Halloween is coming up next week. Everyone is thinking about costumes. Since my post yesterday was on bizarre foods, I thought I'd do a post on bizarre (or cute) costumes for kids. Which one is your favorite? Do you think these costumes are bizarre or not?

Have you ever tried any bizarre foods?

The word bizarre (adjective) means someone or something that is strange, weird, or not normal. The word is pronounced like [ bih-zahr ]

We might say a person who likes to walk backward is bizarre. If your bedroom door closes by itself, that may be bizarre too.

Check out some bizarre foods of my hometown Taiwan. Some of these are not that bizarre to me at all, in fact, I love stinky tofu. To me, it's delicious. Seattle now has some restaurants that serve stinky tofu but I haven't tried any yet. I think the first thing I have to do is find someone who wants to go with me! Maybe when my family comes to visit :-)

Is there anything in your hometown that people might think is bizarre?

Small talk is very short and casual conversation we have when we talk to people we don’t really know. The purpose is to fill in awkward silences and "break the ice". You might engage in small talk with your hairdresser, someone in the elevator with you, or the person sitting next to you on the plane. This is very common in American culture because it shows we are polite and that we value them.

Oftentimes, this is a challenge for non-native speakers, not just because of language issues but because small talk can be very rare in their culture. In some countries, it's common to stay reserved and not ask too many questions to someone you don't really know.

In Seattle, where I live, people are very friendly and talkative all the time, so small talk is very common and necessary.  Sometimes when I'm shopping, waiting for my coffee, or even crossing the street, I have to be prepared to engage in some small talk!

But be careful, small talk doesn't mean you could say or ask anything.  Don't talk about overly personal topics such as, death, religion, money etc

Here are some common small talk topics: 
-Weather (Can you believe it's still raining?)
-What's going on with them (How's your day been?)
-Upcoming plans (Any plans for Christmas?)
-A compliment (Nice shoes!)
-Current events (Did you hear about....)

Watch this interesting clip here on the importance of small talk. Is your culture a coconut or a peach?

We all write emails these days, whether it's to a friend, a coworker, or your boss. Obviously emails can't really express your body language or the tone in your voice, so it's very easy for people to misinterpret you. This means how we sign-off our emails is very important. If I was writing an email to my supervisor I would not use " later ;-) " The same if I was writing to a close friend or family, I would not use "Sincerely" because this would seem too distant and strange.

It's important to have good email etiquette especially in business or formal emails. Here are four formal and four informal ways you can sign-off your emails. These are just some of the most commons ones that people use these days.

In some cases, when you're writing an email to someone you've never met, you can use "Yours faithfully," however, I don't see it used very much these days. It seems like people just use "Sincerely." Have any of you received emails or written emails using "Yours faithfully"? Which one of the salutations here do you use most?

The next time you have trouble remembering what words to capitalize, just look back at this diagram. The wheel shows you many of the common words that should begin with a capital letter. There are, however, more rules! For example, academic titles (M.B.A / Ph.D.), historical periods, after a quotation mark, and historical periods (World War II).

If you're still unsure, check your work on www.grammarly.com or the easiest way is to ask a native speaker!

If you think you know everything already, do a quick quiz here: