Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Wayside and Waste Side

Wayside and Waste Side Wayside and Waste Side Wayside and Waste Side By Maeve Maddox One of the many meanings of the English noun way is, â€Å"a thoroughfare used or designed for traveling or transportation from place to place.† Roman legions travelled along the Appian Way. Shakespeare’s Autolycus sang, Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way, And merrily hent the stile-a: A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile-a. The Winter’s Tale, IV.3. Even now we drive along highways and perhaps hike along byways. The land that runs along these â€Å"ways† is called the wayside. The expression â€Å"to fall by the wayside† probably came into English from the parable of the sower: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. Luke 8:5, KJV. The idea is that anyone or anything that â€Å"falls by the wayside† has failed to accomplish its purpose. Nowadays, speakers who don’t seem to know the word wayside talk about â€Å"falling by the waste side.† Like those who still say wayside, they are referring to the area along a road or highway, butdoubtless because of all the litter that accumulates therethe eggcorn â€Å"waste side† makes sense to them. The expression has made its appearance in pop lyrics: When you got big dreams, keep your eyes on the prize Dont fall to the waste side, reach for the sky Dont bother wasting my time, you’re falling down by the waste side. Falling down by the waste side It’s not just songwriters who are mixed up: Senator [Royce] West added that, It was not his intent or those members who have coauthored SB 1419 and those who lent their efforts to the creation of this bill, to attempt to maintain or increase the pool of eligible applicants for admissions, admit them, and then have them fall by the waste side. From the Office of State Senator Royce West, District 23 (Texas). Note: Carpenters aptly talk about the â€Å"waste side† of a saw blade. It’s the side away from a section of wood being cut. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:16 Substitutes for â€Å"Because† or â€Å"Because Of†Does "Mr" Take a Period?The Difference Between "Un-" and "Dis-"

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Japanese Writing Systems

Japanese Writing Systems Kanji was introduced to Japan nearly 2,000 years ago. It is said that 50,000 kanji characters exist, though only about 5,000 to 10,000 are commonly used. After W.W.II, the Japanese government designated 1,945 basic characters as Joyo Kanji (commonly used kanji), which is used in textbooks and official writings. In Japan, one learns about the 1006 basic characters from Joyo Kanji, in elementary school. A lot of time is spent at school learning kanji. It would be very helpful for you to learn all the Joyo Kanji, but the basic 1,000 characters are sufficient to read about 90% of the kanji used in a newspaper (about 60% with 500 characters). Since childrens books use less kanji, they would be a good resource to practice your reading. There are other scripts to write Japanese beside kanji. They are hiragana and katakana. Japanese is commonly written with a combination of the all three. If you want to learn Japanese writing, start with hiragana and katakana, then kanji. Hiragana and katakana are simpler than kanji, and have only 46 characters each. It is possible to write an entire Japanese sentence in hiragana. Japanese children start to read and write in hiragana before making an attempt to learn some of the two thousand kanji commonly used. Here are some lessons about Japanese writing. Hiragana LessonsKatakana LessonsKanji Lessons