Yesterday there was a difficult sentence, and some people had the confusion to match.

There was something tricky in an article we were talking about earlier this week. Some of you have read this article about blood types:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20090311a1.html

In the eighth paragraph, there's this line:

"Type O's, on the other hand, are acknowledged as generous, passionate lovers with hearts of gold and wallets to match."

Many students were puzzled about this line. There are two things happening here. The first is an idiom:

__(subject)__ has __(n)__ and the __(n)__ to match

It means that the second and third nouns are often found together, and the subject of the sentence has both. Here's an example:

The gray-haired college professor has the body of a college athlete and the energy to match. この白髪の大学教授には、大学の運動選手並みの肉体とそれに見合う活力があります。(definition from 英辞郎 on the web)

The students said that example wasn't so easy to understand, so here are two others.

He has red hair and the temper to match. <- It's a common belief that people with red hair have short tempers. This person, like the stereotype, has both red hair and a short temper.

• short temper 短気｛たんき｝、怒りっぽい性質

He has an Ivy League education and the attitude to match. <- It's a common belief that people who went to an Ivy League university can be stuck up. This person went to such a school and is also stuck up.

• stuck up《be ～》つんとする、威張っている、うぬぼれている、思い上がっている

The second thing going on in that example was a play on words.

• play on words 《a ～》言葉遊び｛ことばあそび｝、しゃれ、語呂合わせ｛ごろあわせ｝That joke has a funny play on words. : あのジョークには面白い語呂合わせが含まれている。(definition from 英辞郎 on the web)

"A heart of gold" means a kind character. "A wallet to match" sounds like "a wallet of gold", which means "a wallet full of gold." We can interpret that to mean "rich". You can see that "gold" in "a heart of gold" and "gold" in "a wallet of gold" have different meanings.

When we read the sentence from the article, we understand that type O people are often kind and rich.

Yesterday, the rain was terrible. I rode my bicycle from home to Tokyo Station first. Then I rode to Nihonbashi. After that, I went to Shiba Park, and then finally I went to Shinbashi. By the time I got home, my rain suit wasn't repelling the rain anymore, and I had soaked socks to match. Now I think I have to replace my rain suit. I had better do it soon, because rainy season is coming.