http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/rss Sand's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Wed May 30 03:31:12 UTC 2012 Wed May 30 03:31:12 UTC 2012 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8
It took me time to write both my blog and the Lang-8. So I decided to focus on my blog and be absent from the Lang-8 for a while. I'm still studying English though.

If you visit my blog when you have time, it would be great!
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/

I'd also be happy if you put comments on my blog!

And if you have questions or something else, please feel free to send me messages. I'll check them.

I'd like to thank all of you for your corrections for my articles here. They were really helpful and useful for me.
Although I stop writing my articles here for a while, I might be sometimes here to correct your articles. (^o^)

Posted at Mon Jun 07 21:43:08 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/512255 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/512255 Sand Mon Jun 07 21:43:08 UTC 2010
Do you know when your boss will be retiring?

He told me that you'll be leaving soon for Asia an assignment.

What time will your friend be arriving tomorrow?

I would say:
Do you know when your boss is retiring?
or
Do you know when your boss will retire?

He told me that you are leaving soon for Asia an assignment.

What time is your friend arriving tomorrow?

What is the difference between using the future progressive form and others? What nuance do the future progressive forms imply?

Posted at Fri Dec 18 14:05:03 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/315887 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/315887 Sand Fri Dec 18 14:05:03 UTC 2009 「ちゃっちい（ちゃちい）」とか 「ちんけな」って、英語でなんて言ったらいいんでしょうか？
私はけっこう、この言葉は両方ともよく使うんですよね。"Cheap" 以外になにかぴったり合う言葉ってありますか？

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't think there are so many non-Japanese people who know those words, so I'd like to ask Japanese people.
What do you say 「ちゃっちい（ちゃちい）」 and 「ちんけな」 in English?
I often use both of them in my conversation. Do you know any appropriate English words that perfectly fit (match?) to them except for "cheap"?

Posted at Thu Dec 17 12:35:43 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/314866 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/314866 Sand Thu Dec 17 12:35:43 UTC 2009


(This article is from my blog.)

I watched this movie wearing 3D glasses. The photo in the middle is the 3D glasses.

It was a bit annoying to wear them whole the movie, but 3D images were amazing. When I was a kid, "The Wizard of Oz" was on TV with 3D. At that time, we had to wear a cheap paper glasses with blue and red cellophane in order to see 3D images. However, even though I wore them, I couldn't realize 3D. Now that I think about it, the technological advance is tremendous. I think we will able to see 3D images without glasses sometime in the future.

As you know, in this movie, the technology called "performance capture" is used. Actually I don't like humans described by it. They look very scary. They are like dolls that are too much close to humans. Look at the photo on the right. S, s, scary!!

By the way, the original book written by Charles Dickens is very hard for me to read, because there are too many words I don't know. I feel that I don't know about 70% of all the words in the book. Does Charles Dickens tend to write with a bit difficult words? It might be just because of my poor vocabulary.

Posted at Tue Dec 15 02:57:06 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/312607 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/312607 Sand Tue Dec 15 02:57:06 UTC 2009
All the software and hardware is one thing, but it's the "meatware" that counts.

This sentence is in a dialogue in my textbook in order to introduce the usage of "A is one thing, but it's B that counts."
I understand it, but what is "meatware"?

According to the textbook, it means "human relationships."
However, this word isn't in a dictionary. So I checked it on the Internet. One site explains:
The human element in a technological system. The hardware is the system, software runs on the system, the meatware is the user of the system.

Hmm... Do you often use it? I'd appreciate it if you give me example sentences with the word.
And... I wonder if "meat" of this ward indicates human flesh.

Posted at Sun Dec 13 06:23:36 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/310842 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/310842 Sand Sun Dec 13 06:23:36 UTC 2009
"Your thoughts go no further than your vocabulary."

According to the explanation, there are several interpretations.
The basic interpretation is:
"You can't convey your opinion or thinking unless you know appropriate words."

There is a deeper interpretation.
"If you couldn't find appropriate words, your thoughts would be limited."

The explanation ends with the following.

Vocabulary doesn't mean the number of words you know, but ability to choose appropriate words based on time, place or listeners.

I'm ashamed to hear it...

Posted at Fri Dec 11 10:17:01 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/309279 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/309279 Sand Fri Dec 11 10:17:01 UTC 2009
"Please wait until we have a firm commitment before you inform our customer."

I didn't know this type of expression. If I express this meaning, I'd say "Please wait to inform your customer until we have a firm commitment."
Is my expression wrong?

