Words September 2026 Week 2

Around 300 cicada shells sell for about 1,800 yen. (I was surprised that people paid for them.)

An exoskeleton is the hard outer shell on some insects. (Cicada’s’ shells are called “exoskeletons.)

Many things were knocked off shelves and broken during the earthquake. (Fortunately, nobody was hurt.)

"Every cloud has a silver lining" means that even the worst situations carry some hope or benefit. (If you are experiencing a bad situation, try to find something positive.)

The most common names for “string trimmer” are “weed eater” and “weed whacker.” (This is a very useful gardening tool.)

We mow lawns with a lawn mower, but we pull or cut weeds. (Don’t say, “I mowed the weeds.”)

An old saying dating back to the year 77 CE said that a recipe belonging to a king said a mixture of walnuts, figs and a pinch of salt would make a person immune to poison for the day. (This is the origin of the idiom, take something said with a grain of salt.)

“In back of” and “behind” have the same meaning, so it is your choice which one to use.

The teacher is behind the students. (The teacher is physically behind them.)

The teacher is at the back of the classroom. (The teacher is located in the rear part of the classroom.)

I’m happy if I break 100 when playing golf. (To “break” 100, in this case, means to get a score lower than 100.)

I cut five minutes from my speech, instead of 20 minutes it is now 15 minutes. (“To cut” means “to remove.)

A sous vide cooking device cooks food in temperature-controlled water. (Sous vide prevents food from overcooking. It is pronounced “su veed”.)

She was bedridden after the surgery. (She couldn’t walk for a while.)

They couldn’t evacuate, so they stayed on the second floor. (There was a major flood.)

My initials are RTY. (Initials are the first letters of a person’s name.)

We will hold the third-year memorial service of my father’s death. (Sankai-ki.)

I went to Ome Gym to interpret sign language for a yoga class. (Gym is short for gymnasium.)

His body is very flexible. (He can stretch his body easily.)

There is a Chinese restaurant and stationary shop on the ground floor. (This is in the new condominium near Ome Station.)

The supermarket is in the basement. (In an elevator, B1 and B2 means basement #1 and basement #2.)

In 2002, Keita Sato, Toru Matsuoka, and Dr. Hiroshi Suzuki received the Ig Nobel prize for developing the BowLingual dog bark translator. (This BowLingual device supposedly tells you what a dog’s barking means. We describe dog’s barking as “bow-wow, “arf-arf” or “woof-woof.”)

Here is more information on two of the above subjects:

The name “Ig Nobel” is a play on the word "ignoble," which means lacking honor or nobility.

The Ig Nobel Prize is an award given annually to celebrate unusual, bizarre, or quirky scientific research that "first makes people laugh and then makes them think."

Japan has received at least 31 Ig Nobel Prizes as part of an impressive 20-year consecutive winning streak through 2026.

In Japanese Buddhism, Sankaiki is the "third-year memorial service" held for a deceased person.

Despite being called the third-year memorial, it is actually held exactly two years after the date of death. This is because traditional Japanese counting (Kazoedoshi) includes the actual year of death as "Year 1". Therefore, the 1st anniversary is Isshuki (one full year), and the 2nd anniversary is Sankaiki (entering the 3rd calendar year of death).