Learning English by Pop Culture: Harry Potter and Dark Horse

1 Harry Potter

I started to read Harry Potter And the Sorcerer's Stone. I felt this book was appropriate for studying English because I knew the story roughly, the level of written English is appropriate, and it is fun. My tutor gave explanations on reading comprehension and taught me useful English expressions so that my understanding became clear.

During the lesson, I read until the middle of Chapter One. Mr. Dursley, Harry's uncle, saw peculiar people who wore cloaks in a town, heard about his nephew Harry, and got upset. I found that the descriptions on each character were detailed and precise: Mr. Dursley showed his short temper and nervousness because he yelled at his coworkers and didn't sleep at night, Mrs. Dursley liked talking about other people's private affairs, hated her sister, and had versatile moods.

I learned the following words and expressions:

(1) they just didn't hold with such nonsense means that they didn't tolerate such foolishness.

(2) crane over garden fence means that stretch your neck and see over garden fence.

(3) beefy means that big and fat. The  synonym is husky.

(4) good-for-nothing means lazy and useless.

(5) gossip away means is talking about other people's private affairs.

(6) peck somebody on the cheek means give a dry, quick kiss on the cheek. Peck means bird's act of moving the beak forward quickly.

(7) chortle means laugh loudly with pleasure. A similar word is giggle, which also means laugh but in a slight and quick manner. The difference between these two laugh is described in the below Youtube video.

(8) jerk his head around means move his head around very suddenly and quickly.

(9) silly stunt means something stupid to get attention.

(10) stop dead means stop suddenly.

(11) thought better of it means reevaluated the situation.

(12) put himself together means compose himself.

(13) turning it all over in his mind means thinking about what happened. 

(14) get mixed up means get involved in.

2 Dark Horse by Katy Perry

I also went over a pop song, Dark Horse by Katy Perry. The word dark horse is sometimes used in horse racing to mean a little-known horse which makes an unexpectedly good showing. But in this song, A Dark Horse is used to mean an intimidating horse. In the song, Katy Perry sends a message that once you're falling in love with her, you cannot get out of it like a drug.

I learned the following words and expressions from this song:

(1) Ya'll means you all. You has two kinds of usage: plural you and singular you. By using ya'll, you can clarify that it means plural you.

(2) Let's rage means party really hard. Rager is an informal word to mean a hard, wild party.

(3) Make me your Aphrodite means that I want you to think of me as Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty in Greek Mythology.

(4) Boy, you should know what you're falling for means you should be aware of what you are getting into.

(5) "Baby do you dare to do this?" means that "are you brave enough to do this?". Combining with (4), Katy threatens the man that it is dangerous for him to fall in love with her.

(6) A perfect storm means that all bad things happen at the same time. An example sentence is that all of these factors are a perfect storm.

(7) Once you're mine, there's no going back means that once we're together, you cannot undo this.

(8) Mark my words means that take what I'm saying very seriously. This expression is also used to intimidate the man.

(9) This love will make you levitate means that this love will make you rise up magically. Levitate means rise and float in the air by magic.

(10) But down to earth...don't walk away means that come back to reality and don't leave me.

(11) It's in the palm of your hand now baby means that you are it's your responsibility to decide. Synonyms are it's in your hands, it's up to you, the ball is in your court.

(12) It's a yes or no, no maybe means that answer must be either yes or no, and maybe is not permitted.

(13) Karma is a Buddhist word that means good things will come back to you if you do good things.

(14) She eats your heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer means that she hurts you like Jeffery Dahmer. Jeffrey Dahmer is a famous serial killer and known as a cannibal.

(15) Try not to lead her on means that do not pretend that you're interested in her. Lead somebody on means act as if you're interested in somebody.
(16) Shorty's heart is on steroids means her heart is so strong that it controls romantic feeling. Shorty means a woman in a rap song. On steroids means extremely strong.

(17) She's sweet as pie but if you break her heart, she'll turn cold as a freezer means she'll get cruel if you hurt her feelings. This is a detailed explanation of her being Karma.

(18) That fairly tale ending with a knight in shining armor comes from an American fairly tale Sleeping Beauty, in which a Prince kisses and wakes up a beautiful, sleeping Princess.

(20) In a coma means in a state of unconsciousness.

(21) But lil' mama so dope, I messed around and got addictedはmeans that she is cool and I'm addicted to her. This indicates that her love is like a drug.