To not be cut out for something

If you're not cut out for something, it means that you don't have the ability or willingness to do it or be it.

For example, I'm not cut out to be a surgeon, or any kind of doctor. The sight of blood and needles makes me feel faint!

I'm also not cut out to be an engineer or a financial analyst, because my math skills aren't strong enough.

I'm not cut out for mountain climbing or skiing, because my knees are not good.

What about you? What aren't you cut out for?

Tiring vs. tiresome

If a task is tiring, it makes you feel tired. Many things can be tiring, like waiting in line, filing out forms, doing certain kinds of housework.

Tiresome is an adjective that describes a person or activity that makes you feel bored and/or annoyed. So it's a bit different from tiring, because there's a more negative and emotional meaning. Here are a few examples:

You: How are you?
Your friend: Not that great. I've been in a really tiresome meeting for the last two hours, talking about the same things over and over again and not getting anywhere.

*****

You: Do you ski?
Your colleague: Not really. I used too, but the whole process was just too tiring. All that preparation and expense for such a short time actually skiing!

Practice made visible

I've posted a lot here about practice being important to improving your English. Here's a nice video about someone learning to dance in a year, by practicing a little every day.

What I really appreciate here is the very beginning. It's not often that we get to see someone doing something from the start, or near the start. I think this leads us to believe that others are born masters, and we won't be able to achieve what they can. For me, seeing someone at the beginning of learning to dance is inspiring.

I was like

This is not easy to explain.

Sometimes when people are telling each other about something that happened, they use this expression to say what they said or how they felt. You have to experience this to really understand how it works. Here is an example:

***

You: What did you do last night?

Your friend: Well, my brother called and he was like, do you want to hang out, and I was like, I'm kind of tired and he was like, I can come over and we can watch TV and I was like, OK if you bring some food and he was like, Thai food? So he came over and we just hung out. What about you?

You: I was like, really tired too, but I had to meet some friends of John's who are visiting. They were like, we want to have tapas and I was like, it's going to be hard to find a table and they were like, that's no problem, we don't mind waiting, and I was like, I do, but I was cool about it and finally we found a place by their hotel.

***

This is a way of speaking that is very common among young Americans (people in their 20s or younger). It may seem strange to you, but once you learn to hear it, it will be easier to understand people when they speak. You can also start using this sometimes... it's very colloquial!

Flimsy

A wonderful person recently reminded me of a wonderful word: flimsy. This is an adjective, and if we're talking about an object (like a fabric or other material), it means "light, thin and insubstantial; lacking solidity or strength." If we're talking about an idea, theory or argument, it means "lacking plausability, unconvincing". Here are a few examples:

Mary's flimsy umbrella was no match for the strong wind and rain, and it broke a few minutes after she left the house.

***
Hi Bob,

Thanks for your message about the meeting with Tom and Dave. I think the presentation is good in general, but I'm concerned that the product section is a bit flimsy. I don't think what we have will convince them to upgrade; could you review it and see what you can do to make it stronger? Thanks!

All best,

Anne
***

Salesperson: Can I help you?
You: Yes, I'm looking for some summer curtains.
Salesperson: Are you looking for anything specific?
You: Well, I want something light and summery, but not so flimsy that it will fall apart after one summer.
Salesperson: Right. I think we have some things over here that might be just right.

Flimsy is a regular adjective, so: flimsy, flimsier, the flimsiest.

Imperfect and effective

Over the past few weeks, I've been watching a TED talk by Dan Ariely. The talk is very effective, and I'm posting it below. He makes some interesting points about recognition and motivation, and although some of the insights shouldn't be new to us, the experiments he describes give vivid proof that demotivating people is very, very easy. 

Dan Ariely is an Israeli American, and he's a professor at Duke University. If you watch his TED talk, you may notice that his English is imperfect. I think you'll also feel that his presentation is effective. 

My message to you is that when you need to speak to people in English (or an any language that isn't native for you), the most important thing is to connect with people and communicate from the heart, with conviction.  Don't worry about being perfect. It's hard communicate very much if you're too focused on perfection!

It seems that there's a problem with embedding the video, so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aH2Ppjpcho

Warm up your English

When you need to attend a training session or conference, or make a phone call in English, it makes sense to warm up first.

This is easy to do! Spending ten or fifteen minutes listening to something online is a great way to change your mind over to English. You could also chat with someone, or even just read for a few minutes. Anything you do to move your thoughts into English will help a lot!