デビッド・バーカーの英語と仲直りブログ：スペースアルク

Hi David and Everyone,
Hope you remember me! I had been very busy at work and also taken a test related to my work this month. After all were cleared, I caught a flu...Anyway I'm genki now and want to join you again. May I?

I hope you all have a Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2008. The Chinese sign "Mouse" is my sign. Anybody the same as me?!

Hi Anne,
☆Happy Birthday!! ☆

Maki

Maki
2007年12月31日 15:55

☆゜'・:*☆========================☆゜'・:*☆

★Happy New Year, David and Everyone!★

A brand-new year has just started.
How will you spend 2008?
Hope 2008 will be a wonderful year for you all.

☆゜'・:*☆========================☆゜'・:*☆

Hi Maki,
I'm glad to hear you are OK. My Chinese sign is mouse, too. We are ‘年女’ this year, aren't we? I hope a lot of good things will happen in our lives! Anyway, I'm looking forward to having you back with us regularly;-)

My plans for next three days, I'm going to my father's house on New Years Day. My sisters and her family are also coming, so we'll get together and enjoy New Year's food.(おそば my father makes is very good!) Children are rich at this time of year, so we(including our children) will probably play cards 'UNO' for small money. It will be exciting!(新年早々まずいかな(笑)　1点1円のかわいい賭けUNOです。　もちろん大人も子供も本気！) And then, we are going to meet my mother, and enjoy drink and karaoke. On January 2nd, I'm going to my husband's father's house with my family, and visit my husband's mother's grave. On the third day, we don't have any special plan, so we are going to stay around the house and just take it easy. I guess our stomach will need to take a break from eating on that day!

David, your biggest New Year resolution is to lose weight? Well, I think one of my New Year resolutions is the same as yours. I want to lose 5 kilograms. 一緒に頑張りますか？＾＾ Anyway, I'm looking forward to that your new book will be published!

Have a great holiday and see you soon,

Tomo

Tomo
2008年1月 1日 00:00

☆☆☆ A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! ☆☆☆

Hi David and Everyone,
Hope your 2008 has started well! All the very best to you in this year.
I don't have a special plan for New Year's holiday, so I am staying around my house and having a relaxed time.

Hi Tomo,
Thank you for your heartwarming commnet! Wow! Your sign is also Mouse?! So probably there are some other members who are the same age as you, I guess. (Though I'm much older than you!) One of my New Year　resolutions is "joining this blog regularly". (宣言して頑張ります！よろしくね！）

David, I'm also looking forward to your new book. I'm just wondering whether you enjoy the first riding (初乗り).

Have a lovely holiday!

Maki

Maki
2008年1月 1日 15:10

Hi David and everyone,

A Happy New Year!
I hope all of you enjoying New Year holidays.
I had rather relaxed time today and will have with my family this year; my elder son returned home , visit the shrine nearby my house with my husband.... It's really a reward for me!!

David,Amica, Tomo and Maki
Thank you for your warm word for my birthday. Your words made me happy!
Maki,
Of course I remember you! Nice to have you again here!

David,
I'd love to, I should, and I must go on a diet, so I will join in your biggest New Year's resolution!!

See you soon,

Anne

Anne
2008年1月 1日 21:36

Hi David and Everyone,

A Happy New Year!
I hope this year is happy one for us.

One of my new year's resolutions, I must go on diet!
David, Tomo, Anne, 一緒に頑張りましょう！
And I want to find a partner of my life.
(To tell the truth, I had a broken heart two years ago, and it was difficult to take mind off that sadness, but I recovered from it.)

Hi Maki,
I'm glad to read your comment again.

Hi Tomo and Anne,
Today, my sister's family will come my house, and we will go out for dinner.
Maybe I will eat too much...（ダイエットはお正月が終わってからですね＾＾；）

See you soon,

Amica

Amica
2008年1月 2日 01:01

Happy New Year, Team!
Belated Happy Birthday to Anne!
Welcome back, Maki!

It’s been more than a year since I joined this community. Wow!
I’m so glad we got new regulars like Amica and Anne last year. I’m amazed at your great progress over the year, Amica! Anne, your comments always give us a lot of insights.

Thanks so much, Tomo, as always, for being such a wonderful unofficial moderator of the blog ;-) And, of course, thank you, David and ALC staff for providing us with great opportunities to learn English and meet people.

I went back to my parents’ house during the New Year’s holiday and just came home this morning. I spent the holiday mostly sitting around the house. 寝正月です（＾＾;） New year’s resolutions? Hmm ... I’ll think about it. But wish would be ... to find the love of my life just like Amica ;-)

Bye for now.

Lily
2008年1月 3日 13:34

Hi David and Everyone,
I'm sure that you are having a wonderful time during the holiday.
I spent it mostly sitting around my house, as the same as Lily did. Did nothing and ate too much...Now I need to go on a diet with David, Tomo, Anne and Amica!　

