An Oldie but a Goodie

On Saturday my husband took me out to lunch and to enjoy a few hours on the Harbour Front. It is always so interesting to visit the Harbour Front. The different nationalities and generations of people, the minute food courts with a variety of spicy foods, the attractive sea side waters lined with boats along the port coming from different countries usually displaying the country's flag from which it came. At times we will see a man playing a saxophone and a beautiful woman singing along to his delightful tunes. Other times we listen to a full band echoing their notes across the Indian Ocean along the Harbour Front.

This day we first enjoyed some spicy food from a restaurant in the food court. This was my first meal of the next day after breaking my fast so I had to eat something with fish. I enjoyed a spicy fish banquette with some chips and a coke. My husband on the other hand was not fasting the previous day so he chose at this time to eat a lamb banquette with a salad, chips, and a juice drink. While waiting for him to bring the food over to the table I had this cute little bird land on the chair next to me as if he were ready to talk.

We finished our meal then walked about the harbour front and took photos of the ocean and the boats. My husband thought I was a bit crazy taking photos of this old boat. As I told him though this to me is the most interesting boat here. "An Oldie but a Goodie" to me.

Then there she was flying in the wind off the side of a boat with the glorious red, white, and blue the American Flag. Again "An Oldie but a Goodie" to myself the flag is to my eye well known but always a goodie in my heart. All the way from the "Land of the Free" a fellow American lay there reading her book and catching some sun. When she ended reading her book I went over and introduced myself and began a conversation. She had been traveling at sea for five years with her husband. She came from Portland. Oregon in the USA. They had been to several countries one including Australia. She asked a bit about the country of Mauritius and we spoke a while before the rain put a damper on our conversation.

It was very nice meeting with a fellow American here in Mauritius. My husband was shy to even allow me to go over and speak with her. I reassured him it is alright as Americans have a great connection with one another and enjoy seeing one another in a foreign country.

To conclude the day my husband was able to learn a bit of my cultural ways which was very nice.

Idioms ~Funny English Phrases~

What is an Idiom you may ask?

1. A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on.
2. The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of a given language.
3. Regional speech or dialect.
4. A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon. Can also be a style or manner of expression peculiar to a given people.
5. A style of artistic expression characteristic of a particular individual, school, period, or medium

To sum the definition up it is a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language.

Often there are variations in the definitions of these phrases. One phrase may have two definitions either business or personal or one of the other.


Enjoy these funny English phrases :)




Phrase:"Hit the Sack" or "Hit the Hay" (personal)

Definition:"To go to Bed"


Phrase:"Let the Cat out of the Bag" (business and personal)

Definition:"To tell people secret information, often without intending to"


Phrase:"Late Bloomer" (business and personal)

Definition:"When someone does not obtain success with their interests, talents, or personality until later in their lives, we say they are a late bloomer."


Phrase:"It's Been a Slice" (personal)

Definition:"When someone leaves and you have said your goodbyes it is usually the last thing you may say..........It's been a slice. I use it after a visit where we have had a good time."


Phrase:"The ayes have it" (business and personal)

Definition:"If the ayes have it, those who voted in favour of something have won."



Phrase:"Stir the Pot" (business and personal)

Definition:"To stir the pot is to agitate a situation to cause a reaction or trouble."


Phrase:"Chomping at the Bit" (business and personal)

Definition:"If you are chomping at the bit, you are eager to start on a task immediately."


Phrase: "Add Fuel To The Fire" (business and personal)

Definition: "Whenever something is done to make a bad situation even worse than it is."



Phrase:"Post Haste" (business and personal)

Definition:"Post-haste means as quickly as possible."


Phrase:"Fair Game" (business and personal)

Definition:"If something or someone is fair game, then it is acceptable to target, criticise or attack them."


Phrase:"Believe you me" (business and personal)

Definition:"This is an emphatic way of saying 'believe me'."


Phrase:"Fool's Paradise" (business and personal)

Definition:"A fool's paradise is a false sense of happiness or success."


Phrase:"On the Table" (business)
Definition: "If a plan or proposal is on the table, it is being discussed."


Phrase:"Dry as dust" (business and personal)

Definition:"Very dry. Often used metaphorically: a boring, literal person or an unexciting speech. "She knows her stuff but she's dry as dust."


Phrase:"Have something up your sleeve" (business and personal)

Definition: "If you have something up your sleeve, you have some hidden or secret plan, idea, etc, to use to your advantage when the time is right."


Phrase:"Talk the talk to be able to walk the walk" (business)

Definition: "If one is in a business and they have another who would like to be in on that business or work for that business they must be able to talk the talk before they can walk the walk. In other words, they must be able to know all the lingo and aspects of that business in order to walk within that business.


Phrase:" Talk the talk to be able to walk the walk" (personal)

Definition: Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk. It means: talk is cheap, but can you follow through with action? It is similar to: Don't let your mouth write a check that you can't cash". Another way to think of it is "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".



