Word of the Week: Overreact

“Don’t you think you overreacted when you kicked Bob out of the house for saying Superman could beat Batman?” We react when we do something in response to something else. For example, if someone punches you, you react with anger. That is an appropriate reaction. But...

Picture of the Week: Cat Day

February 22 is Cat Day in Japan, because the date is all twos. Two in Japanese sounds like something a cat could pronounce. There is a World Cat Day as well, but it’s in August....

Phrase of the Week: Get a load of this

“Hey, Dad! Get a load of this! Rover brought home a huge stick!” “You call that a trick? Get a load of this! I can do a backflip!” “Get a load of this” means “look at this”. We use it to draw someone’s attention to something surprising or amazing. Rover is an old...

TOEIC Practice Question of the Week

Write what you think the product description should say, and then I’ll _______ it later. Fill in the blank. A. revise B. revision C. reverse D. revenue 「商品説明を考えて書いておいて。後で私が修正するから」 Bは「修正」という意味で惜しいですが、「修正する」というのは動詞ですのでBとDは違います。Cは「裏返す」という意味なので違います。正解はAです。 Do more TOEIC...

Trivia of the Week: Valentine’s Cards

Before the 1400s, Valentines were spoken or sung instead of written on cards. Now it’s easy to buy Valentine’s Day cards in stores. Adults may send fancy cards, but children often buy boxes with enough small cards to distribute to all of their classmates. However, a...