False Friend: Terrorífico vs. Terrific

Hello! I've been pretty busy lately, so instead of a (longer) Common Error post, I decided to do a False Friend post today (especially since we talked about this word in my class this evening). If you're not sure what a False Friend is, check out this post. Today we'll look at the difference between terrorífico in Spanish and terrific in English. 

Is this clown terrific or terrorífico? I guess it depends on your point of view, but read on to find out the difference between these two words (they're very different)! Image by Graeme Maclean via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

False Friend: terrorífico vs. terrific
This SPANISH word...	Looks like this ENGLISH word...	...but they are DIFFERENT because...
terrorífico	terrific	In Spanish, something that is terrorífico is very scary; the English equivalent is terrifying: "La foto del payazo es terrorífica!" ("The photo of the clown is terrifying!") In English, terrific is a synonym for words like excellent, wonderful, or amazing: "I had a terrific time on my vacation. I can't wait to show you the pictures I took!"

So, I think this is pretty easy. Just remember that "terrorífico" and "terrifying" are bad, and "terrific" is good!

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for other False Friends or Common Errors, please tell me.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

False Friend: Colegio vs. College

A hallway at a colegio (high school) in San José, Costa Rica.
(Picture by Ryan Sitzman)

Hello! It's been a long time since we had a False Friend, so let's look at another one today. If you're not sure what a False Friend is, check out this post. Today we'll look at the difference between colegio in Spanish and college in English. 

False Friend: colegio vs. college
This SPANISH word...	Looks like this ENGLISH word...	...but they are DIFFERENT because...
colegio	college	In Spanish, a colegio is like a high school in English: "Ella va a un colegio bilingüe." ("She goes to a bilingual high school.") In English, college is basically the same thing as a university (apparently there's a difference in Britain and Canada, but in my experience in the US, the two were  essentially the same): "Most people in Costa Rica graduate from high school when they're between the ages of 17 and 19. After graduation, some of them go to college, and others get jobs right away."

So, it's pretty easy to tell the difference between these two words, right? Just remember, college=university. For our next False Friend I think we'll talk about the differences between a bachelor, a Bachelor's degree, and a bachillerato in Spanish. 

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for other False Friends or Common Errors, please tell me.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Sense Vocabulary: "Good Touch" Words

Hi, and welcome to Word Wednesday! Tonight we'll be looking at words related to the sense of touch (also often described using the word feel; see Monday's post for a closer explanation).

Over the next few posts we'll look at 10 words that can describe different ways to touch. I'll divide them into three categories:

Today -"Good" (types of touch that are generally considered good)

Friday -"Neutral" (can be good or bad, depending on the circumstances)

Monday -"Bad" (types of touch that are generally considered bad)

Today's three "Good Touch" words all used for humans, but coincidentally they're also commonly used to talk about animals. They are:

Pat, Pet, and Rub: "Good" Touching

A sign advertising a "back rub" for men and women surrounded by red lights? Sounds a bit suspicious! I guess this could be good or bad! (Picture by CTLiota, used through Creative Commons license).

Here we go...

Pat

This was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. The pages had different textures that you could touch and feel.

"Pat" usually means to move your open hand up and down on top of something. In some cultures, people often pat children on the head. You can also pat an animal, especially on its head.

In a semi-literal sense, you can use the phrase "pat on the back" when you want to congratulate a person for something. For example, you can say: 

"John deserves a pat on the back because he finally graduated!"

Of course, "Pat" can also be an abbreviation for Patricia or Patrick, so pay attention to the context.

Pet

Many guide dogs and other "working" dogs (like drug- or bomb-sniffing dogs at the airport) have signs that say something like "Please don't pet me, I'm working." (Picture by Hurricane Omega, used through Creative Commons license).

"Pet" usually means to move your open hand in a line while continually touching a surface. There is more hand contact with petting than there is with patting. 

"Pet" is often used to talk about touching animals. Of course, animals that live in our houses are called "pets," but I'm not sure if that's a coincidence.

Also, when people have a close romantic relationship, they often use different or "cute" names when talking to each other. Those names can be called "pet names."