Anne, Amica, Lily, thank you for your kind words!

Amica and Lily,
Finding the love of your life?! いいなぁ～♪♪私もそれいれよう・・・？！（＾＾）ｖ

今年もよろしくお願いします！
Talk to you later!

Maki
2008年1月 3日 16:42

ポストしたら顔切れちゃいました。。。涙

Maki
2008年1月 3日 16:53

Hi Team,

Are you enjoying your New Year break? I went a shrine with my family today. I did omikuji, and it said that I'll have excellent luck(大吉)! I remember me getting daikichi last year too. You doubt there are only daikichi papers? No, my son got‘ 凶’ last year, and he got ‘小吉’ this year, so lucky me!(笑)

It seems like many of your New Year resolutions is to lose weight. Maybe we can organize a diet club or something? I'm going to start my diet from tomorrow.　明日からって言うのはダメなんだっけ。。(＾＾;)　でも仲間もいるみたいなので頑張ります☆

Lily, thanks for your message! And thank YOU too, as always, for giving me(us) good advice. You are always a big help! 今年もよろしくね～＾＾

Amica, Lily, Maki,　素敵な出会いがありますように・・♪

Well, my husband's New Year's holiday is over, and my son's 部活 will start tomorrow, so I have to get back down to earth. I'm not sure if I can get up early tomorrow morning..

Hope you are all enjoying your holiday.

See you soon,

Tomo

Tomo
2008年1月 3日 21:17

Hi Team,

I went to a park near my house this morning, and I saw something very strange. I often see people driving in Japan with a dog on their lap, and there was a woman in front of me driving like that this morning. What really surprised me, though, was not the dangerous driving; when she got out of the car, I saw that the dog was wearing nappies! (Americans say 'daipers') Have you ever seen that? Do you think it is strange, or is just because I am not Japanese?

PS My diet is going very well. I'm almost into the third week now, and I have lost between 1 and 2 kilograms. Just another 3 to go!

David
2008年1月 4日 14:39

David,
I think the dog was a female and not fixed. Sanitary items for dogs like nappies are available, and some owners use them for dogs they keep indoors. I hear that they have it only twice a year, and usually take care of it by themselves. I know these things because I’ve had dogs (only male dogs though), and I don’t think you often see them, but maybe sterilization is more common in the UK?

Lily
2008年1月 4日 15:37

Thanks Lily. That's interesting. My family has had a few female dogs, and none of them were fixed, but I have never heard of sanitary items for dogs! You learn something new every day!

David
2008年1月 4日 17:10

Hi David,
Talking of nappies for a dog, my sister -in-law has a female dog, and she uses nappies for her dog. I hear that those items are also used for old dogs.
By the way, you have already lost between 1 and 2? Wonderful! I started today, and it's really a long way to go for me!
Hi Lily,
Thanks for your warm words.
寝正月、いいですね～、リラックスできましたか？

Bye for now,

Anne

Anne
2008年1月 4日 21:08

Hi David and Everyone,

I was back to work today. When I got up this morning, we had no snow on a road, at the front of my house and anywhere. Later it had started snowing and all were covered with snow when I left my house. I know that it is an usual winter scenery here in Hokkaido, but I was nervous to drive a car after we hadn't had any snow for a half month or so.

Amica and Lily, I'm sorry if my last commnet made you feel uncomfortable. When I reread it, I wondered so. I honestly felt that I also wanted to have such a resolution when I read your commnets.
But my words were'nt nice・・・う~んなんていうか、軽い感じになってしまっていて・・・I hope you both don't feel so. Sorry...

By for now,

Maki

Maki
2008年1月 4日 22:01

Maki,
No, not at all! That was just the right reaction I expected :-)

Lily
2008年1月 5日 00:07

Lily,
I'm relieved to hear your commnet. Thank you.

Maki
2008年1月 5日 21:00

Hi Maki,
You don't need to say sorry.
Your comment didn't make me feel uncomfortable.
In fact, I was glad to read your comment.
ポストしたあと、「ちょっと重たいNew Year's resolutionだったかなぁ…」と思っていたので、MakiとLilｙが賛同してくれて嬉しかったです^^

Hi Tomo,
I agree you that we can organize a diet club!
Can we exchange about progress of our diet on this blog?
今のところDavidが大きくリードしているようですね。

Hi Lily,
Thanks for your warm comment!
今年もたくさん教えてくださいね。

Hi Everyone,
I did Omikuji at a shrine on New Year's day, and it said that I'll have excellent luck!!
(Tomo, me too! いい事がたくさんあるといいですね♪)
My nephew did it, and it said that he will have good luck.
However the love's content was not good (he is 11.).
It said "Give it up".
思わず「私じゃなくてよかった～」と思ってしまいました(^^;)

See you soon,

Amica

Amica
2008年1月 5日 23:02

Hi Amica,

Thank you for your comment. I'm relieved to hear it again. It is so nice to know that your Omikuji indicates "excellent luck". いい事たくさんありそう！
Your nephew might have a girlfriend?! Ooo!

