American vs British English

I grew up speaking American English. My husband, Owen is from England which means he speaks British English.

However there would be times (not often) when we actually use 3 or 4 languages at home! Sometimes we use Nihongo mixed with English because we just think it is more convenient to express ourselves using Japanese words. For example, instead of saying, “It’s hot.” We say, ”Atsui!, turn the aircon on.” Or instead of saying “convenient”, we say, “It’s benri.” Our favorite is “Hoooraaa!“ when we want to say “I told you so.” When we travel in the UK we sometimes only talk to each other in Japanese when we do not want other people to know what we are talking about especially when we are on the train! It is always good to be able to speak a foreign language, haha.

I have also taught my husband some short Filipino words and he sometimes uses them. I always laugh at him though because he sounds so funny. Filipino language uses a lot of Spanish words as well. So I think we use Filipino-Spanish. It is quite interesting.

Anyway, English is the main language we speak at home. However, even if we both speak English, there are definitely differences between American English and British English aside from accent. Let me share some with you.

Tickled Pink

Hello everyone! I hope you are all in the pink of health despite the Covid-19 pandemic. I know what’s happening around the world can be really stressful, but keep the hope alive. We will get through this. We had our first Zoom lesson today and I was SO happy to see my students’ faces again! We have missed you. Thank you parents for supporting your children‘s education no matter what. We will continue to find ways to provide lessons in these uncertain times and improve the quality of our lessons online. That’s a pinky promise.

Sakura season is here and unfortunately many of us cannot have hanami or fully enjoy the lovely cherry blossoms. Luckily for me, I can see them almost everyday when I go running by the river. Such lovely, lovely pink! I’m tickled pink!

Normally, parks and riverbanks would be crowded with people having a picnic and drinking until they start to see pink elephants. But, this year is a quiet time for the sakura trees.

Anyway, the lovely cherry blossoms inspired me to share some English expressions with the word “pink”.

Tickled pink

To be very pleased or delighted about something.

In the pink of health

To be in very good health or condition physically and emotionally

Pinky promise/swear

In Japanese it is called “yubikiri”.

In English we call our little fingers “pinkie/pinky” Pinkie means tiny or small.

So, ”yubikiri” is “pinky promise” in English.

“It is said that the “pinky promise” or “pinky swear” originated in Japan where it is known as yubikiri, which means “finger cut-off.” This is because in Japan the person that broke the "pinky promise" had to cut off their pinky finger. However, over time the "pinky promise" has become a more casual way of making a promise.”

See pink elephants

To hallucinate or start to imagine unreal things from drinking too much alcohol

....

That’s all for now. Be safe everyone!

Remember the Prefix “Re”

Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing great.

This is our third week off and I busied myself today by doing some indoor gardening. I took some photos of my house plants and I thought this a good chance to share a quick English lesson with you!

There are many words that begin with the prefix “RE”.

The prefix “Re” means again or back.

Try to rewrite the words in the picture to easily remember them.