spruce up - to make neat and trime [dict]

From BBC, Shanghai finally decides to “spruce up its image”. It’s long been an international amusement to see many obscure English translations in China. I recall there was a newly opened shop painting “service not found” as the English translation for its Chinese name. Presumably, someone typed the Chinese characters into an on-line tanslation service and it happend that the webiste was down.

dry run – A trial exercise or rehearsal [dict]

On “two and a half men”, Alan was depressed after his wife Kandi deserted him. He curled up on bed, not speaking to anyone. When his son, Jake, came in, Alan mumbled that he was taking a nap. “I’m getting old, Jake,” Alan said, “Old people nap. It’s like a dry run for death.”

it takes a village to raise a child -  It takes many people to teach a child all that he or she should know [UseEnglish]

Many Americans learned this phrase from Hillary Clinton who chose it in the title of her book. This phrase is alleged to come from an African proverb. It highlights the importance of the  social environement for a child’s growth and development. Interestingly, some people wrote an article to dispute this old wisdom by claiming that parents play more important roles in fostering a child. But I think he is only nit-picking and the arugment misses the point.

pull the wool over someone’ssomeone’s eyes – to deceive someone [answers]

“It is difficult to pull the wool over his eyes” is a jocular way to say “it is difficult to cheat him”. The word “wool” relates to the wig that the judge wears in court. Pulling the wool blinds the judge’s eyes so that he is unable to see the facts in a trial.

sink in – to penetrate the mind [dict]

This is an entertaining news from BBC. A woman didn’t feel well, but she went to see a doctor and was told she had been 20 weeks pregrant. Thirteen days later, she gave birth to twins. Of course, this is all good news (though surprising) to the family. “It took a while to sink in that I was pregnant in the first place”, she said during an interview, “and took a bit longer to sink in there was (were) two of them.”

too many chiefs and not enough Indians – too many bosses, and not enough people to do the work [thefreedict]

“In the old days,” someone said, “The HR recuritment policy in my company was flexible. I once hired a guy who didn’t even have a degree, but he was really good at programming. And he never complained doing the chore. Now, the company enforces a strict recruitment policy to ensure only recruiting very good people. But, the problem is that we end up with too many chiefs and not enough Indians.”

can’t have one’s cake and eat it – can’t have things both ways [thefreedict]

I discovered some useful shortcuts in Visual Studio and told a colleague. Unfortunately, the shortcuts didn’t work for him because they conflicted with the emacs program that he was using. “That’s pity,” he said, “But you can’t have butter and the money of the butter”.  He is French so he was literally translating a French idiom. The English eqivalent is: You can’t have your cake and eat it.

There is also a similar saying in Chinese: you can’t have the fish and the bear palm paw at the same time (see here and here).

namby-pamby – lacking in character, directness, or moral or emotional strength [dict]

Someone brought in some computer hardware that he used nearly 30 years ago. The hardware looks very bulky, by today’s standard. The memory controller is heavy enough to knock a person out. “It is real hardware,” he says, ” Very solid-built, not like the the namby-pamby stuff you guys are using today.”

wade through treacle – to make one’s way slowly or laboriously. See [wade through] and [treacle]

A colleague used it as an example to explain English is such a tricky language. He was once talking to some non-native English speakers and used the expression “wade through treacle” , but found no one understood it.  In fact, once you know what treacle is, the meaning of this phrase is very intuitive – Just think of yourself walking in syrup.

that ship has sailed – A particular opportunity has passed you by [UsingEnglish]

On the ‘two and a half men’, Alan is splitting up with Kandi. It seems Kandi has a better lawyer and will get everything, but Alan still fights to get at least the dog. Charlie, his brother, tries to enlighten him: “Just give her everything. When all of this is settled down, you get one thing that you value most and that you cannot put a price on…” “Dignity?” Alan asks. “Oh, stop it,” Charlies continues, “That ship has sailed… The thing you get is freedom!”