Hi David and Everyone,

I had a lot of time during the New Year's holiday, so I reread some comments from last year. And I wondered why some entries have a huge number of commnets, like 759, 300 and so on. But they seem not to be real ones!

I have a question. I read a novel and I met this sentence blew;
"She asked me if I wanted to talk about it anymore, and I said I didn't. And then she said, "OK," and we didn't talk about it anymore."

I thought that "more" is usual for the first sentence insted of "anymore", because it isn't a negative one. It there any special meaning when using it for an affirmative one? Or maybe it is in a novel, so it's a specific way of an auther's writing?
変な質問でごめんなさい。。。でも、と～っても気になってしまいました。小説なので普通に話すのとは違うのかな？と思いながら。

Have a good afternoon!

Maki

Maki
2008年1月 6日 13:17

Hi David,
About オムツ犬, I have seen it several times. It's my mother's dog!

Hi Maki,
I'm glad I can see your comment every day! 宣言通りですね～＾＾
About your question, ‘She asked me if I wanted to talk about it 'anymore'’, it sounds strange to me too that if you say 'anymore' in a positive sentence. I also thought that it might be more natural to say 'more' in that sentence. 'Anymore' sounds like it has a negative meaning like;
・I don't want to hear about it anymore.
・I can't take it anymore.
・It doesn't hurt anymore.

う～ん、色々考えたんだけど、意味的には大きな違いはないんじゃないかな、という気がするんだけど・・。　‘～if I wanted to talk about it anymore’｢もう少し話したかったら｣、‘～if I wanted to talk about it more’｢もっと話したかったら｣　日本語にするとこんな感じ（？）　でも自信がないから信用しないでね(笑)　私は肯定文での‘anymore’には出会ったことがないので、やっぱり変な気がするなぁ。。

Hi Amica,
You got daikichi, too? Yaay, we are lucky!　ダイエットではDavidに後れを取ってるけど、負けずに頑張ろうね～＾＾

Goodnight and see you soon,

Tomo

Tomo
2008年1月 6日 23:56

Hi Maki and Tomo,
About the meaning of "anymore", my　understanding is as follows:
( I looked it up in dictionaries.)
The definition of "anymore"
1. any longer(used in negative sentences)
2. nowadays(used in positive sentences)
( The positive use appears to have been of Midland origin, but it is now reported to be widespread in all areas of the United States except New England --from Merriam Webster's online Dictionary)

nowadays→synonyms *at the present(今、現時点で）

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　*today

So, She asked me if I wanted to talk about it anymore(No.2), and I said I didn't. And then she said,"OK", and we didn't talk about it anymore. (NO.1)　
直訳すると、「彼女はその事について、今（No.2)話したいかどうか聞いた。それで、私は話したくないと言った。そこで、彼女は’わかったわ’といった。それから私たちは、その事について、それ以上話さなかった。」

あくまでも想像ですから本来の意味とはまったく違っているかもしれませんし、自信もありません。。。。。。参加する事に意義ありという事で。。。
I didn't know "anymore" is also used in positive sentences.

See you soon,

Anne

匿名
2008年1月 7日 09:10

Maki, Tomo, Anne,
Anymore について考えてみました。わたしはやはり「これ以上」という意味で理解してよいのではないかと思います。
辞書によるとanymore は「否定（相当）構文または疑問文で【リーダーズ】」「否定・疑問・条件文の通例文末で【ジーニアス】」「否定・疑問・条件文、またはそれらと意味的に同等の文で【英辞郎】」と説明されています。ですから、確かに否定文以外ではほとんど聞かないように思いますが、まんざら使えないわけでもないのでしょう。ここでのifは条件文とは言えないまでも、もともとは “Do you want to talk about it anymore?” という疑問文だったわけですし、そこには否定的なニュアンスもありそうに思います。逆に言えば、moreだと「もっと話したい？」という肯定的なニュアンス、anymoreだと「これ以上話したいの？」というような否定的なニュアンスがあるのかもしれませんね。この「またはそれらと意味的に同等の文で」という用法では、こんな例を見つけました。

I’m too tired to write anymore. 疲れてもう書けない。
All he does anymore is sit around and watch TV.
もはや彼がすることといえば、ぶらぶらしてテレビを見ることぐらいだ。【英辞郎】
She refused to listen anymore. 彼女はそれ以上聞くことを拒否した。【オックスフォード米語辞典】

とりいそぎ、参加することに意義ありということで（＾＾）

Lily
2008年1月 7日 13:01