Words February 2026 Week 2

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (This is a very popular tongue twister.)

Public speakers often practice saying tongue twisters. (You can also hold a pencil between your teeth to make you pronounce words clearly.)

Cress is a very nutritious and contains many vitamins A, C and K. (I’ve heard of watercress, but now I know there is also garden cress.)

A dehydrator is a kitchen appliance that removes moisture from food. (Prices for this appliance range from five thousand yen to over forty thousand yen.)

Nomihodai, a.k.a. “free drink”, is “all-you-can-drink” in English.  (“Free drink” is “tsukaenai eigo.”)

I baited the hook for my grandson. (Worms and salmon eggs are common bait used for catching fish.)

We were digging in a sandbox looking for treasures. (Someone said “sand yard” but “sandbox is more common.)

You can go to hell for lying as well as stealing. (This phrase can be used seriously, it is also frequently used in casual, playful, or teasing conversations when someone exaggerates something. I used this phrase when someone said that my cookies were the best.)

I had seven siblings but now there are only three of us. (Five of his brothers and/or sisters passed away.)

A hearse carried the deceased to the cemetery. (A hears is sometimes called a “funeral car.”)

He was crying tears of joy. (He was so happy that he cried.)

I was moved to tears. (Many different emotions can move us to tears.)

There was a horse auction. (The horse was sold to the highest bidder.)

Crying is a healthy way to release stress, process emotions, relieve pain, and soothe your nervous system. (When I was young it was said that men shouldn’t cry, but now we know that it is good to cry.)

“I hope not” means that you hope something doesn’t happen. (“I don’t hope so” means that I don’t hope something will happen, but this sentence sounds odd.)

I pruned one of the pine trees. (He used pruners to trim the tree.)

The questionnaire was anonymous. (The person’s name was not on the questionnaire.)

Ehomaki originated in the late Edo and early Meiji eras in Kansai. (It was eaten to celebrate the beginning of spring and to pray for business prosperity and good health.)

One of the most expensive ehomaki costs 15,800 yen. (The ingredients included bluefin tuna, pufferfish, caviar, and sea urchin, wrapped in gold leaf.)

Pilates is a very popular exercise.  (This exercise is often used for therapy for people who were injured.)

Japanese people refer to zippers as chakku (チャック) because it is derived from the term kinchaku (巾着), which refers to a traditional Japanese drawstring purse. (Zippers became popular in the 1920s so “kinchaku” was shortened to “chaku” or “chakku.”)

Binoculars root meaning stems from Latin, specifically combining bini ("a pair") and oculus ("eye"). (So, binoculars mean “two eyes.”)

He was very talkative. (The policeman loved talking a lot.)

She stopped playing tennis at 5 pm. (When you “stop” something, you usually start again someday.)

She quit playing tennis forever. (When we “quit” something means we will not start again.)

The “Y” on US military cars was just a random letter and does not stand for any word. (Many people believe that it stands for “Yankee” but there is no connection.)

The doctor isn’t sure whether the tumor is benign or malignant. (The biopsy was too small to know for sure if it was cancerous [“malignant”] or noncancerous [“benign “].)