Como falo em inglês: Fez por merecer

How are you? Hoje, no podcast, eu falo sobre o que quer dizer “be in the doghouse” com alguém... Não é algo muito bom, mas acontece - e a expressão é ótima! Não perca.

Transcrição

How are you? You're listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Download the Inglês Online 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 dive right into it: when you're in the doghouse with someone, that means this person is upset or angry about something you've done, ok. So, let's say Paul is married and he has been working late all week. His wife Linda is mad at him because she expected him to be home around 7 in the evening - so they could go porcelain-shopping.

So, Paul has had a lot of work to do lately, though. He feels bad, and... you know, maybe in the back of his mind he wasn't too crazy about going porcelain-shopping, let's face it. Anyway, Linda is a bit mad now and that means Paul is in the doghouse for now. So, he's going to have a chat with her tonight and take her out and stuff like that, and see if they can make up.

So, ‘be in the doghouse’ is slang - it's a slang term, and therefore really informal. You wouldn't normally use this idiom for something really serious - for example, my friend betrayed me and stole all my money so she's in the doghouse now. No, hopefully your friend would be in jail, rather than the doghouse.

Now, you know when you see someone that you know that person is misbehaving... And they think no one's noticing. That happens all the time, especially because some people manage to fool others for a while, right? Eventually, though, people catch on to it and the misbehaving person gets found out or exposed. Then, some form of consequence or punishment usually happens - and here's what you could say: Well, this person had it coming.

They had it coming! This person had it coming. When you say that, it means that you think that person basically deserves whatever hardship, trouble or consequence they're facing right now. They've done things that led up to this point.

Check out this tweet:

Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes that reason is that you're a terrible person and had it coming .

— Luu Venda (@Lut3ndo) July 26, 2018

So yeah, that's what this guy said - sometimes you're a terrible person and that's why something bad happened to you. You had it coming. I think you'll be able to relate to this idiom - everyone knows someone who lied for a while about something and they were getting away with it. You knew they were lying, but for some reason you were not in a position to out that person.

And one day, it happened: someone figured out that person was lying and the whole lie was exposed. They lost their job. They had it coming, obviously.

Can you think of an example of your own? Who is it, in your professional or personal life, that got exposed and you thought “They had it coming”? Let me know, and see you soon!

Key expressions

* be in the doghouse

* (someone) had it coming

Vocabulary

go porcelain-shopping = ir comprar (alguma coisa de) porcelana

isn't too crazy about = não está morrendo de vontade de

if they can make up = se dá pra eles fazerem as pazes

people catch on to it = as pessoas “se tocam”, percebem aquilo

led up to this point = levaram a, fizeram as coisas chegar a este ponto

to out someone = desmascarar alguém