C7.8 English Vocabulary and Phrases
In the adult world, there’s no April Fools’ Day—only Q2.
Q2 is the abbreviation of "Quarter 2", where "2" stands for "Second", referring to the second quarter of the year. The word "Quarter" in English means not only "one-fourth", "a quarter", or "15 minutes" but also "a quarter of a year" (a season). A year has four quarters, each consisting of three months.
In other words, a Quarter equals three months in a season, a specific time period.
Generally, employees’ corporate performance appraisals at work are conducted quarterly. So adults only focus on Q2 instead of April Fools’ Day because it’s time to strive for performance in the second quarter. This relates to many aspects of adults’ lives, such as salary, benefits, bonuses, future career development, and family life—making it extremely important. For example, Q2 will directly determine whether you drive an automatic Porsche or a hand-tractor tomorrow 🚜.
Q1 (Quarter 1st): January–March
Q2 (Quarter 2nd): April–June
Q3 (Quarter 3rd): July–September
Q4 (Quarter 4th): October–December
Public school: Private school (in the UK)
Independent school: Private school
State school: Public school
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Surname/Family name/Last name: Family name
Given name/First name: Given name
Middle name: Usually included in the given name
For example, "十升喵" (Shi Shengmiao) – "Shi" is the surname, and "Shengmiao" is the given name. It’s generally written as "Shengmiao Shi". However, when choosing the name order on graduation certificates, you can place the surname first (Shi Shengmiao) or last—either order has no impact.
Originally an abbreviation used in outfit sharing on Instagram.
Nowadays, you often see "OOTD" online—what does it mean?
OOTD stands for "Outfit of the Day", meaning "today’s outfit".
OOTN stands for "Outfit of the Night", referring to an outfit specifically worn for evenings, such as parties, bars, or dates.
Additionally, there’s FOTD:
OS stands for "One Size", meaning "one-size-fits-all" (only one size available). It can also be expressed as "One size fits all", which besides "one-size-fits-all" or "universal", can also mean "a one-size-fits-all approach" or "inflexible".
In fact, "OS" here can also mean "out of stock" (no sizes left). For example, "OS" in the picture below indicates the item is out of stock—originally available in various sizes, but you will receive whatever size is left when purchasing.
Other meanings of "OS":
Overlapping Sound: Inner monologue, narration
Open Source: Open source code
Operating System: Operating system
It’s advisable to avoid wearing clothing with obvious large brand logos in English-speaking countries, especially the UK, US, Australia, etc. Because the pronunciation and appearance of these brand words can easily make foreigners associate them with homophones like "teeny weeny" or "tiny wiener", which are vulgar slang with sexual connotations. For example, in the popular meme mocking Wu Yifan, netizens called him "Toothpick Wu"—here, "toothpick" can be translated with these slang terms, referring to a specific part of his body rather than calling him a literal toothpick.
Hoe: A gardening tool (锄头)
Vulgar slang (insult):
Refers to a man or woman who uses their appearance or charm to manipulate others for what they want, similar to the Chinese term "green tea" (someone who acts innocent but is manipulative).
Refers to someone who has had sexual relations with many people.
Refers to someone who actively seeks romantic or sexual attention from others.
"Who" means "who" in Chinese, but here it can refer to "anyone" and functions as a third-person singular subject. Therefore, the predicate verb "care" needs to take the third-person singular form "cares".
In "I don’t care", the subject is "I" with the auxiliary verb "don’t", so "care" is a verb and uses the base form (auxiliary verbs are followed by base verbs).
Third-person singular of "care": cares (who cares)
Past participle of "care": cared (as if I cared)
Present participle of "care": caring (love is caring)
Wang Leehom just posted a picture with the caption "haven’t seen you in forever". Actually, "in" is unnecessary here—you can directly say "haven’t seen you forever". It means "haven’t seen you for ages" or "it feels like forever since we last met", expressing excitement and eagerness to see the other person after a long time. Alternatives include "haven't seen you in/for ages" or "haven't seen you for years".
The phrase "hello stranger" in the picture does not mean "hello, stranger" literally. It’s an affectionate term used between people who know each other—similar to how some wives in China call their husbands "dead ghost" without meaning the husband is actually a ghost.
Li Jinglei just posted a picture with the caption "hi there, how are you doing?" Some students asked: Why "how are you doing" instead of "what are you doing"?
In fact, "how are you doing" means "hello" or "how are you", a greeting. It doesn’t actually ask about the other person’s well-being—similar to how Chinese people greet with "have you eaten?" without really caring if the other person has eaten. It’s mainly used between people who are not very familiar. Alternatives for greeting include "How is it going?" or "How are you?".
Replies are simple: politely respond with "great", "good", "nothing new", "very well", "doing well", "not bad", etc., followed by "thanks". You can also ask the other person back or talk about the weather to ease awkwardness.
Note: Greetings like "what’s up" or "what's going on" are generally used between acquaintances or to provoke someone. For example, in Jackie Chan’s movie "Rush Hour", "what’s up man" is repeatedly used as a greeting or unfriendly provocation, and "what’s happening" is also used as a greeting.
Note: There are many ways to abbreviate color names in English. Below are common ones used for clothing, pants, bags, shoes, etc.—the abbreviations you might see when shopping. More colors will be added here or in the comments if encountered later.
BK: Black (黑色)
NA: Navy blue (藏蓝色)
WH: White (白色)
KA: Khaki (卡其色)
BN: Brown (棕色)
GN: Green (绿色)
YE: Yellow (黄色)
GY: Grey (灰色)
PK: Pink (粉色)
LPK: Light pink (浅粉色)
BU: Blue (蓝色)
LBU: Light blue (浅蓝色)
RD: Red (红色)
VT: Violet (紫色)
BG: Beige (米色)
RRP: Recommended Retail Price – 建议零售价
GDP: Gross Domestic Product – 国内生产总值
GNP: Gross National Product – 国民生产总值