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shaky

shaky

Date: Oct 17 2002

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“I don’t think the music industry is much different than it ever was. It’s always been pretty shaky.”
- Tom Petty, musician, talking about his dislike of the music industry.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

unstable, unhealthy; not dependable; not strong

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

You can use shaky to describe anything that you’re not sure about. If you don’t have confidence in something, then it’s probably shaky. For example, if you don’t do well in math class, then your math skills are shaky. Or, if you don’t like your sister’s cooking, you could say that her cooking is shaky. If you don’t trust a person, you could say s/he is shaky too.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””Michael Jordan isn’t as good a basketball player as he used to be. Now that he’s older, his skills are a little bit shaky.”“

””I don’t think I liked that movie. The story was a little shaky. It didn’t seem believable to me.”“

””I love Mariah Carey’s music, but she seems shaky to me. I’m worried about her. I hope she starts acting normal again.”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

I guess here shaky is to describe something unstable or unsteady or changeable.
by Brian (Wuhan, China)
I think “shaky” means variable, changing, unstable. As Tom Petty says, music industry has always been changing, it was like that in the past and it continues to be the same now.
by Sandra (Monteria, Colombia).
Shaky’ here could mean the foundation of the music industry is not steady, or wavering on firmness.
by Freddie (Shantou, China)
Shaky” is an adjective which is used for describing something tends to change frequently.
by Wolf Art (Shanghai,China)
I think Tom said the weakness of the music industry. “Shaky” here meant “disordered” and “unstable.”
by Tanya (Xinjiang, China)

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