Contents
=> “Pants Idioms”
=> Word Origins: “Sassy”
=> The Bank of English: collocations and concordances
=> What’s Happening
=> In the Next Issue

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“Pants Idioms”
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There are quite a few idioms about pants. (British usually say trousers, but we Americans use the word pants).

Here are some of these fun idioms. Can you match them to their meanings below? (Teachers can ask students to guess at the meanings before giving
them the matchings).

1. you have ants in your pants.

2. you were caught with your pants down.

3. you wear the pants in this house.

4. you need a kick in the pants.

5. Keep your pants on!

MATCHINGS

A. Don’t be so eager. Just wait a minute.

B. You are the boss (usually said of a woman in her home).

C. You are lazy and need some motivation.

D. You are nervous, excited, agitated.

E. You were found in an embarrassing and revealing situation.

(Answers after “The Bank of English”)

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Word Origins: “Sassy”
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A sassy person is
1. rude, impudent (Russian: “nagly”)
2. lively and spirited
3. stylish

Yes, those are different meanings. You’ve got to imagine them together. Think of a sauce. A sauce adds flavor, but sometimes it’s spicy, zesty, and bold. And guess what? The word “sassy” comes from “saucey,” which comes from the word “sauce.”

But WHO is sassy? Usually it’s children or girls (both adult and young). Being sassy is not so bad. There used to be a magazine teen girls called SASSY.

“Sassy” is fun to say. Go ahead and try it.

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The Bank of English-
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This web site is a great tool for English teachers.

The Bank of English (http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/boe_info.html) is a collection of texts containing more than 450 million words. When you want to see how a word is used in REAL English you can go to the site and type the word in.

What you get are various lines featuring the word you typed in: these are called CONCORDANCES. They are not whole sentences, but they give you a good idea of how the word is currently being used. Here are some concordances for “sassy”:

<><><><>
This young sailor, with her sassy, in-your-face style and
[p] Set in the Wild West, a sassy cowgirl saves the day
She was sparky and sassy but she was also
Musically though this is strong and sassy, and Blackgirl are a
Lauper reached No.2 in ‘84 with the sassy, “Girls Just Want to
voice is warm and strong, and her sassy approach and glitzy style
<><><><>

You can also look for COLLOCATIONS. You can find those words most likely to appear with another word.

For “sassy,” the most common word partners are “loud,” “smart,” “image,” “strong,” “young,” “look,” and “skirt.” From these we can see that “sassy” is associated very often with fashion.

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Answers to Pants Idioms————————————————————–

1. you have ants in your pants.
= D. You are nervous, excited, agitated.
2. you were caught with your pants down. =
= E. You were found in an embarrassing
and revealing situation.
3. you wear the pants in this house
= B. You are the boss (usually said of a woman in her home)
4. you need/get a kick in the pants.
= C. You are lazy and need some motivation.
5. Keep your pants on!
= A. Don’t be so eager. Just wait a minute.

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What’s Happening
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Welcome new teachers and students from Nakhodka. You are great! The comment cards you wrote me were so useful and inciteful! I know just what
lessons to do when I return to Nakhodka now. And thanks for believing me when I insisted there WAS pizza in your town.

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In the next issue (December 6, 2003)————————————————————–

Some stuff for younger learners.

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Copyright 2003 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty
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