Sleeping like a log
It sounds like you had a nice, relaxing weekend. I slept like a log on Saturday night after coming back from Nagano. I had such a nice deep sleep. I woke up late on Sunday with my stomach growling, so Tomono and I went to a local Korean restaurant for bibinbap. I ate like a horse...
How often do you see your parents and brothers? As you can imagine, it’s hard for me to spend time with my family as I live a long way from the UK. However, I usually chat with my parents every weekend over the internet. In fact, we had a nice chat about this blog last night .
I can understand why your parents wanted you to go home if Meg hadn’t had any dinner yet. I wonder why Meg didn’t go with you to your parent’s house. Actually, when I was her age I spent lots of time in my room, too. Are teenagers the same world-wide?
The sheep really does look like it's smiling, doesn’t it? There are many stone statues in Japan, especially around temples and shrines. Sometimes I see statues wearing red hats and scarves.
Do most people in China live in houses or flats? In the UK, most people prefer houses with gardens. However, in Japan, because land is so limited and expensive, most people live in flats. It's funny because Japanese people call some flats, ‘mansions’. Before I came to Japan, a Japanese friend told me that many people in Japan lived in ‘mansions’, so I thought everyone must be really well-off. However, I soon realised that the word ‘mansion’ has a different meaning in Japanese. In fact, Japanese borrows many words from English, and other languages, but the meaning is not always the same.
How about in other languages? Do they borrow words from English? Is the meaning the same or different?
Lewis
Today’s useful English
(to) sleep like a log
(to) eat like a horse
(to) drink like a fish
(to) have a deep sleep
(to) spend time (with someone) (doing something)
(to be) well-off
(to) chat (with someone)
(to) have a chat (with someone)
Comments
I know what you mean about the difficulties to spend time with your family. My daughter is living in England now. She is studying and working there as well. Sometimes it is quite hard for me because I really miss her. On the other hand I am overjoyed that she has a chance to study in the UK. I keep in touch with her every day because we have a chat over the computer. She will come home for two weeks in September. I can´t wait! We are both counting the days until we see each other. I have made a marking in my calendar with capital letters: SHE IS COMING HOME! Although, I am sure I won´t forget that she is coming home. Hence my son looks like an only child. And he is a young teenager so his behavior is worrisome now and again. I agree with you that teenagers are the same world-wide. My son also prefers spending time with friends to being together with parents. I think it is normal. He is questing out herself.
Oh yes,in the slang of Algiers,words that are borrowed from English are a dime a dozen: skive(off school), garbage,a smear, and so on.. all of them have kept their original meaning,with quiet an informal connotation however, because we are more likely to hear that kind of words among rather though young people... But things become a little bit complicated with more ancient words like... mansion for exemple: mansion in English, maison in French,mansel in Arabic the similarity is rather striking, isn't it?It would be amazing to find out who coined first that word and the way it had travelled.
Anita, I really understand you! I have a sister in UK, but..she wont be coming back. She married an Englishman 8 years ago, when she was only 20 years old. My mum is very sad, she misses her, but she does not show it to her, to not make it even harder for her. They talk over the phone twice a week, send emails, pictures...My sister has a great husband though, who likes Czech republic and come to visit us on regular basis 4x a year and on Christmas. Lewis, thank you for a great blog. I love it. You are a very nice person. Your posts and comments on grammar and usage of idioms are very useful indeed. I havent found a really good site to learn English so far, until now and I had been looking really hard!
Thanks for your comments. It's great to read people's thoughts from different countries. I wonder if anyone can explain the origin of the word 'mansion'? I'm glad you are enjoying the blog. Please keep reading and making comments!
Mansion comes from the Latin - participle of manre = to stay. It then developed into a "place", "house", "dwelling" through French in the 11th century. (Well that's what the dictionary says anyway!) :-)
You are not obliged to believe the Dictionary Shannon...Are you sceptical about its version? or are you rather disappointed because mansion has transited by your beloved neighbours from "across the Channel"? In any case, you deserve a pat on the back for your little research, thanks!
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