I should learn "to wait --- before ---" form. From Japanese point of view, this expression is a bit difficult. I realized that the usage of the English word "wait" and the Japanese word "待つ" is quite different.

Posted at Thu Dec 10 09:12:39 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/308280 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/308280 Sand Thu Dec 10 09:12:39 UTC 2009
I'm using a business English textbook for my English study. All dialogues in it are conversations at work. In a dialogue I was studying yesterday, there was the phrase, "We are ready to rock and roll."

Rock and roll?!?! I was surprised because I couldn't associate "rock and roll" with a conversation at work. However, the sentence was taken up as a useful phrase.

According to the explanation of the textbook, it expresses the situation that everything is prepared and just waiting to get started, like a band has already prepared for everything and is waiting to be on stage. It's a colloquial expression that is often used in the US.

I see, but... Do you often use it at work? What is the difference from "We are ready to go"?

Posted at Tue Dec 08 15:36:54 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/306822 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/306822 Sand Tue Dec 08 15:36:54 UTC 2009
One person said in his comment that he disagreed with me and explained about one discrimination he has seen. The other person pointed out one discrimination issue in Japan.

I never said there was no discrimination in Japan. This swing of the conversation feels strange for me because it isn't justified as a conversation in Japanese. (I wonder if I use "possible" instead of "justified.")
Is it justified (possible) in English conversation?

This exchange is like,
A: I guess he doesn't have much money today.
B: I disagree with you. I saw a penny in his wallet.

Person A doesn't say that he doesn't have any money. Unless person B says a joke or sarcasm, this conversation isn't justified (possible) in Japanese. I mean it isn't conversation. Isn't it strange in English conversation?

It is often said there is only black and white in English conversation, while there are a lot of vague and gray parts in Japanese one. In fact, I often realize it in conversation with non-Japanese at work. Are there only two things, "there is discrimination" and "there isn't discrimination" in English logic? If someone says "there isn't much discrimination", is it sometimes interpreted as "there isn't discrimination" in English logic?

What I mention in the last entry was whether there is more or fewer discrimination than other countries, not whether there is discrimination or not in Japan. So in Japanese logic, if anyone disagreed with me, he should say something about there were more discrimination in Japan than other countries. Also pointing out one Japanese discrimination issue is the same as pointing out a penny in the wallet and those don't make sense in Japanese logic. Isn't it true of English?

I wonder if this kind of logic difference is the reason that there are often gaps in conversation between Japanese workers and non-Japanese workers at work.

Posted at Sun Dec 06 17:45:00 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/305008 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/305008 Sand Sun Dec 06 17:45:00 UTC 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, I happened to find this video. It's very funny so I want to share it here. I wonder who made it.

But I have a concern. Is it something discriminatory? I hope not. There isn't any discrimination so much in Japan compared with other countries (except for gender discrimination), so we (at least I) tend to be insensitive about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_giLEGWEaU

The part where I laughed most was that the guy got hysterical because the subtitles didn't appeared when one of fellows spoke.

Anyway, I want to be confident about English like him!

Posted at Sat Dec 05 20:28:11 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/304202 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/304202 Sand Sat Dec 05 20:28:11 UTC 2009 For example, I know that if a subject is third person singular, I have to put "s" at the end of a verb. However, I sometimes miss it during conversation, even in writing.
Another example, if someone asked me "Don't you go to the party?" and I wasn't going, although the answer would be "Yes" in Japanese, I should answer "No" in English.

Like those example, there are lot of things about English that remind in my brain just as knowledge. I can't use them as a part of language.

In Japan, "a bike (バイク)" means a motorbike. But in English, you use "a bike" not only for "motorbike" but also "a bicycle", don't you? I know it as knowledge, but...
The other say, during a conversation with a friend of mine who is non-Japanese, I said that I live in Shinjuku and used to ride a bicycle around Shinjuku, (<-- I'm not sure how I should say it.) but unfortunately I don't have a bicycle now.
My friend told me, "Why don't you buy a new bike?"
Then, I answered,
"Bike? No way! I don't have a bike's driver license. And it's a bit scary for me to ride a bike."
He looked confused. We didn't seem to talk about the same thing. It took me a while to realize my misunderstanding. Whew...

Practice, practice.

Posted at Fri Dec 04 19:11:30 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/303376 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/303376 Sand Fri Dec 04 19:11:30 UTC 2009 It's 「人の話は最後まで聞きなさい」 in Japanese, and it is the phrase people often say and hear.
Cutting someone off while he is speaking is considered as a rude and thoughtless behavior in Japan. However, it doesn't seem to be true of many other countries. I heard that it's taken for granted to interrupt someone in those countries. In fact, a lot of non-Japanese do that at job meetings. So I often feel like saying "Hear through what people say!" as if I was their mother. Haha.

