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Otto's blog

https://jp.bloguru.com/otto

Mini Cooper with Roof Rack

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Mini Cooper with Roof Rack
I like old Mini Coopers, especially ones with roof racks. I`d like to buy one someday, but actually I have long legs, so I think it would be uncomfortable for me to drive. Anyway, I saw this one outside Shin-Kisogawa Station. The colour of the roof is interesting - dark blue.

- this/my/the red one (単数)
- these/my/the red ones = (複数)
#車

ワオ!と言っているユーザー

Hideki Matsuyama - Great Golf Player (or Great Golfer?)

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Hideki Matsuyama - Great Golf...
On the weekend, Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese golf player to win the U.S. Masters golf tournament. Congratulations!

Have you ever played golf? I guess a lot of Japanese will be inspired to play golf after hearing this news.

Vocabulary:
- 'golf' is a noun (名詞), but recently some people started using it as a verb (動詞) e.g. 'go golfing' & 'we golfed yesterday'. Personally, I think it sounds strange. Also, 'golfer' sounds like 'gopher' (ホリネズミ).
#スポーツ

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Speech Contest Article

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Speech Contest Article
The Bohme English Academy recently held* a speech contest for junior high school students in Gifu Prefecture. From 25 video entries, we chose six winners. An article about it appeared in The Gifu Shinbun. In the photo, Teragoya Otto is in the front, holding** a pen & paper. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Vocabulary:
- * hold, held = 催す
- ** hold, held = 持つ

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Movie: The Apartment

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Movie: The Apartment
A student told me her favourite movie was 1959`s 'The Apartment'. I said I didn`t know it, so next class, she lent me her DVD copy. I expected a light-hearted romantic comedy, but the story was sometimes a little dark. However, it was interesting to see scenes & fashions of New York at that time, & I was surprised that I recognized a few of the actors from TV shows I watched as a young child.

Grammar:
OK: 誰か told 誰か 『__』e.g. She told me it was good.
OK: 誰か said『__』e.g. I said it was good.
WRONG: 誰か said 誰か 『__』e.g. He said me it was good.
OK (but not common) : 誰か said to 誰か『__』 I said to him it was good.
#映画

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Gomora & Gomorrah

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Gomora & Gomorrah
I bought this figure of Gomora ゴモラ for my coll... I mean* my son`s collection. Of course I checked that it was made in Japan, not China. What does 'Gomora' mean**? Well, the Bible (聖書) mentions a city called Gomorrah. It was full of evil people, so God destroyed it. So I guess ゴモラ is a suitable name for an enemy of Ultraman, right?

Vocabulary:
- * "A...I mean B" = "A...じゃなくって...B" (間違ったことを言って、(言い直しをしたい時に) 正しい言葉に言い換える時に役立つ言い回し)
- ** 意味
#趣味

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Isuzu Bellett GT Type-R (1970?)

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Isuzu Bellett GT Type-R (1970?)
I just* saw this car, in the carpark just** behind my school. According to the internet, just*** 1,400 were manufactured, so it`s pretty rare. I wish it was mine. It`s just**** the kind of car I like.

Vocabulary:
* (見た) ばかり
** すぐ(後ろ)
*** (1400台) だけ
**** ちょうど
#車

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2021 Nitten Art Exhibition

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2021 Nitten Art Exhibition
On Sunday I took* my kids into Nagoya to see the Nitten art exhibition. We took** the train & subway. Altogether it took*** about 40 minutes. First we had lunch, then we looked at the exhibition at The Aichi Prefectural Museum. After that we took a walk**** around the top of Oasis 21 shopping mall, I took***** a few photos, then we went home.

Vocabulary:
Take/took/taken have various meanings:
* 連れて行った
** 乗った
*** 掛かった
**** 散歩した
*****撮った
However, 'take lunch' is unusual. 'Have/eat lunch' is usual.
#アート

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New Fishing Float Display Case

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New Fishing Float Display Case
I have a lot of old fishing floats. I put the nicest ones in a display case in my classroom*, but I still had a lot left over (残り). So I made another display case. Actually, I didn`t find one of the floats in this case. I made it myself, from a champagne cork. Can you find it?

* https://en.bloguru.com/otto/361390/a-few-new-floats

Pronunciation:
- Champagne シャンパン is pronounced シャンぺーン in English (it sounds like campaign キャンペーン)
#アート #趣味

ワオ!と言っているユーザー

Landcruiser FJ60

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Landcruiser FJ60
Merry Christmas! I didn`t get any presents from Santa, but I got a nice surprise on my way to work today - this is an 80s Toyota Landcruiser. What kind of car have you got? I`ve got a Honda Stepwagon. I wish I had this Landcruiser instead.

Thank you for supporting my blog in 2020. I hope you have a great day, and a fantastic 2021!

Vocabulary
- get = 貰う, 受ける (got: 過去形)
- have got = 有る, 持つ
#車

ワオ!と言っているユーザー

Butterfly Collecting Podcast Transcript (書き取り)

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Butterfly Colle...
This is a photo of a Common Grass Yellow butterfly that I found at Lake Biwa.

A couple of months ago I posted a podcast about butterfly collecting:
https://bohmeenglish.podbean.com/e/the-bohme-english-podcast-18-ottos-hobby/

This is a transcript (書き取り)of it. Please listen & read:

In Japan, a lot of kids – especially boys – are interested in catching & keeping rhinoceros beetles (カブトムシ) and stag beetles (くわがた虫). In Australia though, they`re not so popular and I never collected them when I was a kid. However I was into collecting butterfly for a while. I don`t remember exactly when or how I got into it, but my house had a big yard, with trees and bushes and flowers, so I guess I noticed the different types of butterflies which came through, and that got me interested.

What I do remember is my mum encouraging me, and helping me to research the best way to catch, kill and display them. Remember, this is before the internet, so we had to do this using library books, encyclopedias and of course trial and error. Oh, and my dad made me a big butterfly net, which I though was fantastic. Looking back now, I wonder if they were just desperate for me to stop collecting Kiss cards and fins a new, nicer hobby. Anyway, I really enjoyed keeping an eye out for butterflies that I didn`t have in my collection. Little by little I learnt which ones preferred which flowers, their flying habits, and even what time of day they were likely to be found.

I had special flat boxes with clear tops which I kept them in. Unfortunately, even though I put mothballs (防虫剤) in the boxes, like the books advised, my butterflies eventually became damaged & rotten, so I had to throw them away.

So that was the end of that hobby, although when I came to Japan as an adult, I noticed various butterflies that I had never seen growing up in Australia. And then I went to Okinawa, and wow – I saw some really impressive butterflies there. So that re-ignited my interest in butterflies. I also have a Japanese friend who collects butterflies, so whenever I go to Okinawa or somewhere & see an unusual or pretty butterfly, I paint a picture of it on a postcard and send it to him. Later, he replies to say thank you & tell me the name & some information about that butterfly.

So, yeh, although I don`t collect butterflies anymore, I definitely still get a kick out of spotting new or unusual ones. And who knows? Maybe one of my kids will want to start a butterfly collection one day. If so, I`ll definitely encourage them & give them a hand, just like my parents did with me.

#昆虫

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