Reduplications are words or phrases that contain a duplicated element.  An example is the phrase "riffraff".  The two parts of the word are almost the same (i.e. "riff" and "raff"), but they have a small change (the vowels).  When you have a rhyming reduplication, the duplicated element rhymes with the original element in the phrase. ...

"Easy peasy" is an expression people say when something is very easy to do.  My daughter just recited a longer version of it which I had never heard: "Easy, peasy, lemon, squeezy." (listen here) She couldn’t believe that I, Mama Lisa, had never heard the full expression before! It seems to come from a British commercial from the...

There are many variations in different languages of "mother" and "father".  These are formal words that people use when referring to their parents.  But most words used to address our parents directly are less formal. In the US, most people don’t say "mother’ and "father" when talking to their parents.  Even when I was a kid...

Each language has its own unique words that don’t exist in other languages.  Here are two links to blog posts about words that exist in other languages, but not in English.  The 1st one includes an infographic… 21 Emotions for Which There are No Words in English 25 Handy Words That Simply Don’t Exist In English Here are...

Every year, in December in Japan, a word is chosen that represents that year.  There’s a Kanji Character that represents that word.  Kanji are the characters used to represent the Japanese language.  They originally come from China. The kanji character of the year is unveiled for the 1st time at Kiyomizu Temple each year. Ayako wrote...

A while ago, I talked about how my daughter’s class made drawings illustrating the literal meanings of idiomatic expressions.  This is a great way to help children, and people learning English as a second language, to understand these sayings.. One drawing my daughter did was an illustration of the expression "follow your nose".  "Follow your nose"...

I’m currently reading a series of books that takes place in Botswana called  The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. When reading the first book, you quickly come upon the term "Mma" (pronounced "ma") used before a woman’s name and "Rra" (pronounced "ra" with a rolling "r") used before a man’s name.  I...

  "January is named after the two-headed Roman god Janus, god of thresholds and beginnings… With his two heads he looks at the past and the future, behind and before… Which I guess is what we are all doing today." -Ernestine Shargool

Ayako wrote to me about how each year a Chinese character (called a kanji) is chosen in Japan that best represents the year.  Here’s what she wrote: Hi Lisa, I wanted to tell you about this year’s Kanji.  We choose the best kanji at end of each year in December – it’s an annual event.  This year...

I’ve been corresponding with Gian Carlo Macchi who’s from Italy about foods eaten for Christmas and Santa Lucia in Italy and how they differ from food eaten by Italian Americans the US (I’m an Italian American).  We’ve also been discussing gift giving in both countries and greetings for the season.  These comparisons are interesting!  ...

A candle apple is called a "pomme d’amour" in French.  That’s literally "apple of love"!  How cool is that?! What’s it called in your language?  Please let us know in the comments below.

My daughter’s fifth grade class was given a really interesting assignment.  The teacher asked them to make drawings that illustrated the literal meanings of common sayings. In American English "You’re on a roll" means you’re going from success to success.  Here’s a drawing my daughter did of the literal meaning of being on a roll! ...

My son’s friend just picked up his cell phone, talked into it, hung up and said, "My friend just butt dialed me."  I said, "What?" He said, "You never heard of butt dialing?  It’s when someone accidentally calls you by pressing a button on their phone in their back pocket with their butt." Come on folks…...

We asked people how they say Murphy’s Law in other languages.  Murphy’s Law is the saying, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".  Marina wrote from Russia, "…in my country Murphy’s Law has the same name [and is also called] the Law of Meanness, or the law of bread and butter (if it’s falling,...

What are the names for ladybugs in your language? Ladybugs belong to the Coccinellidae family, from a Latin word meaning "scarlet".  But they also have many other names: in English, they’ve been called ladybug, ladybird, lady beetle, lady clock, lady cow and lady fly.  The name ladybird was originally "Our Lady’s bird" in England.  This name...

The Idiom: The Frog in the Well – 井底之蛙 (jǐng dǐ zhī wā) – is a Chinese idiom that refers to a narrow-minded person who doesn’t see the larger world around them.  The Story: The story is about a frog who lives happily in a well.  He has no idea what’s outside of that well. ...

I normally make Jack-o’-Lantern’s out of pumpkins using a normal knife.  This year I bought a cheap kit for carving pumpkins.  I found that it made a huge difference using the carver I got (pictured at the bottom in the photo above).  The top tool is for scraping out the inside of the pumpkin. ...