I’m looking for an idiom that means: There will come a time in everyone’s life when they tumble down, or experience a hard time. Something you’d say to a smug but successful person who laughs at your misery. Answer It sounds like you’re asking two different things. There’s a general expression to indicate that everyone … Read more
Can I say "I know where they were walking to"? I’m aware that running ngram searches is not the best way to learn the grammatical correctness of a clause, but I was wondering why this particular sentence structure, particularly "where+subject+was walking to" gives incredibly few results, even after trying with different pronouns. It looks like … Read more
I think "this week" can imply the future, the present, and the past. So I don’t know how to express the situation properly. (The situation where a festival is currently going on and it’s during this week) This week we have a festival there. This week we are having a festival there. We have been … Read more
I live in an apartment of a building and when my friend visits me, they can not get into the building unless they press my apartment number on a system placed in the front of the building. There is another piece of equipment with a screen installed in my house. And when visitors press my … Read more
A woman eats a lot of junk food and her children copy her eating junk food too. What is the opposite of "role model"? Can we say "She is a bad role model for her children"? I found this in the dictionary a bad/rotten apple: one bad person who has a bad effect on others … Read more
In the question What's the meaning of "for" in "dark for the sunrise"? I wrote The meaning of a lyric of a song is quite separated so that sometimes I couldn’t fully comprehend it. This is a line that I wrote to ask a question, which is trying to express that there are many lyrics … Read more
I was recently sick and my friends sent me recovery "wishes" (messages wishing me a speedy recovery). Is it correct to say to them "thank you for your wishes"? And would this also apply in different contexts? (for example, when someone is wishing you good luck on a job interview, romantic affair, in a competition … Read more
I want to cook this dish -fish/ meat/ chicken/ beef etc was cut into pieces -put the pieces into a pot -pour just a little oil in the pot -pour some Asian soy sauce or fish sauce in (I don’t pour water in) -cook it slowly in low or medium temperature until the meat/fish/beef/chicken etc … Read more
A man is in a rush and bumps into a woman. In Vietnamese, that woman might get upset and say "Where are your eyes and nose that you run like a thief" (literally translated from Vietnamese). Do we have a common expression in English that express a similar idea? Answer "Oy!" or "’Ere!" (meaning ‘Here!’) … Read more
When you buy chickens or ducks in a supermarket, their hair is ripped clean for you already and you just need to cook them. However, if you have a farm raising chickens or ducks, you need to pull out their hair before cooking them. I say "pull out" because their hair and its root must … Read more
