Words November 2026 Week 3

I took an overnight trip to visit my husband’s family tomb. (He and his brother discussed what to do with their parents’ cremated remains.)

Their ashes will be moved to a columbarium. (Both a mausoleum and a columbarium are similar.)

We had deep fried horse mackerel. (It was delish.)

The main goal of a “living funeral” is to thank family and friends for their support throughout the host's life. (This sounds like a good idea.)

A horse that is 33 to 34 years old is roughly equivalent to 94 human years. (A six-year-old dog is about 94 years old in human years.)

Many of the horses are thoroughbreds. (These horses are bred for racing.)

Many cowboys are bowlegged. (Their legs are curved, or bowed, from riding a horse every day. Also, newborn babies are usually bowlegged until they start walking.)

My grandson went to a Halloween costume party. (He drank too much, had a hangover and stayed in bed all day the next day.)

His father and his other grandfather don’t drink too much, so maybe he’s a little like me. (The “me” in this case drinks a lot.)

My handwriting is messy so it’s hard for me to read it sometimes. (I also have bad penmanship.)

We rented a tandem bicycle. (This is a bicycle built for two.)

We went there on a whim. (You can also say “on the spur of the moment” which means “doing something suddenly without any prior planning.”)

You can watch “Yesterday,” staring Himesh Patel as a struggling musician, on Amazon Prime. (He enters an alternative timeline in which he is the only person who remembers the Beatles.)

I watched a documentary about the Beatles. (A documentary is a movie, television show, or radio program that presents factual, real-life information rather than fiction.)

A “trainer” is called a “sweatshirt” in English. (A sweatshirt and sweatpants is called a sweat suit.)

The news reminded me of my college days. (I remembered my college days when I watched the old news video.)

Other words for “ardent fans” are “hardcore” or “diehard” fans. (There are many words that describe “ardent” but “hardcore” is probably most common.)

I tried to tighten the screw, but it didn’t help. (It didn’t help stopping the water from dripping from a faucet.)

I have to replace the rubber washer in the faucet. (Sealing washer and packing washer are other names for rubber washers.)

I was defiant about getting old. (The fear of growing older is called gerascophobia.)

The meal came with an appetizer. (This was at a lunch meal at an Italian restaurant.)

I had my nails done. (She visited a nail salon to have someone clean, cut, file, and paint her nails.)

I work parttime in a nursing home. (She helps take care of elderly people.)

A nursery can be a baby’s bedroom, childcare facility or hospital ward for newborn babies. (A nursery can also be a business where young plants, trees, and flowers are grown from seeds or cuttings until they are large enough to be sold.)

We took the backroads home. (They got off the expressway and took the regular roads.)

Pampas grass (susuki), bamboo (take) and ragweed (butakusa) are growing in the abandoned rice paddies. (Nobody is farming the land after the farmers pass away.)

There was a troop of about 20 monkeys. (A group of monkeys is called a troop.)

The first email was sent in late 1971. (There are over 8,400,000,000 (84 oku) email addresses.)

Many people used pagers before we had cellphones. (Pagers, frequently called "beepers", produced a sharp, high-pitched "beep beep" or a series of digital chirps and buzzes.)

Line is not popular in the US except for people with friends in Asia. (It is also popular with travelers to Japan.)

I ran into an old friend the other day. (She met an old friend by chance.)

I was slightly dizzy. (“Standing zen” a.k.a. “ritsuzen” can help alleviate the dizziness.)

Instead of saying, “Why I …” you should say, “The reason I …. (Use the word “why” when asking a question, not when making a statement.)