Hello, you guys!

Nosso podcast volta em 2011 com três palavras/expressões super comuns na conversa dos nativos do inglês. Uma delas quer dizer mais ou menos “fui pego de surpresa/desprevenido”. As outras duas? Diga nos comentários como você traduziria.

Transcrição

Hey, everyone! How’s it going? Did you enjoy the holidays? Are you back yet from the holidays, or… are you listening to this podcast from a sunny beach? Whatever the case, here’s the new episode of Inglesonline Podcast. To see the transcript and every episode of this podcast, go to inglesonline.com.br and click ‘Podcast Inglesonline’.

So, here’s a question: What is the object you always have handy? Handy: what does that mean? Let me ask you the question again. What do you always have handy? What’s the object that you always have or that you always keep handy?  Something useful, that you often need or that you often use, and that you try to keep easily within reach at all times. Within reach – that means you can easily grab it when you need it. For example, in your car, in your purse, on your desk, and so on.

Maybe you’re like my father and you always have an umbrella handy. My father always has an umbrella handy. Actually, I think he always has a couple of umbrellas within reach: one in his car and another one in his suitcase. My father will never be caught off guard by the rain, nope. He always has an umbrella handy, wherever he goes. And here’s another thing that he always keeps handy: a bottle of water. Every time I get into my father’s car I see his bottle of water. So, my dad likes to have two things handy at all times: an umbrella and a bottle of water. What about you? What do you keep handy?

OK, so I just used this expression about thirty seconds ago: caught off guard. This is another common expression. Let me give you an example: let’s say you are at your desk, working like you always are… not playing Solitaire on the computer or anything, just working, and all of a sudden your boss walks in and says:

“Hey, Jack. I know you’re supposed to be leaving to the Fiji Islands tomorrow for you well-deserved vacation. I mean, how long has it been since your last vacation? Three years, right? You so deserve a vacation! I mean, if anyone deserves it, it’s you. And I want you to know… I know that! But here’s the thing: that account we’ve been chasing for over a year… the big software company? I got the VP of Purchasing to be here tomorrow. He’s finally going to meet with us! Well, with you, actually. See, I have to take my grandma to the doctor. I just have to go with her. Jack, we need you! We need you to run this meeting. What do you say? We need you, Jack. What do you say?”

And you say “Sure, boss. I’m sure I can get a refund on my plane ticket. Hey, who needs vacations anyway?”

And when you tell your friends what happened, they say “Are you insane? Why did you say yes?” And you say “Well, my boss caught me off guard! I didn’t know what else to say!”. So your boss caught you off guard. He caught you off guard. That means that you were not expecting it, you were kinda surprised by what he said, and in this particular example you didn’t have the time to think things through before making a decision. Right? You didn’t have the time, you didn’t have enough time. Why? Because your boss caught you off guard. So in the end you agreed to something you really didn’t want to agree with. You said Yes but you really didn’t mean it, right? Why? Because you were caught off guard.

Here’s another example: let’s say you’re a guy and you want to propose to your girlfriend. It’s gonna be a surprise, you haven’t said anything to her but you’re sure she&...