Podcast Inglês Online

How are you?

Hoje eu falo sobre dois idioms para usar quando alguém está dando aquela ignorada em outra pessoa.

Observação: repare em como eu pronuncio o nome Anthony no podcast. Apesar de ele ter o TH, frequentemente é pronunciado no Reino Unido como faço aqui: com o som regular de T (como em Tony) e não TH (como em Kathy).

How are you? You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So let’s say you arrive at your friend Anthony’s birthday party and you see some friends and you say hi to them, obviously, and then you see a few people you know – not very well, they’re not close friends; they’re acquaintances but you greet them as well, of course… So you decide to approach this little circle of people you know – it’s two of your good friends, plus Sally who you’ve seen before and even exchanged a few words with but.. whom you don’t know really well. She seems nice anyway, so, no worries there.

So you go ahead and say hi to your friends, and Sally, ask them what they’ve been up to and stuff, and after a minute or so you notice that Sally is a bit frosty towards you. She didn’t really say hi back when you greeted her and she’s avoiding eye contact. She’s being a bit frosty.

Have you ever experienced that? And I’m not talking about shyness.. obviously some people aren’t naturally warm because they may be shy or very reserved. Sometimes you just know that that’s not the case, though. You’ve talked to this person before and you know they’re nice, and they’ve been warm towards you, and you can’t remember doing anything that might have upset them so you’re now a bit puzzled by their treatment. You can tell that this person is being frosty.

And then, let’s say you’re at the same party and you bump into two of your older friends, John and Alice. John greets you warmly; Alice, not so much. She says hi and quickly excuses herself without another word. Throughout the night, she always seems to be deep in conversation with someone else every time you approach her. You can tell Alice is giving you the cold shoulder.

She’s kind of snubbing you slightly; she’s acting indifferent towards you. She’s giving you the cold shoulder. You don’t feel particularly popular at Anthony’s birthday party tonight, obviously… First it’s Sally acting a bit frosty, and now it’s Alice giving you the cold shoulder. In Alice’s case, though, you have a pretty good idea of why she’s behaving like that.

Alice is your ex-girlfriend, and you guys broke up over a year ago, and you thought she was fine. All this time you’ve gotten along great and you definitely thought she was over you. So, what happened? Well, you started dating again a couple of weeks ago. You’re going out with a different girl now, and you know how it is within a group of friends… News travels fast. Alice must have caught wind of it and now she’s avoiding you.

I think everyone listening to this podcast can relate. Can you remember a time when someone acted a bit frosty towards you and gave you the could shoulder for a while? Why did they do that? Did the two of you end up getting back on good terms?

Let me know in the comments about what happened and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

Vocabulary

you’re puzzled = você está confuso/a

she was over you = ela tinha te esquecido (romanticamente)

catch wind of (something) = ficar sabendo de (alguma coisa)

get back on good terms with someone = ficar de bem, fazer as pazes ou voltar a falar com alguém

Hi, everybody.

Hoje eu falo sobre comida e talvez você ouça alguns ingredientes cuja tradução para o português você não conhece exatamente (ou talvez não!) Veja o vocabulário no fim do post para ter ajuda.

Hi, everybody. You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So, how are you doing today? It’s a sunny morning out here where I am, and I feel like talking about something that’s a bit unusual for me. Maybe not for most other people but a bit unusual for me, which is food, and cooking a little bit. See, I don’t usually cook much and the people I’ve met here in London are always a bit surprised when I tell them I don’t cook much.

And the reason I don’t cook much isn’t necessarily that I don’t like cooking; it’s just that I end up doing other things with my time and cooking doesn’t make it as a priority. That is absolutely helped by two things: the fact that fortunately I’m able to find pre-packaged food in supermarkets that is of good quality and tastes nice, and the fact that I usually eat very simple things.

For example, for the longest time I had a version of fish and chips for dinner. I say “a version” because the true fish and chips, the one you get at a pub, is a much bigger and heavier portion of food than the one I get at the supermarket. The one from the supermarket is a much smaller chunk of fish, coated in breadcrumbs, with potato wedges. Sort of like what we call “peixe à milanesa com batata frita”, but potato wedges are chunkier than French fries. Click on the link I’ve included here to see what potato wedges look like. So that was all I had for dinner for the longest time, with a bit of lime juice and salt, and I loved it.