Today, I found a phrase "May I just finish?" in my textbook.
I think I can use it when someone interrupts me at a meeting. "Can I finish? / Let me finish." are similar. Can I also say "Please don't interrupt me while I'm talking"? I wonder if it's a bit impolite.
I picked up similar expressions from a dictionary.
"Hear me out."
"I haven't finished yet."
I want to avoid being rude and impolite, but I want to express it a bit strongly. Which is good?

Also, can I say the same expression when someone interrupts another person, not me.
For example:
"Let him finish."
"Hear him out."
"He hasn't finished yet."
"Don't interrupt him while he was talking."

Posted at Thu Dec 03 19:34:14 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/302501 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/302501 Sand Thu Dec 03 19:34:14 UTC 2009
I like toddlers very much. A lot of parents put the photos and videos of their kids on their blog. I really love seeing them and there are several toddlers' sites in my bookmarks.

One of them is written in French and I use Google translate when I read it. So I can understand the articles, but unfortunately I have no idea what they are saying in the video. It's can't be helped.

Please take a look at the following video.
A boy takes out his stuffed pony named Paco (but he says Aco) from mother's bag, then put it on the table and tell it something. What is he saying? I guess he is often told by his parents the same thing, for example "be quiet" or something like that.

Actually I'm not sure he is speaking French. His father speaks French, his mother is probably a native English speaker, and he lives in Spain. I've heard he spoke Spanish in another video. So if it isn't French, I'm sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2lY4nCFny4

Posted at Thu Dec 03 04:13:11 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/301819 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/301819 Sand Thu Dec 03 04:13:11 UTC 2009 Please give me advice.

-------------------------------------------
FIFA announced that Charlize Theron, who is one of my favorite actresses, will serve as co-host of Friday's World Cup draw in Cape Town. I thought why she, but now that I think about it, that's because she is from South Africa.

I'm very interested in the result of the draw, but in Japan, it will be broadcast on TV during midnight, so I planned to see the result on news next morning. But Charlize Theron will appear, so maybe I'll watch it.
-------------------------------------------

By the way, are you looking forward to the FIFA World Cup? If you are from the US, you might not be very interested in it. But European, South American and African people must be so excited. Which country do you cheer for? As for me, England and Denmark!

Posted at Wed Dec 02 19:17:54 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/301568 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/301568 Sand Wed Dec 02 19:17:54 UTC 2009
I felt the pain for the first time when I went to the relaxation salon to get massage in mid-October. When a massager stretched my arm after finishing massage, I felt a pain in my right arm. Since them, it hasn't cured.

I wonder if it's frozen shoulder.
Frozen shoulder is called 四十肩 (しじゅうかた) or 五十肩 (ごじゅうかた) in Japanese. Those mean "40 years old shoulder" or "50 years old shoulder", and it's one of the symbols of getting old. Now way!

When I moved in bed this morning, my right arm made ボキッ sound. （ボキッ is a typical sound of bone or joint. I wonder what you say it in English.) Then the pain decreased a little.

I still have the pain but it got much better after ボキッ. I hope it completely cures soon. I also hope it isn't frozen shoulder. haha.

Posted at Tue Dec 01 19:42:32 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/300599 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/300599 Sand Tue Dec 01 19:42:32 UTC 2009
When Lang-8 announced about the premium member system, I thought I would join it soon. I'm not very interested in the benefits of a premium member, but I wanted to cooperate with Lang-8 on finance even a little, because I have been benefited by Lang-8 a lot.

However, I hadn't joined it by now. Paypal and Yahoo Wallet are used for paying premium fee, but I didn't have an account on either of them, and I didn't know what they were like. So I thought I should have checked them, but for some reason I felt that's a bother and put off it.

Today, I finally became a premium member.
As I said, I'm not so interested in the benefits, but I think the function of search "My journal entries" is very useful for me. Also the function of download PDF files of my entries seems to be good.

Posted at Mon Nov 30 13:59:31 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/299275 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/299275 Sand Mon Nov 30 13:59:31 UTC 2009
When hearing them, it's completely impossible for me to distinguish them. Of course native English speakers can distinguish the pronunciation between R and L, I think they never mishear Row/Raw and Low/Law. But, have you ever mishear Row and Raw, or Low and Law?

Not only I can't hear them correctly, but also I can't use them correctly. Whenever I try to use one of them, I have no idea which I should use. It's as if my brain refused to remember them...

