Author Archives: Dr. Jeff McQuillan

I recently talked about “loanwords” in a short video about “glitch” and “ketchup.” Today, I talk about three more common loanwords in English: cul-de-sac kudos angst To expand your vocabulary even faster, check our our Unlimited English Membership here. ~Jeff … Continue reading →

“Literal” and “figurative” are two types of meaning in English, but they are often confused (even by native English speakers!). Learn the difference between them in this video, and why Americans who say “I was literally starving” will not die … Continue reading →

The famous showman P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” (Learn more about P.T. Barnum in our Cultural English 257 here.) Learn in this video what a “sucker” is, why you do *not* want to be one, and … Continue reading →

A loanword is a term one language takes from another language to use with little or no change to the word itself. English has “stolen” lots of words from other languages! Learn about the meaning and uses of two of … Continue reading →

There are lots of expressions we use with friends or informally that you don’t want to use at work with your boss. In this video, I talk about three of them: -Get lost! -That’s above my paygrade. -Whatever. For more … Continue reading →

Conversational English includes a lot of expressions you will usually not find in an English textbook. Today I explain 3 common idioms in English: To flake out/to be a flake To call shotgun To scoot over For more vocabulary related … Continue reading →

Learn how to use three popular phrasal verbs in English: To give up To give up (something) To give in For more on giving up and similar phrases, check out our Daily English 524 – Talking About Failure. ~Jeff P.S. … Continue reading →

There are lots of idioms related to the word “size” in English. Size means, of course, how big or small something is. In this video, I explain the different ways of using the following four popular idioms: To size (someone/something) … Continue reading →