangaroos and cows on the road. It is uncommon to see a sign written in languages other than English on the outback roads of Australia, so this must be an area that sees a lot of tourist traffic. カンガルーと牛に注意...
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年06月09日 | Phrases
“Strike while the iron is hot,” is an old proverb. It tells us not to miss an opportunity by waiting. When we have a chance to get something done, we should go ahead and do it! This proverb is the same in both Japanese and English. It comes from blacksmithing. A...