Do you have a similar experience in the language you are learning?

For my info:
The word, the pronunciation and the meaning

Row [rou] 列
Raw [ro:] 生の
Low [lou] 低い
Law [lo:] 法律

Posted at Sun Nov 29 13:42:22 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/298293 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/298293 Sand Sun Nov 29 13:42:22 UTC 2009
I didn't catch the part of XXXXX. It sounds "word" to me, but if it was "word", the sentence would be weird. I heard it repeatedly, then I finally came up with the word "ordered"! In this case, the sentence makes sense, doesn't it? (No?)

However, it wasn't "ordered", but "worldwide." Gah... Those are completely different.

In the dialogue, this sentence was said by a person who was supposed to be Indian. So she pretended speaking with Indian accent, but it's not so strong.

Do you think it's possible to mishear "worldwide" and "ordered"? It's probably only me...

Posted at Fri Nov 27 12:54:09 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/296468 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/296468 Sand Fri Nov 27 12:54:09 UTC 2009 I think the casting in the movie is a bit unusual.
Bruce Willis, who always plays a tough guy, played a tired-looking old man. One of my favorite actors, David Morse, also appeared in the movie. He always plays a sincere man, but played a bad man for a change.

Actually I didn't understand English one person was speaking in the movie. He was Eddie played by Mos Def. His speak was very unique and I had no idea what he was speaking.
Have you watched it? If you have done, I'd like to ask you. Does he speak with any accent of somewhere? Or is that his own specific way to speak?
It sounded to me as if he has spoken another language. (^^;)

Posted at Mon Nov 23 13:19:02 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/292456 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/292456 Sand Mon Nov 23 13:19:02 UTC 2009
"I broke my arm."
Is this sentence correct? I have thought that it was correct way to express breaking a bone. But when I saw the following sentence, I was confused.
"I had my leg broken."

Then I was thinking of the difference between the two sentences.
My guess is:
If someone broke his bone because of himself, for example, he slipped and fell down stairs, he could say "I broke my arm."
On the other hand, if someone broke his bone because of other person, for example, he got a punch in a fight, he could say "I had my nose broken."

Do I think too much?

Please let me ask one more question.
Are "to break a bone" and "to fracture bone" the same?
I just learned the word "fracture."

Posted at Sun Nov 22 09:57:40 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/291219 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/291219 Sand Sun Nov 22 09:57:40 UTC 2009
Example sentences:
Would you mind if I used your phone?
Do you mind if I use your phone?

Are there any differences in meaning or subtle nuances?

Posted at Sat Nov 21 12:27:31 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/290403 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/290403 Sand Sat Nov 21 12:27:31 UTC 2009
However, I still image something like "wonderful" or "excellent", whenever I hear "great."

So when I found the sentence, "He is a great talker" in my textbook, I thought he was very good at talking in front of people and his talking attracted a lot of people. But the sentence continues...
"He is a great talker, but it's about time he did something instead of just talking."

My understanding was completely different... (><)



Posted at Fri Nov 20 09:49:18 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/289266 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/289266 Sand Fri Nov 20 09:49:18 UTC 2009 Have you heard of it? I haven't heard of it but it seems to have become a bestseller.
It was written by a British journalist who had lived in Japan for 14 years, and shows Japanese society in English. It is like introduction to Japan for non-Japanese people who is going to live in Japan.

The advertisement introduces a few of the content.
Here you are.

- You cannot see Kabuki in Kabukicho.

- For the nth time someone ask you if you can eat natto.

- Find out your blood type, and your shoe size in centimeters.

Sorry, if you don't live in Tokyo, you could have no idea about the first one.
Regarding the second and third ones, if you live in Japan, you might nod in agreement. (^o^)
Especially, we Japanese often talks about blood type. Each blood type is associated with character. For example, people, whose blood type is A, is serious and a stickler for detail. When somebody asks you your blood type, he generally has already guessed your blood type from your character. So after you answer to it, I bet his reaction is either "I thought as much!" or "Ah, that's incredible!" (^o^)

By the way, almost Japanese people know their own body size, such as shoe size, height and weight.
But I have heard that some non-Japanese people don't know their height or weight and it's not rare case. Is it true?
Do you know your height and weight?
And, do you know your blood type? If you plan to live in Japan in the future, find out them. haha!!

