02/14/2010 - 6:23 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 6 comments
In this episode, Robin and Jessie discuss the expression to shrug something off. Check out the picture here to see an example of someone shrugging. In certain situations a person may want to shrug it off, or have to roll with the punches, and afterwards pick up the pieces. Listen to hear how all these [...]
01/24/2010 - 12:39 am
Posted in Curious Questions | 1 comment
Dude! This word is very popular nowadays, especially with young people. You can often hear this word in movies and television shows, or with your Native English speaker friends. It has been around for awhile but young people are using the word dude, more and more. So…dude, what does it mean?
Maura: You want to [...]
11/29/2009 - 11:05 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 4 comments
Sometimes movies are corny, or music is corny. It is a fun adjective that can describe just about anything. A synonym for corny is cheesy, and it has nothing to do with cheese! Check out this episode to hear our corny examples.
Harp: Corny.
Jessie: I like it.
Harp: I like it as well.
Jessie: So, does that [...]
11/8/2009 - 11:16 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 6 comments
When people commit crimes sometimes they get caught! That person may be caught in the act of doing it, and if you are caught in the act then we can say that you were caught red-handed. Another similar expression that is almost never used in a serious way is to be caught with your hand [...]
10/24/2009 - 8:40 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 5 comments
At Culips, we plan our episodes in advance, we don’t just wing it. You can be specific and say that people can wing presentations or speeches, or you can simply say “wing it.” When you are not prepared, but you have to do something, you should try winging it.
Maura: Let’s give a dialogue example, OK. [...]
09/26/2009 - 9:06 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 2 comments
If you bite off more than you can chew things might be difficult for you. This expression might sound like it is talking about eating but – don’t be fooled – it is not. Another expression with a similar meaning is to get in over your head. You can use both of these expressions when [...]
08/31/2009 - 12:13 am
Posted in Catch Word | 5 comments
Sometimes we embarrass ourselves by saying something stupid. You can say, I embarrassed myself by saying something stupid or you can say I put my foot in my mouth. In this episode we look at that expression and also to make a fool of myself. Both of these expressions are used for embarrassing behaviour. Listen [...]
08/1/2009 - 1:22 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 1 comment
If you want to tell someone to keep something a secret or promise to keep a secret for someone else you can use this expression: mum’s the word. At first it seems like a strange expression…mum is the word? Weird. But you will see it is not so complicated when we explain the possible origin [...]
07/3/2009 - 7:18 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 3 comments
Many different languages around the world have this expression. Do you have this expression in your language? Listen to this episode about There are plenty of fish in the sea and see if you recognize a similar expression in your native language. Hint: This expression is often used when talking about relationships that didn’t work [...]
06/13/2009 - 2:48 pm
Posted in Catch Word | 3 comments
Sometimes studying another language is really hard. We wish we could just get it over with and speak the language well. That is today’s expression to get something over with. We usually use this expression when we have an obligation to do something that we don’t want to do. We use the examples of homework [...]
Everyone has personal pet peeves that bother you. Someone’s pet peeves are usually cultural. Pet peeves are usually small, day-to-day things. Are you curious about what pet peeves are now? Listen to this episode to find out what they are. All of the Culips members share their personal pet peeves too!
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Rennett Stowe
01/14/2010 - 1:44 am
In Korea, these are common pet peeves for example, speaking loudly on the subway, sitting on the subway with the newspaper unfolded widely, eating noisily with the mouth open and boasting too much.
01/15/2010 - 6:52 pm
I think that those could all be pet peeves in Canada too!
I was surfing the internet and I just found a design website talking about pet peeves. I like when I find examples of expressions we have used by chance being used in the real world!
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/at-austin/your-biggest-design-pet-peeves-austin–093003