I studied English in Japan. Japanese education values reading comprehension and grammar. I think that this is good as it becomes the basis of my English skills, but my weakness is that I do not know much about casual English language. It seems sometimes easier for me to speak academic language than casual language when shopping or chatting with friends. Last week, I started to learn new English words, idioms, and useful expressions with my tutor by listening to pop music, watching popular TV shows, and reading novels. I like pop culture, especially comedies, and believe that understanding the local pop culture is essential to socializing with people here in Boston. I hope this learning method of acquiring casual speech and cultural knowledge at the same time will work fine.
During the first lesson, I listened to several American pop songs, and leaned new words and idioms. We looked over not a bad thing by Justin Timberlake, Shower by Beck G, Rude by MAGIC!, My angel in blue jeans by Train, and so on. Out of those, the following two songs were most rich in new expressions: Classic by MKTO and Halo by Biyoncé.
1 Classic by MKTO
Classic means admired by many people, and having long-term value. This song expresses a man's feeling that a woman is traditional, stylish, and supreme. There are a number of famous artists' names in the lyric such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Marilyn Monroe. The song is high tempo, cool, and energetic.
I learned the following words and useful expressions from this song:
(1) Like a 5th Avenue Diamond means that you are precious and brilliant. 5th Avenue is a wealthy district of New York.
(2) They don't make you like they used to seems to come from the saying "they don't make them like they used to", which means goods in the past were higher-quality and better than current ones. Thus, they don't make you like they used to means that you are high-quality.
(3) You're never going out of style means that you will never be outdated or obsolete.
(4) You're over my head means you are beyond my comprehension. A similar expression is you're out of my league, which means that you rank above me and are in a different class.
(5) I'm out of mind means that I've lost control and become crazy.
(6) One of a kind, living in a world gone plastic means that you are the only authentic girl in a current fake world. Plastic means artificial and fake. There are several examples of expressions using the word plastic: a plastic smile, plastic surgery.
(7) I could walk you down the aisle means that I could marry you. This meaning comes from the custom that when a couple has a wedding, they walk down the aisle to the altar in a church.
(8) It's not a rewind, everything is go throwback means that it is not that we make tapes backwards (actually go back to the past), but people are reversing their thinking to value things of the past. There is an expression used in social media like Twitter, "Throwback Thursday (TBT)", which means that users reflect on their past life every Thursday.
(9) Old school chic means that you are traditional and stylish.
(10) You're class means that you are elegant and poised.
(11) You got me tripping out like the 60's hippies means that you made me high as if I used a drug.
(12) Girl you're timeless means that you are attractive and not become old-fashioned. The antonym is trendy.
2 Halo by Beyoncé
A Halo is a circle of light above the head of a holy person. This song is about the change of a girl's feelings after she met her boyfriend. She once built an emotional wall between her and other people. But when she met her boyfriend, he broke down the wall easily, is always with her, and appears to be a ray of sunlight who saved her from the darkness. She gets deeply absorbed in him and wishes he would never leave her.
I learned the following words and useful expressions from this song:
(1) Baby they're tumbling down means that they (walls) are falling suddenly to the ground. In other words, it means that she removes her emotional blocks.
(2) And they didn't even put up a fight means that they (fallen walls) didn't even try hard to fight or stand up again.
(3) You know you're my saving grace means that you are the one good thing in my life.
(4) It's written all over your face means that your feelings are obvious from your expression. A similar expression is you wear your heart on your sleeve.
(5) A ray of sun means that a person that makes life brighter or more cheerful.
(6) Think I'm addicted to your light means that it seems that I am dependent on you and cannot live without you.
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