What Makes a Great Jingle?

Hello and congratulations for making it through another week! In the U.S.A. and other countries around the world, we have been mostly self-quarantining ourselves in our house this week. Social Distancing is the new phrase in our collective zeitgeist and boy-howdy, can it be a challenge. Our family lives in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and we have closed our schools and have been directed to work from home. The good news is that working from home is possible for both my wife and I so we can continue to provide for our children. It does make it difficult to work though when you have two young children in the house and you have to not only keep them entertained, but also educated. As a former Junior High School and Elementary school teacher I have some experience, but it's definitely a full-time job.

One of the things I have been doing is playing old commercial jingles for my children. If you are like me, you don't really watch a lot of live television anymore. We mostly watch on-demand programing. Netflix, YouTube and the like. So we don't generally ever see any commercials anymore. For my children, these old commercial jingles are just short songs. And I think that's what makes them so memorable. Some of the best jingles are very very old. One of the shortest but memorable is the one for Jello which has been around for almost 100 years.

So I thought I would link to a few of my favorite jingles here for your enjoyment.

Here is one of the oldest Jello radio commercials. Back in the 1930s radio programs would have one advertiser for the entire show. The Jack Benny Show was sponsored by Jello for years and years. 

Classic commercial from my youth, Kit-Kat! One of the world's most popular candy bars. Now I was one.

I have never bought this cat food but I will never forget this jingle! Classic!

And maybe the most famous one of all! The Coke commercial that was translated into many different languages. Did you have this one in your country?

Hang in there if you can't leave your house! Send me your favorite commercial jingles!

- Michael

To Lick Someone's Boots - What? Why?

Why would someone want to lick someone else's boots? Well, this idiom refers to someone who is trying to please a person, usually a superior at work, often in order to obtain something, often not seen as genuine to others.

An example would be "Roger is licking the manager's boots in the hope of obtaining a pay rise." 

It can be easy to see why this would be a negative idiom, in the sense you wouldn't use this to compliment someone. We have other idioms similar to this one. To "butter up" someone is to complement them in order to curry favor. Though not 100% positive, it's far better than the image of licking someone's footwear.

We can assume the the original message behind this week's idiom is that when spoken, we are to see what the "boot licker" is doing is not condoned appropriate or is irksome. If you find yourself in a conversation with a co-worker and this idiom is being used, know that this isn't friendly banter, this is someone angry with another and letting you know about it.

Does your language have something similar? I would love to know!

Cheers,

Michael

Who doesn't like cake?

Cake!

It's birthday season here in the Saffle household (we have three in a one-month period) and I have been thinking about one of my favorite parts of any birthday. Cake! Sure, presents are nice but it's the cake I don't get to eat very often that I look forward to the most. (Side note, did you know that on your birthday, cake doesn't have any calories? That's a fact! )

So I was thinking about cake when I sat down to add more idioms to the site. So here are a few idioms that have something to do with cake. Enjoy!


Have your cake and eat it
To say that someone wants to have their cake and eat it means that they want the advantages of two alternative situations when only one is possible.
"Satoshi enjoys his comfort but is always complaining about the cost of things. He can't have his cake and eat it." So in this example, either Satoshi lives in comfort, thus will have to pay for such luxuries like a nice apartment or home, or he saves his money and lives like a monk.
This idiom is one of the most misunderstood and misused in the English language. People don't always understand that the basic idea is impossible. Having your cake (holding it let's say in your hands) and eating your cake are two different things You CAN'T have it both ways. That's the point of the idiom. But nonetheless, I see people misuse this idiom all the time.

Piece of cake
To refer to something as a piece of cake means that you consider it to be very easy, not at all difficult.
"The driver's test was a piece of cake!" 
You will sometimes hear "Easy as pie" which is a similar idiom, but today we are taking about cake. I do love pie though. Where some people get mixed up, they will say "piece of pie" or "easy as cake." Watch out for that!

Sell like hot cakes
Things that sell like hot cakes sell quickly or in large quantities.
"She's a very successful phone saleswoman. Her phones always sell like hot cakes."
Now, hotcakes are not real cakes, they are pancakes. Pancakes are fantastic and I might love them more than actual cakes, but don't be confused. In Japan, pancakes are a dessert, but in the U.S. they are a breakfast food.

Business Idioms: Ace up your Sleeve

Business Idioms: Ace Up Your Sleeve

This is a fun one you might hear now and again in the business world (or in normal conversations as well). When you feel that you or your opponent has an advantage in the negotiations, then that can be characterized as "an ace up the sleeve". 

For example: "I don't like getting into a negotiation with Roger's firm, he always seems to have an ace up his sleeve."  

Another example: "Toyota is a little concerned about the looming automobile tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration, but they have an ace up there sleeve. They have many production facilities in the U.S. and employ thousands of U.S. workers in heavily Republican states."

The term comes from playing card games and accusing someone of cheating. So, for example, someone who is playing will hide an ace card, typically the strongest card in most gambling games like Poker, and use it to win. Because of this origin, one might assume that this idiom is a negative, or has negative connotations, but in today's parlance, it is not seen that way. We just use it as a way to say someone has an advantage, not that they are cheating or in any other way a bad person. 

