Trivia of the Week: Praying Mantis

The “praying mantis” gets its name from the way it holds its front legs as if it were praying. Sometimes female praying mantises decapitate and eat males during mating. However, this seems to be more common in the laboratory than in nature....

Idiom of the Week: A Field Day

“If this photo gets out, the journalists will have a field day! You’d better destroy every copy.” “A field day” brings to mind a day of fun and activities outdoors (i.e. in a field), or a festival. But we use it as an idiom to mean a...

Word of the Week: Twilight

“I love to walk along the beach at twilight.” Twilight is the time after sunset before it’s completely dark. Its adjective form is “twilight” (lit by twilight): “The twilit garden was a romantic setting.” 「黄昏の海辺を歩くのが大好き。」...

Phrase of the Week: My Least Favorite

“Yuck. Licorice is my least favorite jelly bean flavor.” Your favorite is the one you like most. Your least favorite is the opposite, the one you like least. Despite the use of the word “favorite”, it’s the one you dislike most....