cut to the chase vs cut the cheese

cut to the chase is an expression that has come up before on richyrocks.com and was discussed on my show today on facebook in reference to a clip from the friends episode the one with the football

joey and chandler are both after the same girl, heidi. ross intervenes and urges heidi to choose between his two friends when he says

let’s just cut to the chase here, ok? Heidi, which of my boys do you like?

don’t confuse cut to the chase with cut the cheese; it could be embarrassing. cut the cheese means to fart or pass gas as in this scene from the greatest western series of all time, deadwood

my youtube video omelette freak cuts the cheese shows what can happen when the two idioms are confused in a professional situation

u.s. lawmakers back down, withdraw

the on-line protest of the stop online piracy act (sopa) and the protect ip act (pipa), particularly wikipedia‘s blackout on january 18, was a success, at least for the moment.

 wikipedia jan18, 2012

this article reports waffling by u.s. politicians using a good example of the phrasal verb back down which means to concede or retire from a confrontation and two examples of withdraw, previously discussed on richyrocks.com

Politicians back down on piracy law following web protest

Senators Roy Blunt, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, John Boozman and Marco Rubio withdrew support for PIPA, with Rubio saying over Facebook: “Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the internet.”

Congressman Ben Quayle,  who co-sponsored SOPA, said dealing with piracy was still important. “However, Representative Quayle believes that as the bill currently stands, it could have unintended consequences that need to be addressed before moving forward and these concerns led him to withdraw his name as a co-sponsor,” his spokesman told a US newspaper.

despite the victory, wikipedia founder jimmy wales says sopa & pipa are not dead 

rain over me

the lyrics of the hit song rain over me contain vocabulary that has been discussed here on richyrocks.com.

at the beginning of the rap, pitbull says

a billion’s a new million, voli’s a new vodka

40′s the new 30, and baby you’re a rockstar

look here for some variations of and explanation about 40 is the new 30

and at 1:52 pitbull indicates, that unlike many rappers, he isn’t worried about keeping it real

i ain’t tryin to keep it real

i’m tryin to keep wealth and that’s for real

but if he follows the wisdom of aristotle and benjamin franklin on wealth, we know that he gets up early.

wimp

on my show last week, we discussed a clip from the movie no strings attached where ashton kutcher and natalie portman call each other wimps.

natalie portman is disgusted with ashton kutcher’s wimpy jacket

wimp (wimpy) is an insult that is used to call a person physically weak.

diary of a wimpy kid is a popular series of children’s books

at the end of the 80s hefty trash bags had an effective ad campaign that compared their product to the wimpy competition

the  commericals were iconic enough to be parodied in the perfect castaway episode of family guy

wimpy is the name of a character in popeye cartoons who is famous for his love of hamburgers

and the pharcyde‘s popular track passing me by is about guys having bad luck romantically with women. at 3:40 the lyrics say

damn, i wish i wasn’t such a wimp

doodle

in december i proudly talked about fellow iowan robert noyce in various classes as a result of the google doodle that commemorated his birthday on december 12.

doodle means a simple, spontaneous drawing.

the word is used in the title of two popular on-line games.

doodle sprint is a doodle of some guy running and jumping.

a very good example of a doodle, but a very basic game

doodle jump features the doodler participating in various scenarios

the new pac-man?

doodle jump‘s popularity led to a mention on the adhesive duck deficiency episode of big bang theory.  listen to sheldon at the beginning of this video

doodle can also be used to refer to a penis, usually a small one.  in the simpson’s movie, when homer dares bart to skateboard to the krusty burger naked, bart intially hesitates and says

but girls might see my doodle

doodiddleyiddely

u messin with me?

mess with is a phrasal verb that means to cause problems for or play a trick on.

the jack-tor episode of 30 rock contains a great example.

  frank and toofer start a rumor that some actors will be fired from the show to prank

jenna, who then proclaims that she will use her sexuality to secure her position. she does so with a man she believes to be a network executive, but in fact is an extra on the show.

liz explains that no one is actually going to be fired, and that frank and toofer were messing with her.  jenna then confronts

pete and asks him if a live performance of her awful dance song muffin top will be inluded on the next show.  she explains that people have been messing with her.  pete assures her that he is not messing with her, and that muffin top will be included.

the three wise men (and two other wise men)

aristotle: does he look tired?

aristotle is quoted as saying this about sleeping habits

it is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom

u.s. $100 bills are also known as “benjamins”

benjamin franklin, pictured on the $100 bill, translated aristotle’s idea to english and turned it into a poem

early to bed, early to rise

makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise

health (healthy) the state or condition of your body and wealth (wealthy) your possessions and money are pronounced hellth and wellth.

wisdom (wise) means intelligence that comes from experience.  it is a timely vocab word as tonight kids here in mexico and across the spanish speaking world will possibly get to bed early and definitely rise early tomorrow morning in anticipation of the arrival of the reyes magos or the three wise men as they are known in english.

three wise men visiting baby jesus

the wise men will bring kids toys, candy, money or clothes.  the tradition is based on the three kings who visited jesus christ after his birth.

iowa caucus 2012

the iowa caucus is tonight.  it’s the first step on the way to determining who will be president barack obama’s opponenet in this year’s presidential election.  each individual u.s. state will have an election to vote for the republican candidate and iowa is first.

caucus-goers

the caucus is an interesting democratic tool.  voters meet face to face with other members of their community to discuss and determine which candidate they prefer, and it is the inspiration for my latest youtube vid

one of the candidates for the republican nomination is texas congressman ron paul, who has accented the protection of personal liberties in his campaign.

ron paul tells iowa voters to pass the joint

he is believed to be a favorite to win in iowa tonight but many pundits believe the odds are against him ending up as the republican candidate.

if ron paul is elected, marijuana will become legal is a good example of what is called first conditional.  the undecided voter believes that ron paul’s election will result in the legalization of marijuana.

shall in this case is the same as will.

pretty lights on the tree

do u remember shine from the end of last year here on richyrocks.com?

the great christmas carol christmas (baby, please come home) contains the lyrics

pretty lights on the tree.  i’m watching them shine.

you should be here with me. baby , please come home.

a christmas tree all lit up with pretty lights

can u hear those lines in the following performances of the song?

i’ve always liked bono‘s vocal on u2′s version

but the definitive interpretation is from the original artist who recorded it in 1963,  darlene love.  she performs it every year at christmas on the late show

republican candidate 2012

the iowa caucus is tuesday.  it is the first official step to determining who will be the republican candidate facing barack obama in the 2012 presidential election. politicians have been visiting my homestate excessively to compete for the support of iowan voters and the national media attention iowa receives is madness.

this video from my youtube channel was inspired by coverage of the process

shucks is used to react to appreciation, in this case applause.  it is a nice, folksy way to deflect praise.

humbling is a related concept.  it is common for public figures & celebrities to say “it’s humbling” when they receive an award or a compliment.  it makes them look humble or modest.

an egg beater

beater is used to refer to an old or run-down car.  it compares the engine of the car to an egg beater.