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Showing posts with label good friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good friends. Show all posts

Thursday, February 18, 2016

To give your John Hancock

First Example:


Ken: I can’t believe that I have been offered a position to play in the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball club.
Dan:  All you have to do is write your John Hancock on the contract and you will be eight million dollars richer.
Ken:  I never thought my Signature would mean so much.
Dan:  You better get used to it. Now that you’re famous, you will need to use your John Hancock for everything from contracts to autographs.



Second Example:


Nancy: We can’t buy this car without giving our John Hancock.
John: Everything official needs a signature.  Giving our John Hancock is our acknowledgement of commitment.
Nancy: Yeah, that’s true.  I just wish I would have practiced a nicer looking signature.
John:  It doesn’t really matter.  You’re not famous anyway.



Meaning: The expression "John Hancock" refers to a person’s signature.  It dates back to the signing of the American Declaration of Independence.  Mr. Hancock’s signature was so large that it was very noticeable.  It’s expressed in several ways.  Some of the most common ways are: “to give your John Hancock” or “Write your John Hancock.”


Thursday, July 17, 2014

Fair-weather friend

Idiom: Fair-weather friend
Example: Fred Anderson won the lottery. Not long after that, Fred met Thomas Henry. Fred and Thomas became very good friends. Thomas went everywhere Fred went; they partied together, ate together and talked everyday.
About two months after Fred and Thomas had met, Fred was in a very bad car accident. All of Fred's lottery winnings went toward his medical bills. While Fred was in the hospital, he only received one call from Thomas, who claimed he was too busy to visit Fred in the hospital.
Once Fred was released from the hospital, his insurance company paid all of his bills and gave him an extra $200,000! News of Fred's recent good fortune spread quickly. Within a week, Thomas showed up at Fred's door to see how his friend was doing. However, Fred refused to answer his door. "I don't need fair-weather friends!" said Fred.

Meaning: A fair-weather friend is a person who only wants contact when you can help him. As soon as you need him, he's not around.

For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.edu