"Elissa, eating an apple with peanut butter is stranger than eating octopus"

Yes, this was a real conversation.

Rewind to Sunday when I would not eat the octopus at the party. All the other teachers were fighting over it, and I was not interested in the slightest. They were shocked! "You don't like octopus?!" "It's delicious!"

I told them that in the US, we don't really eat octopus, so it's a little strange to me. I also tried to explain that when I can see the little suction cups on the tentacles, I get way freaked out. (they laughed at this one)

Fast forward to today: The conversation started because one of the teachers had a HUGE apple on her desk that was given to her by a student. I told the JTEs how in the US its one of those little cliche things where students give teachers apples. She laughed, and then we talked about different apples and how they are smaller in the US, and how there are so many different kinds. I told them that apples are cheaper in the US too. And then I just randomly mentioned that apples are delicious with peanut butter! That got quite a stare from them. One of the JTEs was excited and said that in the home ec class, they would taste apple with peanut butter. However, the other JTE said to me "Elissa, eating an apple with peanut butter is stranger than eating octopus."

The end.

I get it! I get it! I'll get the door! He's got the milk!

My students keep telling me that English is hard. I'm always like "No, no its not! But Japanese is hard!" And then we have a discussion on why Japanese is hard for me and why English is hard for them...

However, I was playing on the internet today in all of my free time, and perhaps English is a little harder than I thought.

Example: the verb "get" Let's take a look at some of the possible uses and meanings, shall we? It might give you a whole new respect for the language you speak. You just might feel lucky that you grew up speaking it and did not have to learn it.

"I got the letter yesterday" (meaning: received)
"I practiced so I got better at dancing" (meaning: became)
"I get it! I get it!" (meaning: understand)
"The phone! I'll get it!" (meaning: answer)
"I got these shoes last weekend in Tokyo" (meaning: bought/acquired)
"You need milk? I'll get it." (meaning: retrieve)
"It's 3:00? I've got to go!" (meaning: must, required to) NB most of us would say, "I gotta go!"

NOW, some idiomatic uses. I am not going to type out the meanings, but note that some of them have several ways they can be used:
*get away
*get away with
*get back
*get back to
*get around
*get around to
*get along
*get along with
*get in
*get on
*get off
*get into
*get out
*get out of
*get over
*get over with
*get rid of
*get through
*get going
*get up
*get used to

And now, some very specific uses of get, also idiomatic:
"Get real!"
"Get a life!"
"Get lost!"
"Get a move on!"
"Get to the point!"
"Get with it!"

WHEW! So, after that, new respect for people trying to learn English, right? Clearly there are other ways to say most of these things, but if you really want to sound natural speaking a language, you have to get some of the idiomatic meanings in there. It is most definitely difficult, and I think English really has a lot of idiomatic phrases and expressions that make no sense if you try to break them down into separate words.

The end.

SNOW

November 2, 9:43 pm. It is snowing in Iiyama.