Fresh off a recent trip to Tokyo I have already started looking forward to my next travel bout. I stumbled upon a Wikipedia page about World Heritage Sites in Japan and discovered Yakushima.

Yakushima is an island off the southern coast of Kyushu. The island has been a World Heritage Site since 1993 because it is home to a massive ancient forest. Although Yakushima has many different types of flora and fauna, it’s Japanese Cedar trees are the real crowd pleaser; some are thought to be 2300 years old! Although many people suffer with hay fever from cedar trees, that’s not enough to stop 300,000 tourists from visiting the island each year.While these trees were logged for many years during the Edo period, commercial logging of the island was banned in the 1960s and the trees have been replanted. Additionally, Yakushima is home to the largest nesting ground for loggerhead sea turtles. The island is also home to macaques, deer, weasels, and the surrounding waters are full of dolphins and coral reefs. 

Before you pack your bags and head out, you should be aware that the route to Yakushima can be challenging. There’s two different ferry services available to get there, but no cars are allowed on the island. Yakushima also has a small airport with two flights a day. Hiking to the top of Yakushima’s many peaks is extremely popular with tourists, but make sure to pack appropriate clothing. Yakushima is known as “Japan’s Wettest Place”, so a raincoat and water-proof boots are a must especially in June! 

Fun fact: Yakushima is the inspiration for the forest settings in Princess Mononoke! So what do you think? Should I go??

Many of the more frequently-used English idioms and expressions originate from sports. However these 10, and countless others, are now so commonplace that they’ve taken on lives of their own in our everyday speech.  

Person, persons, people and peoples.

Person
A person is a human man, woman, or child. It is a singular countable noun. 

• There was one person at the door.
• When did you see this suspicious person?
• She’s a very interesting person. You should talk to her.

People and peoples
The plural of person is people. It refers to a group or a number of human beings. It is a plural countable noun.

• There were three people at the door.
• How many people do you know?
• The people who live here are very rich.

People can also mean nation. Peoples is the plural form of this meaning. Peoples means nations.

• The Aztecs were a people that lived in the Americas.
• The English are a strange people.
• There are many peoples living on the Earth.
• When the peoples of the Earth unite, we will have peace.

Persons
Persons is a more formal, more polite form of people. It’s a plural countable noun and is most often seen written down – such as on signs, in newspapers and in the context of the law.

• This lift can hold a maximum of 15 persons.
• The police expect to catch the persons responsible for the theft.
• My client has never seen these persons before and so he is innocent.

Most of the time, I greet my students with a hearty ‘Hello!’ and ‘How are you?’ at the beginning of class, followed by a “Goodbye!” or “See you!” at the end. 

But in English, there are so many other great ways to say these things, especially when hanging out with friends. 

Instead of ‘Hello’ and ‘How Are You?’, try…

1. Hi
2. Hiya
3. Hey
4. Hey there
5. Howdy
6. Holla
7. Good morning
8. ‘morning!
9. Good afternoon
10. G’day
11. Good evening
12. How’s it going?
13. What’s up?
14. Sup?
15. Sup dude (men only)
16. What’s happening?
17. What’s going on?
18. Hola*
19. Yo
20. What’s good?
21. How have you been?
22. How are things?
23. What’s new?
24. What have you been up to?
25. Hey man (men only)
26. How’s life?
27. How’s your day going?
28. Long time no see

Instead of ‘Goodbye’ or ‘See you’, try…

1. Bye!
2. Bye bye
3. Good night
4. See you later
5. Talk to you later
6. Catch you later
7. Later
8. Later alligator
9. Have a good day
10. Have a good night
11. Have a good one
12. Adios*
13. Take care
14. Take it easy
15. So long
16. Peace
17. Peace out
18. I’m out
19. I’m off
20. See you next time
21. I’ve got to get going
22. I ‘ve gotta go/jet/dip/bounce/split/roll/head out/hit the road
23. Good seeing you
24. Good talking with you
25. I’m outta (out of) here
26. I’m going to call it a day/night
27. See you on the flip side
28. See you on the flippity flop

*Spanish, but sometimes (American) English speakers say it for fun

Some music, whether songs or full albums, are able to evoke complete atmospheres; an exploration in emotional landscapes if you will. We are nearing the end of the rainy season (I hope), but I wanted to share an album that always complimented rainy days for me. The album is Disintegration by The Cure. While Robert Smith directly conjures images of rain in his lyrics and song titles, the music really makes the listener feel it. The album starts out very romantic and dreamlike but steadily descends to this gloomy, sunken place where it perpetually rains on dark vegetation (that album cover really captures my imagination). But don’t worry, there are also lighter pop moments that give you shelter along the way. Here’s a very literal “rainy” song but please give the whole album a listen to understand the journey!

Joe

2013 was a magical time for social media. Although YouTube and Instagram had been around for a while, someone decided that the world needed a balance between long-form video and static images. Twenty minute long videos and scrolling through feed after feed of pictures could no longer hold our entertainment-saturated, A.D.D-addled brains. Thus, to fill the void, Vine was born.

What is Vine, you ask? Much like YouTube, a user could film themselves or a subject using an app. The catch? The video was only six seconds long. In order to get those coveted “revines”, a user had to make sure to jam pack their content with something that could hold the viewers attention for at least six seconds. It’s harder than it sounds! Sure, there were some duds, namely a lot of videos of people simply lip-synching to music or chatting with friends.  However, quite a few YouTubers got their start and built their fanbases using Vine; the Logan brothers and Lele Pons, for starters.

Although Vine was put on indefinite hiatus in 2016, its legacy lives on in current app features such as Snapchat’s 10 second and Instagram’s 1 minute video sharing. Thankfully, Vine has archived all of its current videos which leave us with gems like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0uXVy4fzUA

Enjoy.