Words August 2026 Week 2

Sarah Palin bought a titanium frame, made by Kazuo Kawasaki, for her glasses. (She made the company famous.)

We ordered a personal-size pizza. (This is a very small pizza.)

I input my friend’s house address as the destination in my car navigation system. (Her friend’s house was her final stop.)

The navigation recommended stops along the way. (The stops included shopping, restaurants, sightseeing, etc.)

You can choose taking the expressway or local roads. (The expressway is fast, but the local roads are free.)

Heat exhaustion causes heavy sweating with cool skin. (Heat stroke is a life-threatening emergency with a very high body temperature.)

We put off getting together until October. (His friend is recovering from an illness.)

“I’m exhausted” means “I used up all of my energy.” (“To exhaust” means “to use everything until it is depleted.)

He is in his 40s. (He is 40-something years old.)

12 AM is midnight and the start of a new day and 12 PM is noon or midday. (Say 12 noon or 12 midnight instead of AM/PM if you are scheduling an important event.)

How did the theater “Cinema Neko” get its name? (This has something to do with Ome being a textile making town in the Showa era.)

“On (恩)” is the moral debt you carry when someone helps you. (“Giri (義理)” is the social obligation that requires you to return a favor.)

The potato famine in Ireland caused many Irish people to emigrate to the US. (A famine is a severe shortage of food where many people die from the lack of food.)

The children were proud of their work making newspaper collages. (A collage is made by pasting photos, newspaper clippings, etc. on a posterboard.)

Mosquito bites are itchy and gnat bites are painful and itch. (In Japanese, a gnat is called buyo – not to be confused with the traditional Japanese dance called buyo.)

An audit is a check of an organization's financial records to ensure accuracy and compliance with laws. (Investigators check all income and outgo transaction for accuracy.)

An inventory is a list of the total amount of goods that a business has on hand. (Department stores do inventories once or twice a year to see what they have on hand.)

I read a newspaper article. (The article was about beetles.)

Our beetle escaped its cage two times. (Her grandchildren didn’t want the beetle, so she bought a cage and beetle food.)

I’m relieved that the water level in Okutama Dam is over fifty percent now. (The water level was extremely low, but the recent heavy rains are helping the situation.)

I pull weeds in my garden every day. (Grass is nice so we cut it to look nice. Weeds are bad so we remove them.)

There were many fruit flies in my house. (To get rid of fruit flies fast, set out a small bowl of apple cider vinegar mixed with a drop of dish soap. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and poke small holes in it. To prevent them, wash new produce right away, store ripe fruit in the fridge, and empty your trash daily)

I have a pain in my upper leg when I sit down or stand up. (Getting old causes many health problems.)

I never read any of his books, but I saw movies based on his books. (The author, Keigo Higashino, passed away on July 23, 2026.)

Dip the hard pieces of bread in your drink to make it soft. (This Italian bread was very tasty but also very hard.)

In earthquake disaster planning across Kyushu and Japan, TKB48 stands for Toilet (T), Kitchen (K), and Bed (B). (The goal is to set up clean toilets, warm food provision, and elevated beds in evacuation centers within 48 hours to prevent disaster-related deaths.)

She emailed the clinic. (If you she, “she mailed the clinic”, I don’t know if you mean email or snail mail.)