I know all of you hate exercises but I'm giving them anyway^^

I know the title of this post is discouraging, but I promise that this would be a short one. Furthermore all of you would think that we have learned enough about idioms. But in order to learn something, you need to practice and try it by yourselves right? So here I present to you, the most incredible, awesome, marvelous and astonishing exercise of all time (not really, but they are awesome anyway).
It is in a pdf format, so you can choose to download it and print it, and ask your teacher to check them for you. I am sure that most teacher will appreciate the effort of the their students^^. Or you can also email them to me. I will try my best to reply. My email can be found on the 'about me' page.

If you think that the pdf file is too troublesome, you can try this website. You can choose from 4 sets of questions, and you will know if you answered correctly on the spot. Enjoy!

Of idioms and direct translations

Hi guys! It's been a few days since the last time I posted something in here. Anyway, Happy New Year!

These few days, I talked to my friends, and they shared about some the funny direct translation that they have encountered, be it in the television, or in the cinemas. One of my friends said that she saw a Malay drama with English translation. I did not really remember what it was all about, but it sounded a bit like this (with the subtitles)

Woman A: Hai Datin Faridah. Cantiknya you sekarang!
                 Hi Datin Faridah. You look stunning nowadays!
Woman B: Oh, tak ada apa apa la.
                  Oh, it's nothing.
Woman A: Ya ke? You tak pergi jumpa anak ikan you?
                 Really? You didn't go see your goldfish?

Goldfish?

In case that some of you did not get it, the woman was asking whether woman A did go and see her gigolo. 'Anak ikan' is just a figure of speech, almost similar to an idiom.

Okay I should stop with the rantings and continue with the lesson. On the last post I have explained about one idiom - for good - which means forever.
Here are some other popular idioms and their meanings


Add Fuel To The Fire:
Whenever something is done to make a bad situation even worse than it is.

Against The Clock:
Rushed and short on time.


Bite Your Tongue:
To avoid talking.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water:
The family bond is closer than anything else.

Blue Moon:
A rare event or occurance.

Break A Leg:
A superstitious way to say 'good luck' without saying 'good luck', but rather the opposite.


If you want to know more, feel free to search the web, or you can try this link idiomsite.com. Maybe you can include those idioms in your essay and get better marks. ^^

Go Diego Go!

It's another Saturday afternoon, with nothing to do. Turned on the television, and found out that hindi movies are on almost all channel. So the only viable option would be TV9 - Wonderpets. Oh! I almost forgot to watch my weekly marathon of cartoon on Saturdays. It started with Wonderpets, followed by Go Diego Go, Dora the Explorer, Aahh, Real Monsters!!, Jimmy Neutron, and lastly, Spongebob. Oh, don't forget Upin & Ipin after that.

Go Deigo Go is actually a very good show, especially for kids trying to learn English. However, the horrible pronunciation of the characters - especially Diego- seemed to annoy me to the max. It might be okay if you mispronounce a word once in a while, but pronouncing the word 'correct' as 'kerek' every time he got it right did get on my nerves. Maybe the boy who voiced Diego should just stick with Shin Chan instead.

Another thing that annoys me is when he said "Oh! Serigala itu sudah hilang untuk kebaikan!" Obviously, the actual English sentence in " Oh! The wolves are now gone for good!" Direct translation... one of the main problems in Malaysian TV. Those are idioms, so you cannot just direct translate it.  The sentence should be " Oh! Serigala itu sudah hilang untuk selama lamanya!" or " Oh! Serigala itu tidak akan datang lagi!" I know that you have encountered these direct translation before. Share with me if you have, so we can discuss on this matter.