Rub

Our cat Chubby always enjoys a good belly rub! (Picture by author)

"Rub" is very similar to "pet," but it's more continuous. Sometimes it's used to describe touching in a circular motion. It's also used for therapeutic touching or massage. For example, when a cartoon character is hungry, he often rubs his stomach. You can also give a back rub to someone who has back pains.

So, that's it for now. If you understood all these words, you deserve a pat on the back! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to join the conversation!

Senses: "Taste" Vocabulary

This statue is sticking out its tongue. Tongues are the main organ used for the sense of taste. (Image)

Good evening! It's Word Wednesday, so today I'd like to talk about vocabulary related to the sense of taste. In the last few weeks we've learned a lot of vocabulary related to other senses (sight, hearing, and smell) if you want to review those words, too.

First of all, the sense is called taste, and like the word "smell," taste can also be a verb or a noun. On Monday we examined how to use it as a verb. If you're using taste as a noun, a synonym can be flavor, but they're not exactly the same. Taste can be general, but flavor usually refers to a specific taste:

The guanabana fruit is one of my favorite foods in Costa Rica. It has a very unique taste. Its flavor is like a mixture of pineapple, mango, and milk, but with a texture that's different from all of them. (Photo by Ryan Sitzman)

If something has a good taste, you can say that it's tasty or flavorful. Other common words are delicious and yummy. If something has a bad taste or texture, you can say it's disgusting, gross, nasty, or awful. Or, if something tastes strange, you can say it tastes funny.

Of course, when you eat and taste food, it's a process. The first part of that is to take a bite of food (a piece) or to take a sip of a drink (a small amount of liquid). Another option, for example if you're eating ice cream, is to lick it with your tongue and bring the food into your mouth. If you're eating solid food, you probably need to chew it with your teeth (the plural form of "tooth"). The food will pass over your tongue, which is an organ covered in taste buds; these taste buds are basically little receptors that allow you experience the food's taste. Finally, you need to swallow your food, which means that you move your tongue and throat to pass the food from your mouth to your esophagus. After that, the food travels to your stomach, where your body digests it.

So, let's review today's vocabulary. Can you explain what each of the words means?

1. taste

2. flavor

3. tasty

4. flavorful

5. gross, nasty, disgusting

6. to taste funny

7. to take a bite

8. to take a sip

9. to lick

10. to chew

11. tooth, teeth

12. taste buds

13. to swallow

14. tongue

15. stomach

16. to digest

Here are some suggested definitions:

1. taste - to experience a flavor with your tastebuds
2. flavor - a noun; a synonym of "taste"
3. tasty - a way to describe food with a good flavor
4. flavorful - a way to describe food with a good or "complete" flavor
5. gross, nasty, disgusting - a way to describe food with a bad flavor
6. to taste funny - when food tastes strange
7. to take a bite - to eat a small piece of food
8. to take a sip - to drink a small amount of liquid
9. to lick - to touch your tongue to something, usually food
10. to chew - to use your teeth to break food into smaller pieces
11. tooth, teeth - the things you use to chew; tooth is singular, teeth is plural
12. taste buds - flavor receptors on your tongue
13. to swallow - move food from your mouth to your esophagus
14. tongue - the organ used for the sense of taste
15. stomach - where your body digests food
16. to digest - to break down something (usually food) into smaller parts

This cat is licking its paw, but not to clean itself. Cats lick their paws and bodies to clean themselves. (Image)

So, that's it for today. I hope you learned some new words and ideas! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me. Thanks for reading, and have a nice night!

Hearing, Part 2

Many thanks to my beautiful wife Angela, who very reluctantly allowed me to take this picture of hear ear for today's post!

Hello, and happy Word Wednesday! Today I wanted to share a bit of vocabulary related to hearing and ears.

The most basic word here is ear, which are the organs on the side of your face that help you hear. The bottom part of the ear is called the earlobe. That's the part that many people pierce so that they can wear earrings. In the picture above, you can see Angela's earring in her earlobe. She got her ears pierced when she was about seven years old. In her case, her sister pierced her ear with a needle, but it's also very common these days for girls to get their ears pierced at a store that uses a piercing gun.

