to give sb or sth a wide berth - to get around and give sth plenty of space (literal meaning)
OR
avoid, keep away from sb or sth (metaphorical meaning)- обходить кого-л/что-л стороной

red fly agaric - 🍄 мухомор 🍄

Red fly agaric is traditionally considered a highly dangerous and poisonous fungus—even die-hard mushroomers often give it a wide berth.

-What’s gotten into her today?
-Looks like she’s going to have to fall on her sword and quit the job in the wake of the nepotism scandal that her dad’s involved in. Make sure to give her a wide berth when you see her, for understandable reasons.

P.S. The umbrella in the picture is the red fly agaric. Don’t ask me how or why I decided to post this picture. Just don’t. I hoped it would be something along the lines of “fly pestilence” or “fly killer”, but alas..🍄

#vocab

lol I just had a major cultural epiphany about Russians. I was going for “лучшая защита - это нападение” (offence is the best defence/the best defence is offence) when I found out that the English speaking world uses it in the exact opposite way:
“The best offence is a good defence”. Turns out Russians are usually made fun of for being overly aggressive based on this expression. I mean, it makes total sense, but restructuring my brain is easier said than done.. It’s actively refusing to let it sink in, and so since I started writing this post I’ve forgotten how the English expression goes about four times.

#pettyramblings

Love “The Office”. Love Dwight.

Новости, которые мы заслужили 😂🥂🍷🍸

Japan is launching a campaign to increase the tax revenues from alcohol consumption. It’s called “Sake Viva!”, which refers to the traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice - “sake”.

Here are a couple of factoids about sake that I ripped off a sketchy website:

1. It’s the oldest known spirit in the world;
2. It has more in common with beer than wine (in the English speaking world, it’s commonly referred to as “rice wine”);
3. Spit used to be an integral ingredient of it back in the old day.

Take care!

#pettyramblings

Remember “knock-on effects on sth”? Well, here are
knock-on benefits for sth - secondary benefits - дополнительные преимущества.

#vocab

My morning teaching set-up in a Michigan forest where I use real chipmunks, squirrels and deer to teach those words 🐿️🐾🌲