It's the Season to Squirrel Something Away!

 

Now, it's time for Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.

In many parts of the United States, temperatures are falling. This change of season, from summer to autumn, gives Americans many things to watch. Many people travel to areas of the U.S. that are famous for autumn leaves that change into brilliant shades of red, gold and orange.

Something else to watch is the antics of squirrels! Squirrels provide some of the most interesting and entertaining behavior in the natural world.

Now, I use the word "antics," meaning silly or funny games, because that’s what it looks like.

But I am not being fair to squirrels. They are actually doing something most important -- gathering¹ and storing food for the winter months.

The fact that squirrels are doing an important activity, however, makes them no less entertaining to watch. The animals hurry across the ground, digging holes to find food or to find where they buried food. They chase each other around trees. They jump from one tree limb to another, higher and higher up in the tree, looking for nuts and seeds. Sometimes, squirrels drop this food to the ground below, and sometimes they hit people passing by.

As I said earlier, this behavior is very entertaining to watch!

These woodland creatures do not stay still for very long. And they are good at collecting things. So, it is not surprising that American English has a couple of expressions with the word “squirrel.”

A red squirrel sits in a tree with an ample meal of a black walnut² in his mouth in the state of Ohio, 2000. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

First, there is the adjective squirrelly.

Now, "squirrelly" has several definitions. The most common one describes someone who is unusually active and unable to sit still -- much like a squirrel. Another word with the same meaning is restless. When talking about word choice, "restless" may be more common in everyday speech, but "squirrelly" is much more fun!

Let's hear it used in an example.

"At the end of a school year, students may get a little squirrelly (restless) sitting in a classroom. It's best to let them run around outside during the day."

In this example, you can almost imagine a classroom of children suddenly turning into a group of squirrels running around and unable to sit in their seats! So, the word you use depends on the feeling you want to create in your sentence.

"Squirrelly" can also describe someone who is acting³ very strange or crazy -- again, like a squirrel. A word that means close to that is eccentric.

This meaning of squirrelly may come from the fact that the main food in a squirrel’s diet is nuts. In American English, "nuts" is a slang expression for crazy.

"At the party, she behaved squirrelly (eccentric) the whole night -- walking quickly between rooms, hiding in corners and interrupting conversations with high-pitched laughter. She gave everyone a very odd impression."

Finally, the adjective "squirrelly" can describe someone or something that seems to be dishonest. A more commonly used word that means the same thing is shady.

Let's hear an example.

"That business deal sounds squirrelly (shady) to me. If something sounds too good to be true -- it probably is."

So, that is the adjective. We also have a very useful expression from the world of squirrels -- to squirrel something away.

Okay, so we know that squirrels collect nuts, seeds and other things to eat. Then they hide them away to survive winter weather, when food is hard to find.

People can do the same thing. When we squirrel something away, we put something in a safe or secret place so that we can use it in the future. When we collect or save things in an unusual, or even unhealthy way, you could use the word hoard⁴.

Here's another example.

"She has squirreled away (hoarded) magazines for years. There are stacks and stacks in her attic⁵. I'm not sure what she is saving them for but she won't get rid of them!"

The things people squirrel away usually aren't nuts and seeds. We most often squirrel away money for the future.

"When he retired⁶ he was able to live quite comfortably. He squirreled away over $400,000 in the bank!"

But we can squirrel away anything that is important to us and that we want to use later.

"She squirreled away her favorite color of wool yarn⁷ as if they weren't going to make it any more. She has more than 30 rolls of it in her closet!"

And that's Words and Their Stories for today. But we'll be back next week. It's my custom to squirrel away story ideas for this program. So we'll have a new one then!

I'm Anna Matteo.

Are there squirrels where you live? If yes, have they inspired any expressions in your language? Let us know in the Comments Section or simply practice with these squirrelly expressions!

The day the squirrel went berserk,

In the First Self-Righteous Church

in that sleepy little town of Pascagoula.

It was a fight for survival,

that broke out in revival⁸.

They were jumpin pews and shouting Hallelujah!

Words in This Story

brilliant – adj. very bright

antic – n. an attention-drawing, often wildly playful or funny act or action -- usually plural⁹ childish antics

scurry¹⁰ – v. to move in or as if in a brisk pace

silly – adj. exhibiting or indicative of a lack of common sense or sound judgment¹¹

shady – adj. seeming to be dishonest

hoard – v. a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away

synonym¹² – n. one of two or more words or expressions of the same language that have the same or nearly the same meaning in some or all senses

berserk – adj. to become very excited

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

5 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

8 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

9 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

10 scurry   

vi.急匆匆地走；使急赶；催促；n.快步急跑，疾走；仓皇奔跑声；骤雨，骤雪；短距离赛马

参考例句：

• I jumped on the sofa after I saw a mouse scurry by.看到一只老鼠匆匆路过,我从沙发上跳了起来。
• There was a great scurry for bargains.大家急忙着去抢购特价品。

11 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

12 synonym   

n.同义词，换喻词

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• The term 'industrial democracy' is often used as a synonym for worker participation. “工业民主”这个词常被用作“工人参与”的同义词。