Name: Episode #18: How Do You Say Penny? A Penny For Your Thoughts!
Uploaded: 2015-05-03T13:02:32.000Z
Duration: 3 min 15 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

Hi, It's Lisa Scott with losemyaccent.com. Today is a little known holiday known as Lucky

penny day, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about pennies and the

But first, let's talk about the pronunciation of penny. Some of you tend to leave off word

endings, which can lead to some confusion in English. This is not a pen; this is a pen.

This is a penny -- put that long E sound on the end of the word. - pennY.

Have you ever found a penny on the ground? Supposedly, if you find one and pick it up,

you will have good luck the rest of the day. There is even a chant about it that I learned

as a child. It goes like this See a penny, pick it up; all day long , you'll have good

Now, I'm not sure that finding a penny is a guarantee of good fortune, but there are

a couple of expressions about pennies that have to do with fortunes -or at least your

personal wealth. For example, the saying " A penny saved is a penny earned" reinforces

the idea that saving your money instead of spending it all is a good idea.

Someone who is Penny- wise and pound -foolish is careful with small amounts of money but

makes bad decisions about large amounts. It is originally a British saying, with reference

to the pound sterling, but we use it in America the same way.

And, if you are looking a little sad or look as if you are daydreaming or "off in your

own little world", as we might say, I may say to you -- a penny for your thoughts. I

don't really mean that I'm going to pay you anything, but it's an expression that means

that I'm interested in what's going on with you and I'm ready to listen.

So, if you're thinking about a word or pronunciation that is troubling you in English, then imagine

me saying to you "a penny for your thoughts." Write those troubling thoughts or questions

in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them on the page or in an upcoming