No ace up my sleeve...no sleeves! 

Good luck with your English practice and don't forget to IM me if you are interested in lessons!

Michael

Cutting Edge vs. Bleeding Edge

cutting edge vs. bleeding edge

From time to time I am asked by my international students what "cutting edge" means, or "bleeding edge". Often this idiom is used when it comes to talking about technology. I will read an article about a new cell phone, maybe the new LG G7, and it will mention it's cutting edge camera, or cutting edge battery. Cutting edge refers to the newest, most advanced technology in this case. When you look at Tesla, the electric car company, you might hear someone say,  "Tesla is at the cutting edge of electric cars."

Now, when you hear the expression, "bleeding edge" that refers to the absolute, newest, most advanced technology, which usually has not been proven to be popular. If I drive a 2018 Toyota Prius today, it's cutting edge technology coming out of Japan. But if I was driving the Prius in 1997 that I had imported from Japan, I would be on the bleeding edge of technology.

"Hey Mark, what are you investing in these days?"
"Hey Bill, I'm investing in a block-chain company that aims to disrupt the internet!"
"That sounds like some bleeding edge stuff, be careful!"

- Michael

Bitter Pill to Swallow

Sometimes, you just have to accept something that is not good news (at least to you) and move on. For example, it's tax day and you have to pay Uncle Sam a good chunk on money, or you see on paper how much you gave him last year. On the one hand, you should be happy you make as much as you do to have such a large tax bill. On the other hand, you worked hard for that money, why should you have to give so much of it back? Either way, most people feel that taxes is a bitter pill to swallow. Something that wasn't enjoyable, but you had to do it, or accept it anyway.

Well, tomorrow is Monday and most of us have to get back to work. Another bitter pill to swallow, but at least it's better than paying your taxes!

- Michael 

Creative Accounting

It's tax season here in the U.S. and folks everywhere are scrambling to get their returns completed on-time. The good news for the procrastinators (which is most of us!) is we get an extra couple of days this year. Normally, taxes have to be filed by April 15th and no later. But when the 15th falls on a Sunday, the Post Office is closed so they bump it to the following Monday. But this year the city of Washington D.C. is celebrating Emancipation Day, to celebrate the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. That means the city is closed on that Monday so the deadline is on the 17th. Two more days to put it off!



Tax season is also a time when folks do a little creative accounting when it comes to their finances. Creative accounting is an idiom that comes from the business community. This term refers to the presentation of a company's financial health in a way that, although usually legal, ignores issues that might be negative, and instead makes the results appear better than they are. For example, when the results of SNAP are reported, it wouldn't mention the amount of users that would rather use Instagram, or how their product is very hard to use for normal users. Those are negatives that could dissuade investment. They will instead talk about what growth they have had, and maybe talk about their expectations for a better future. This could be seen as a form of creative accounting, a a way to make them look better.

When it comes to a person doing their taxes, you will sometimes here this expression when it comes to how they itemize their expenses. A deductible expense for business can cover a wide variety of costs. Some costs are obvious, a new work computer, a printer, advertising. Others are less obvious. A newspaper or magazine subscription can be a business expense. So when folks are listing out all of the tax deductible expenses, that results in a lower tax bill. Because of this financial incentive, some less honest people will do some "creative accounting" and make it seem more of their personal costs were work related. For example listing a vacation to the beach as a business expense, or that sports car as a company vehicle.

So, the next time you hear someone talk about creative accounting understand it's not generally seen as a positive. Especially if it's your account talking about your taxes!

This Week in Idioms - Let's Get This Show On The Road!

This Week In Idioms

Welcome to my new English For Foreign Learners blog! It's been a while, I dropped out to raise my wonderful (and crazy active) children, but things are starting to slow down a little, so I am back to my English tutoring and (as of today) blogging! Huzzah!

So we have a new website thisweekinidioms.com which I was happy to acquire and hope to get a regular schedule of free posts, mostly about idioms but maybe also other TEFL related topics.

Just to catch you up on who the heck I am, my name is Michael and I have been tutoring English since 1996. I work full-time at an international education office in Washington D.C. where I promote study abroad opportunities for both Americans and non-Americans alike.

I lived in Japan for two years as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) and have been tutoring Japanese business students online since 2004. My typical class has the student read from a business article online and we go over pronunciation and vocabulary. What I find students have the most trouble with, but also have the most fun with, are the idioms. So one of my classes I have is for business idioms alone. There are thousands of idioms that Americans use in everyday language that we take for granted. Working with international students, I know that this can be a challenge to understand their American business partners or customer/clients. That's why I tend to focus on this area of the English Language.

So, my hope is to blog about idioms at least once a week, post a podcast as well to help with pronunciation and to just help anyone who stumbles upon this website and would find this useful. I will have a link to my tutoring site once I get that up and running, and you can always at thisweekinidioms@gmail.com.

So let's get this Show on the Road. 

• To put a plan or an idea into action, or into motion. "We are ready to start the new blog, let's get the show on the road and publish our first post!"  

- Michael