So, what can you do with your ears? Most people can hear and listen with them (see the post from Monday for an explanation about when to use these two words). Synonyms for hear and listen can include "listen up" and "pay attention."  If you hear someone say something but the person wasn't specifically talking to you, then you overhear something. If you are deliberately spying on other people and listening to their conversation without their permission, you are snooping or eavesdropping.

Q-tips (cotton swabs). (Image Credit)

But what if your ears get dirty? Most people clean them with a Q-tip (which is a brand name for a cotton swab). But be careful! Supposedly, according to overprotective mothers all over the world, you shouldn't stick a Q-tip too far into your ear or you'll break your ear drum, one of the parts of your inner ear that helps you hear!

Finally, if you are exceptionally talented, you can wiggle your ears. "To wiggle" means to move a little bit. Watch this short clip from one of my favorite movies, The Goonies. The big man, named "Sloth," can wiggle his ears:

VOCABULARY REVIEW:

Let's review the words we covered today. Can you explain what each of these words means? If not, read the post again. The definitions are at the bottom of the post.

Words for today:

1. hearing

2. ear

3. earlobe

4. to pierce / to get a piercing

5. earring

6. to hear

7. to listen

8. to overhear

9. to spy

10. to snoop

11. to eavesdrop

12. Q-tip

13. inner ear

14. ear drum

15. to wiggle

Could you define those words? If not, check the post again. Here are some suggested definitions for these words.

Suggested Definitions:

1. hearing - interpreting sound; the general name for the sense 

2. ear - the visible part of your body's hearing organs

3. earlobe - the lowest part of your ear

4. to pierce / to get a piercing - to perforate a part of your body for decoration

5. earring - a decoration in a pierced ear

6. to hear - (see Monday's post)

7. to listen - (see Monday's post)

8. to overhear - to hear unintentionally

9. to spy - unauthorized listening to other people's conversations

10. to snoop - synonym of "spy"

11. to eavesdrop - synonym of "spy"

12. Q-tip - a cotton swab; a stick with pieces of cotton at both ends

13. inner ear - the interior parts of your body's hearing organs

14. ear drum - part of the inner ear

15. to wiggle - to move a little bit

I hope that vocabulary was helpful! If you have any comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading, and have a great night!

Common Error: "News"

"Breaking News" refers to a news story that is urgent or developing at the moment. The particular piece of news in the picture was the death of Michael Jackson. (Image by David McKelvey)

Welcome again to Mistake Monday! We actually talked about today's Common Error a few times in my class last week, so I thought it would be appropriate to mention it here. It's also easy to correct:

Common Error: Use of the word "news"
DON’T say this:	"Did you hear the new? Joan is pregnant!" "That's a very sad new." "That's a very sad news."
WHY?	-This is confusing because noticias in Spanish is usually translated as "news" in English. And that's correct, but only when it's plural. -"the news" is an idea or a concept (not something physical), and we treat it like a plural noun in English. For example: "I got some good news at work today--they're going to give me a raise!" "I watch the news on TV and read the newspaper every day." -If we need to make this idea singular, we can't count "news" since it's an abstract idea. Instead, we can add the phrase "a piece of": "I got an annoying piece of news from the bank: my account is overdrawn." But even in this case, it's still more common to treat the world as a plural and use the word "some": "I got some annoying news from the bank: my account is overdrawn."  BONUS TIP! The word "new" exists in English, of course, but it's only used as an adjective (descriptive word) that means the opposite of "old" or "used."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Did you hear the news? Joan is pregnant!" -"That's some very sad news." OR -"That's a very sad piece of news."

That's it for today! If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Environmental Vocabulary

I didn't put up a Word Wednesday post earlier this week because I was really busy. As I mentioned last week, my brother was visiting us here in Costa Rica, so we were spending time with him.

