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2022年10月21日星期五

Mint: one word with two completely unrelated meanings

 





Tim Bowen explains the origin and different meanings of this word. It's mint!

The word mint has two distinct meanings in English. The first, derived from Greek through Latin mentha, is the small aromatic plant that also gives us words for different kinds of sweets (e.g. peppermints, spearmints) and the word menthol.

The second word comes from the Latin moneta, which is also the source of the English word money, and is a place where coins are produced or minted. In the case of the United Kingdom, this is the Royal Mint, which is located near Cardiff in South Wales and which mints the different coins in use in the UK. This meaning of mint also gives us the expression 'in mint condition', meaning in new or perfect condition, an expression often used to describe second-hand goods for sale. 'In mint condition' has now given rise to a new use of mint in modern British colloquial usage as an adjective meaning 'great, fantastic, brilliant'. It is particularly common in the Geordie dialect of Newcastle in the North-East of England. An example of this would be “I really enjoyed the gig last night. It was mint!” 

2022年10月14日星期五

Enrol VS Enroll

 

"Enrol" and "Enroll" are the same word with two spellings. 

  • "Enrol" is more widely used outside USA.
  • "Enroll" is common in USA.
The same thing applys to "Enrolment" and "Enrollment".

2022年9月21日星期三

Catch-22

 

第22条军规》(英语:Catch-22)是美国作家约瑟夫·海勒(Joseph Heller)的代表作

按照所谓的“第22条军规”,疯子可以免于飞行,但同时又规定必须由本人提出申请,而如果本人一旦提出申请,便证明其并未变疯,因为“对自身安全表示关注,乃是头脑理性活动的结果”。这样,这条表面讲究人道的军规就成了耍弄人的圈套。


今日收入到一封邮件:

You mentioned we are in a bit of a Catch-22 - you need our metadata but that won't be available until you give us yours.


Something/Someone's days are numbered


由于我司将逐步取消Confluence,于是有人说

I think the confulence service's days are numbered anyways.

 这个意思接近“剩下的日子不多了”。

更多例子,

My days in London are numbered.
The old dog's days are numbered.


2022年8月25日星期四

soldier vs. warriro vs. knight (士兵、勇士、骑士)

 


A soldier is anyone who fights as part of a military.

If you were to join the British or Japanese military you would become a soldier.

A warrior could be a soldier but it could also be anyone showing great strength, courage or aggressiveness. Such as athletes or political figures.

A knight is a person granted the title of knighthood. About 500 to 1000 years ago those granted a knighthood would have been elite fighters who directly served a lord and were often skilled in battle on horseback.

In modern times knighthood are granted to those who have made large contributions to culture or charity. For example, Sir David Attenborough has been awarded 2 knighthoods for television broadcasting and conservatism. That's also why he gets the title Sir in front of his name.

2022年8月7日星期日

Rouge Park 抓小龙虾 (crawfish)

胭脂公园抓小龙虾活动 

1 路线

详见下图。
停车场免费停车。

2 注意事项

2022年7月5日星期二

be up for something 愿意做某事

 


SPOKENwilling to do a particular activity

‘What do you feel like doing?’ ‘I’d be up for just about anything.


REAL EXAMPLE:
我们组想请其他组的人来做一次PKI培训,于是在讨论合适的人选,经理说:

[09:12]

I think Jason would be up for that

2022年4月6日星期三

令人迷惑的名字:TRREB - 多伦多地产“局” 和 RECO - 安省地产理事会

1. 多伦多地产“局”(TRREB),并非政府部门

 在多伦多的华人朋友们大多数听说过 "多伦多地产局”这个机构。按照我们华人的传统,字面上看,这个机构是一个政府部门。然而事实上并非如此。先来看看这个结构自己对自己的定位吧。

https://trreb.ca/

The TORONTO REGIONAL REAL ESTATE BOARD is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1920 by a small group of real estate practitioners. Today, as Canada's largest real estate board, TRREB serves more than 66,000 licensed real estate Brokers and Salespersons in and about the Greater Toronto Area.


简单来说,它是一个非盈利(关于加拿大的非盈利机构,也有很多故事)公司,服务对象是大多伦多地区的地产经纪人。其提供的MLS(Multiple Listing Service)算是世人皆知的了。

然而,这个“局”绝不是政府部门,也不具备任何行政权力,它关心的是地产经纪这个行业的利益,而不是买房卖房人的利益。所以,普通大众在看它发出的各种报告的时候,要有个清醒地认识,不要盲目的完全相信其数据,更不要被其态度影响。

2. 安省地产理事会(RECO)才是政府部门

The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) enforces the rules that real estate salespeople, brokers, and brokerages must follow. We protect the public interest through a fair, safe and informed marketplace.

https://www.reco.on.ca/about/

这个名字在华人的眼里反而不像是一个政府机构。然而它确实是真正的具有政府职能的房地产管理部门。地产经纪的考试注册都归它管理。理论上它更加关注卖家买家的利益,而不是地产经纪的利益。

任何人都可以在其官网上查询验证注册的经纪人,https://www.reco.on.ca/RegistrantSearch。



2022年2月13日星期日

I am fed up! 我受够了!

 


feed sb up,本意是给某人过多的食物。be fed up引申为被惹恼了,受不了了。

同事购买的一个软件总弹出广告,他受不了了,说到

I was already getting fed up with having Rogan's podcat pushed on me every time I opened Spotify.

“今天午餐之后一直没空”怎么说?

 I will be unavailable lunch onwards.

onwards表示之后的延续。

两个小游戏:拔河 tug of war,打地鼠 whack-a-mole

 


tug of war 是拔河游戏的英文专属名词。

在日常用语中,也可以用来表示一件事情来回不停。

一个Jira ticket先是被指定A同事来做,后来又改成B,后来又改成A,...

同事开玩笑的说这就是 Tug of war.



whack-a-mole 就是打地鼠游戏。

在生活中,可以表示零零散散地处理事情,没有一个统一的方案。

Web开发时常要求把一些IP地址加入黑名单,最终同事不耐烦了,说

I think we need to automate blacklisting IPs or just live with it, because whack-a-mole is not a good strategy.


not touch (someone or something) with a ten-foot pole 绝不碰!

 


a ten-foot pole 是西方家庭原来普遍有的一个工具,在这里就表示一个长的棍子。就算给我一个长棍子,我也不想碰某个东西,引申为特别不想接触某人/参与某事。

That investment is too risky. I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

今日,一个以前升级经常出现问题的系统今天又需要升级,同事极不情愿去做这件事,于是说

Where is my eleven-foot pole?

这里的eleven-foot其实是个幽默,比ten-foot更不情愿。

cant find way out of a (wet) paper bag? 比猫还笨!



传说原来魔术师用纸袋子装小猫,小猫则很容易就能钻出来。于是乎从纸袋子来逃出来这件事就被当成一件非常容易就能成功做到的事情。那么如果一个人笨手笨脚,我们就可以说他找不到从纸袋子里出来的方法(比不上一只小猫)。

今天,几个合同工不停地骚扰同事解决其VPN问题,同事不耐烦了,于是发牢骚说

How do we manage to find contractors that couldn't vpn their way out of a wet paper bag?




 


I am game, 我是游戏?



 game除了名词外,还可以是一个形容词,game for 表示渴望做某些事情。

一同事负责用户认证流程,随着时间和需求变更,认证逻辑越来越复杂,于是他想问问大家是否需要他来进行一次培训。这时,另外一名同事说

I am game, just let me know when and I'll be there.


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