Phrase: "When the cat's away the mice shall play" (business and personal)

Definition: "People whose behaviour is strictly controlled go over the top when the authority is not around" In other words, when the boss or the parent are not around the workers or child will not be as well behaved.



Phrase: "Against The Clock" (business)

Definition: "Rushed and short on time."



Phrase: "All In The Same Boat" (business and personal)

Definition: "When everyone is facing the same challenges"



Phrase: "An Arm And A Leg" (business and personal)

Definition: "Very expensive. A large amount of money."


Phrase: "At The Drop Of A Hat"

Definition: "Willing to do something immediately."

Dollars That No Longer Make Sense

With unemployment hovering America is scrambling to make sense from every dollar that is spent.

In the month of June 2011 employers in the USA only created 18,000 jobs. Raising the unemployment level to 9.2% by the end of June. The highest seen all year. For the record, when Obama took office in January 2009, the “official” unemployment rate in seasonally adjusted numbers was 7.7%, with 11,919,000 people reported themselves as unemployed and actively looking.

Last month figure’s showed 200,000 more workers joined the ranks of the unemployed. This brings the number to currently 14.1 million Americas without a job. Average length of unemployment is just under 40 weeks the longest it has been since 1948.

The dollars that no longer make sense are to many of those Americans. Beginning with the employers that are reluctant to hire new workers until they begin to see some reassurance that the economy is really going to turn the cents into real dollars. Other Americans that see dollars no longer make sense are the one’s suffering from this recession while trying to stretch a dollar from a pocket full of cents.

Many employers in the U.S. are wanting to see more credit and easier demand before taking on the responsibility of hiring new employees.

Some companies, such as Ford, NCR, Coleman, and Peerless Industries, have shifted some production from China back to the United States. Zinser and Runiewicz believe this trend will continue. That means more jobs in the United States, though not as many as in the past. It also means a different type of workforce.

When a dollars begin to take its role of making more sense again the Americas will feel more at ease with the future.

Learning a Foreign Language is an Art

1) Spend the time!

By far the most important factor is how much time you are immersed in the language. The more time you spend with the language, the faster you will learn. This means listening, reading, writing, speaking, and studying words and phrases. This does not mean sitting in class looking out the window, nor listening to other students who do not speak well, nor getting explanations in your own language about how the language works. This means spending time enjoyably connected to the language you are learning.

In real life the brain is going be triggered to remember something that is either tragic or fun and comical. The brain is not as interested in the medium stage of something being just satisfied. Think of it this way for example. When you go to see fireworks are you more interested in the little firecrackers and is that what you most remember or do you remember the grand finale at the end and all of it's greatness? Most likely you will remember the grand finale and even the approximate time it lasted.

2) Listen and read every day!

Listen wherever you are on your MP3 player. Read what you are listening to. Listen to and read things that you like, things that you can mostly understand, or even partly understand. If you keep listening and reading you will get used to the language. One hour of listening or reading is more effective than many hours of class time.

Watch short films on the youtube with subtitles so you can get used to the language. Read newspaper articles. Read short blog articles. Comic books are always very helpful and fun in remember and trigger the brain with funny expressions just as cartoons also are. Watch the news in a foreign language of which you are learning.

3) Focus on words and phrases!

Build up your vocabulary, you’ll need lots. Start to notice words and how they come together as phrases. Learn these words and phrases through your listening and reading. Read online, using online dictionaries, and make your own vocabulary lists for review. Soon you will run into your new words and phrases elsewhere. Gradually you will be able to use them. Do not worry about how accurately you speak until you have accumulated a plenty of words through listening and reading. It may be even helpful for you to place a sticky note on a few objects are the house or office with the name of the object on the note written in the foreign language you are trying to learn.

4.) Write but make it fun. Many people now these days enjoy blogging. Write a short blog article (post) on a subject that interests you or something you enjoyed doing in your native language. Then rewrite (use google translate to help you) the article in the foreign language you are trying to learn. Now for one week read that article to yourself of which you have written in the new language. Don't forget the mind remembers a lot when listening also so listen to it being read to you on google translate. The following week write another one.


5.) Take responsibility for your own learning!

If you do not want to learn the language, you won’t. If you do want to learn the language, take control. Choose content of interest, that you want to listen to and read. Seek out the words and phrases that you need to understand your listening and reading. Do not wait for someone else to show you the language, nor to tell you what to do. Discover the language by yourself, like a child growing up. Talk when you feel like it. Write when you feel like it. A teacher cannot teach you to become fluent, but you can learn to become fluent if you want to.

6.) Relax and enjoy yourself!

Do not worry about what you cannot remember, or cannot yet understand, or cannot yet say. It does not matter. You are learning and improving. The language will gradually become clearer in your brain, but this will happen on a schedule that you cannot control. So sit back and enjoy. Just make sure you spend enough time with the language. That is the greatest guarantee of success.