But, I still wanted to put up a post because, as they say, "better late than never." So here's a video that I came across this week with some good vocabulary about the environment (we're studying the environment in one of my classes now):

So, check it out--maybe there are some new words just waiting for you to discover them!

Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Fun Friday: The History of English

I've recently come across two videos that talk about the history of the English language, so I thought I'd share them with you here today.

My friend Juan Guillermo showed me the first one. It's pretty fast and it's funny, also. However, that may mean that it's a little difficult for English learners to understand. That's OK, but just watch it and try to see how many words you understand:

The second video is older and the speech is also clearer and less difficult. It also gives many examples of loanwords in English. You may remember that we talked about loanwords a few times (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).

So, I hope you liked the videos and that you learned something new! Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

More "Big" Words

The London Skyline. On the right is the clock tower in the Palace of Westminster. The bell, and sometimes the whole clock tower, is called "Big Ben." (Image Credit)

Hello, and welcome to Word Wednesday! On Monday we talked about the difference between tall and high, and when we can use both of those words. So today I thought we could look at a few more words related to SIZE. Today we'll look at "big" words, and next Wednesday we'll look at "small" words.

HEIGHT

A diagram comparing the heights of some of New York's tallest and most famous buildings. (Image)

To review, as we saw on Monday, tall and high both describe height. We usually measure height (click for pronunciation) in centimeters and meters (and in inches and feet in the USA). The opposite of tall is generally short; the opposite of high can also be short, but more often is low.

Here are some examples:

"The Empire State Building is a very famous tall building in New York City. However, the new World Trade Center tower will be taller than the Empire State Building."

"I'm about 6 feet, 1 inch tall. That's around 186 centimeters. I wasn't especially short or tall as a child, although now I am taller than many people in Costa Rica."

(Giving instructions while hanging a painting): "OK, move it a little higher... higher... that's too much, move it just a little bit lower, a little bit lower...perfect!"

GENERAL SIZE

I took this picture of the Grand Canyon in January. Yep, it's big!

The most common word to describe size in English is big; its opposites are little and small. Today we'll look at "big" words, and next week we'll look at "little" words. 

Other words that mean "big" include:

-large: often used for general descriptions, but especially common with clothing

-grand or great: these two words are not as common in modern English; both of them can also mean "amazing" or "excellent," as in "The Grand Canyon" or "The Great Wall of China"

-huge, gigantic, enormous, humongous, gargantuan, massive, etc.: all of these words are extreme forms; they all describe something that's very big; click on any of the words to hear their pronunciation

Can you think of any other words to describe size? There are certainly more synonyms, but these words seem to me like the most common ones. 

Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for words related to "small" and "little"! Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Common Error: "High" vs. "Tall"

Welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today we'll talk about when to say "high" and when to say "tall." Today's Common Error can actually be funny sometimes, but that's a good reason to be careful when saying these words. 

The Burj Khalifa skyscraper (formerly known as the Burj Dubai). Should you say it's the tallest or the highest building in the world? Read on to find out! Image by Leandro Ciuffo

Common Error: High vs. Tall
DON’T say this:	"Shelly is a very high girl." "When I was a boy, I wasn't high enough to ride the roller coaster." "The airplane is very tall in the sky."
WHY?	-High and tall are essentially synonyms, but they're used for different cases. They both can describe the height of someone or something. The opposite is short. -High is generally used with objects, and it indicates a vertical distance that is far away. Common examples are: "The father put the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator so that it would be too high for the children to reach." "When space tourism starts, passengers will fly high in the atmosphere." -Tall can be used with objects OR people. The word indicates a lot of height: "The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world." "I don't think I'm very tall, but I'm taller than most of my students." -CAREFUL! If you use the word "high" to describe a person, you're generally indicating that he or she is on drugs! "The musician was so high that he couldn't even play his guitar for the concert."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Shelly is a very tall girl." -"When I was a boy, I wasn't tall enough to ride the roller coaster." OR -"When I was a boy, I was too short to ride the roller coaster." -"The airplane is very high in the sky."

This dog may be short, but he still looks suspiciously high (on drugs!) Image by Cissurz

That's it for now! If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!