Posted at Sat Nov 14 14:21:42 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/283734 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/283734 Sand Sat Nov 14 14:21:42 UTC 2009
The story line of the dialogue is:
In a sales strategy meeting, a woman is giving her presentation. When she tried explaining one issue, the sales director asks her to move on to the next topic because it was already mentioned in another person's presentation. Then her boss tells him that she's got some new ideas that are worth listening to. And then, the director tells her, "OK, this better be good.", and she answers "Right."

According to the Japanese translation, it means something like "It should be good information, shouldn't it?"
I guess it's a free translation.

What does it mean? Is it used very often? What situation is it used in?

Posted at Sat Nov 14 07:44:43 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/283484 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/283484 Sand Sat Nov 14 07:44:43 UTC 2009
"The bus doesn't always come on time."
That means that the bus sometimes comes on time but it's not "always."

"The bus always doesn't come on time."
That means that the bus is almost always late.

Is my understanding right?

By the way, it's getting cold in Tokyo. Sadly, my favorite season, autumn, has almost ended. But I don't think the winter here is so bad, compared with the horrible terrible humid summer. (^o^)
How about your country?

Posted at Fri Nov 13 04:57:08 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/282672 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/282672 Sand Fri Nov 13 04:57:08 UTC 2009
The fire spread through the building quickly, but everybody was able to escape.

The textbook says that you should use "be able to" or "manage to" and you can't use "could" in this case.

Do "be able to" and "manage to" have the same meaning? Actually I found out that I sometimes say "I was able to manage to ---."
For example, "I was able to manage to fix it up."

Is this expression weird?

Posted at Thu Nov 12 05:54:26 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/281861 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/281861 Sand Thu Nov 12 05:54:26 UTC 2009
I somehow feel strange about it. "Take it away" gives me the impression of something like "get rid of it."
If I attended a meeting to give a presentation and a person tell me "Take it away", I would feel that he told me to get off my presentation. haha.

I'll have to get used to it.

Posted at Sun Nov 08 06:41:16 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/278321 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/278321 Sand Sun Nov 08 06:41:16 UTC 2009
For example,
Q1 (the first quarter) will finish soon and you have to discuss the business plan for Q2 in the business strategy meeting. To do that, of course you need to analyze the previous performance including the result in Q1. So, although it's still in Q1 now and a quarterly report has to be prepared after finishing its quarter, you need it now. A preliminary report (or a provisional report) is prepared in this common case.

In any company (I mean foreign companies, not Japanese companies), those are called "a preliminary report" or "a provisional report", and I haven't heard that it's called "a tentative report."
"Tentative" is the word which is used in business very often, such as "a tentative plan" and "a tentative schedule", so I have been wondering why "a tentative report" isn't used.

If I said "a tentative report", would it give subtle nuanced impression, compared with two other words?

Posted at Sat Nov 07 11:06:55 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/277772 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/277772 Sand Sat Nov 07 11:06:55 UTC 2009
Actually, I'm having trouble remembering VERY basic and easy words, which are "November" and "December."
I didn't use to be able to distinguish between "June" and "July" a long time ago, but I have overcome this issue. (^^;) However, I'm still struggling with "November" and "December.

Whenever I write one of them, I check a calendar or a dictionary to confirm the word. When either of them comes out in conversations, I sometimes ask, "Is it eleven or twelve?"
I can hardly believe it myself though.
Do you have the similar problem?

By the way, this month is November, isn't? (^o^)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't know well about expressions related to "vocabulary."
Can I say the following sentences? Any of them doesn't sit well with me.

My English vocabulary is very low.
My English vocabulary is much lower than American kindergarten children.
I should increase my vocabulary. (Should I use "expand", "enlarge" or "develop" instead of "increase"?)
I need to learn more vocabulary and various expressions. (Is "learn vocabulary" OK?)

====================================
The Yankees won the World Series! Goody!! And Matsui was chosen the World Series MVP!! WOW!!!!! Congratulations!!
====================================

Posted at Fri Nov 06 13:51:14 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/277152 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/277152 Sand Fri Nov 06 13:51:14 UTC 2009
According to my textbook, it means almost the same as "to be up the creek without a paddle."
Example sentence:
If you make a mistake on the decision, you will be in the doghouse for sure.

On the other hand, the online dictionary I'm using says that it means "to lose face."

Hmm... from Japanese language point of view, both are completely different.
Which do you think "in the doghouse" is used for?

In the first place, is "in the doghouse" used commonly?
(Is the way to use "In the first place" correct? Can I use "To begin with" instead?)

Posted at Tue Nov 03 15:13:11 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/274766 http://www.lang-8.com/sand/journals/274766 Sand Tue Nov 03 15:13:11 UTC 2009