Christmas Dinner

What will you have for dinner on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Where turkey is the traditional standard on Thanksgiving Day in the States, glazed ham is the traditional standard for Christmas dinner.

When I was a kid back in the States, I remember my mom serving honey glazed ham that had been roasted in the oven, carrot pineapple Jello salad with whipped cream, freshly baked rolls, deviled eggs, pickles, olives, and various cakes, pies, and/or Christmas cookies.

Some of the students have told me what they will have for Christmas dinner this year. The offerings are quite different from what I used to have back home.

"We will have sushi, fried chicken, and strawberry shortcake."

"My mom will serve roast chicken."

"We will have the same dinner as usual: rice, miso soup, pickled side dishes, and some small Salisbury steaks."

Of course, many students wanted to say "Christmas cake," which is a kind of 和製英語. There is no such cake called "Christmas cake" in the States as far as I know. We do have Christmas cookies, however.

So, if you want to refer to クリスマスケーキ in English, I would suggest you simply say, "strawberry shortcake."

Hyphen

Use hyphens for compound words:

例: a five-minute walk; a high-speed chase; the front-right seat; a never-seen-before magic trick; the blue-white train; a flow-type air micrometer; etc.

Use hyphens for numbers:

例: a thirty-three thousand dollar car; sixty-two billion dollars in tax cuts; eighty-four yen per dollar; two-tenths of a percentage point

Use hyphens with some prefixes:

例: anti-aging cream; extra-condensed; semi-independent; self-help therapy; half-baked idea

Note:

Be sure to check a dictionary for proper spelling. Some compound words have become single words. For example, the term "electronic mail" became "E-mail" with a hyphen. Then, "E-mail" became "e-mail" with a lowercase "E." Then, "e-mail" became "email" as one word.

References:

1. APS Style Manual (http://www.apsstylemanual.org/apsHouseStyle/punctuation/hyphens.htm)
2. The Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing at MIT (http://www.mit.edu/course/21/21.guide/hyphen.htm)
3. The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition

Skype Call Recorder, Riviera for Skype

Skype Call Recorder, Riviera for Skype looks like the kind of application that could have a lot of useful purposes for not only conducting our Skype-based lessons, but also for conducting Skype-based business calls. I have yet to try the software, but I see a lot of potential.

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