Scottish Cities

-wise

The biggest city size-wise and population-wise is Glasgow.

We sometimes add “-wise” to make the topic more specific. First, Rachel is saying the city is large. Then, she changes the meaning of “big” and says the city is big “population-wise.” That means many people live there. Here are two more examples:

1. Bangkok is a terrible city traffic-wise, but the culture is amazing.
2. Evening classes are better for me time-wise.

under the impression

I'm under the impression there's lots of rain.

Often we are “under the impression” something is true when in fact we may be wrong. Thanks to Hollywood movies for example, many people are “under the impression” that New York is a dangerous city. Actually, it’s one of the safest big cities in America. Notice the following:

1. I’m under the impression I did well in the interview, but we’ll see.
2. Most people are under the impression that golf is difficult to learn and they’re right!

bitter cold

Edinburgh has this bitter cold wind

In this case, “bitter” means something very negative. Some people like cold weather, but nobody likes bitter cold. It can be dangerous. Here are some samples:

1. The 0-1 score in the championship final was a bitter loss for the home team.
2. It was impossible to go jogging in the bitter cold weather.

rundown

The city is very rundown.

“Run down” means something or someone is in bad condition. A rundown area of a city is usually old, dirty, and sometimes dodgy. Note the examples:

1. Before I painted the house it looked really rundown. Now it’s beautiful!
2. He was rundown from too much studying and not enough sleep.

renaissance

The city went through a renaissance.

If something experiences a renaissance, it means it was good or popular in the past, but after a time it wasn’t so good. Now it has become good or popular again. Here are two samples using “renaissance”:

1. Ray-Ban sunglasses were popular in the 1960’s. They returned in the 1980’s and now they’re experiencing a second renaissance.
2. China is experiencing a major renaissance of economic growth.

uptight

The people are a little uptight

Uptight is how we feel when we are uncomfortable with something or someone. We can feel uptight about school, work, social situations or just about anything. Notice the following:

1. I haven’t studied much so I’m a little uptight about the exam tomorrow.
2. Her parents were a little uptight that she was traveling alone.