Como falo em inglês: É uma faca de dois gumes

How's it going? No episódio de hoje do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre como dizer “Meu, se controla!” e faca de dois gumes em inglês. Sempre bom saber! Ouça e se familiarize...

Transcrição

How's it going? You're listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Download the Inglês Online Podcast app at the Google Play Store or the Apple Store - search for "inglês online Ana". Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So, let's get started today with a great expression: get a grip! I've talked about a similar idiom before in a previous episode. In fact, there are many different ways of saying the same thing, so today we're going with Get a grip!

You could say that telling someone to get a grip is an expression of tough love. You're telling someone to calm down. So, that person is obviously in a bad state in that particular moment and you're telling them to, you know... Get a grip! Take control of their emotions, and lower their voice if they're angry or shouting... Or if they're just, like, freaking out about something, speaking really fast and they look like they're about to hyperventilate, you can also say “Get a grip! You have to calm down.” And like I said before, there are many ways of telling someone to get a grip. Another one would be “get a hold of yourself”.

So, let's look at a real-life example: something that was tweeted out by a guy named John. He's advising exam-takers to get a grip on themselves and take control of their nerves. Listen:

Board exam takers, a piece of advice:Your mind is your greatest enemy. Your ego wields emotion and fear like a double edged blade, either way, you lose. So get a grip on yourself and calm down. Because your mind is a powerful tool, one mindset can change everything.— (@abarkezz) July 17, 2018

So, apart from some funny comma use, John's saying that you should use your mind wisely when you're taking an exam. He basically says that your ego is a double-edged blade, which is also a very interesting term for our podcast, so let's focus on it a little bit. I'm not going to lie - I hear double-edged sword way more often than double-edged blade so I'm using sword for the examples.

When you say something is a double-edged sword, you're saying it can help you but it can also cause you trouble. Depending on how you use that thing; depending on the decisions you make; sometimes depending on the circumstances - that thing can be extremely positive or it could be a hindrance. Example: winning the lottery overnight - double-edged sword. That'd be awesome... we all love money, right? Talk to past lottery winners though, and ask them if there were any downsides. I'm betting at least some of them will be able to tell you a few downsides.

Obviously, our minds are a double-edged sword. We can use our minds to do amazing stuff, think up the greatest ideas, get ourselves out of trouble and so on... But before we know it, we'll find ourselves in a state of panic before an exam or an interview, for example. If you've ever found yourself in this exact situation you know what I'm talking about. You may end up drawing a blank halfway through the exam. You may stutter uncontrollably when trying to answer the interview questions. Not fun.

So, that's what John is talking about, although in my opinion he slightly misused the expression “double-edged blade”. He's saying that your ego will wield emotion and fear, and “either way you lose”. That means that there's no positive coming out of your ego. A double-edged blade, on the other hand,