Other times I cook a little bit: I make rice with sultanas and steamed broccoli with garlic, and this is one of my favourite things ever to eat. I think I could eat that most nights and be happy. By the way, sultanas are “white” raisins, although they’re not really white… They’re just a bit less dark then regular raisins I suppose. I also make salad regularly – green leaves, tomato and store-bought dressing, but that doesn’t really count as cooking, does it?

So lately I’ve gone back to eating avocado in the form of guacamole. Again, very simple food and simple to make. So a few weeks ago, for the first time in a long time, I smashed one half of a ripe avocado, added in a bit of chopped tomatoes and onion, a little salt, a squeeze of lime and… that was it. That’s what I remembered of the recipe and let me tell you, it was quite bland. Pretty blah.

Obviously, that was not how I remembered good guacamole to taste like. I searched online and found a recipe titled “The best guacamole ever”. Perfect – that’s exactly what I wanted. So obviously the ingredients I was already using were there – avocado, onion, tomato, lime juice and salt; but here’s my mistake: I was completely overlooking all the different kinds of pepper that go into a guacamole… and garlic.

So I got that sorted immediately – went to the shop and got some red chili, cayenne and black pepper. I didn’t have any of those ’cause I rarely ever put pepper on my food. So the next time I made the guacamole I added in all that pepper, and also added some minced garlic.

It turned out great – full of flavour and picante! I suggest you give it a try if you’ve never had guacamole before. It’s basically avocado, tomatoes, onion, lime juice, garlic and a bunch of peppers. Very yummy… and healthy to boot.

That’s it for today – tell me what you’ve been cooking in the kitchen.. Rice, beans, chicken, vegetables? I want to know. Tell us in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Vocabulary

chunk = pedaço

chunkier = mais grossa (espessura)

breadcrumbs = migalhas de pão, usadas também para fazer ‘milanesa’

steamed = no vapor

bland = sem gosto, sem graça

blah = mais ou menos, sem graça, não muito bom (informal)

red chili = pimenta malagueta (no geral)

cayenne pepper = pó de pimentas vermelhas (tipo malagueta)

black pepper = pimenta do reino

minced = picadinho em pedaços bem pequenos

to boot = ainda por cima

Receita: Best guacamole ever

 What’s up, everyone?

Hoje eu falo sobre as intenções de alguém em inglês. Como dizer a intenção dele foi boa, ou de boas intenções o inferno está cheio? Confira também duas expressões para dizer “falar bem de alguém” neste episódio.

What’s up, everyone? You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So you know when someone behaves in a way that ends up doing more harm than good, but you just know they had the best intentions when doing so? They were just trying to help; they really meant well. You know this person is well-meaning. When someone is well-meaning, that means they… mean well.

However, you were there when they did what they did or said what they said and you know that the end result wasn’t that great. Rather than being mad at them, though, you’re just lamenting the sad outcome. You know that their heart was in the right place.

So that’s our first idiom of today: their heart was in the right place when they did that or said whatever. It may not have helped, it may even have made matters a bit worse, but… in the end, their heart is in the right place. You may just need to have a quick word with them to maybe make them aware of the effect of their actions.

For example: Steve offered to put in a good word for you with his boss, knowing that you’re coveting a new position in his department. He goes ahead and does just that: he tells his boss you’re great to work with, and very competent too. However, he goes and says that you’ve been doing an awesome job in project XYZ, which is a top secret project that you’re not supposed to be talking about to other people.

So now Steve has basically made clear to his boss that you can’t keep your mouth shut. Great. That kinda ruins the whole point of talking you up to the boss. You were sure Steve knew that project XYZ was confidential. Maybe he didn’t. Anyway, you have known Steve for years now and you know he’s a good guy. You know he would never do anything to harm your chances at getting that job. You just know that his heart is in the right place. He screwed up a little, but his heart is in the right place.

…Which leads me to the second one of today’s episode – I guess we can call this one a proverb: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Obviously, people often mean well but end up doing bad things or even wreaking havoc sometimes. We say something very similar in Brazil, don’t we? However I could never work out whether that saying applies to someone who really meant well; someone whose heart is in the right place but ends up making things worse.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I think that’s exactly the case and that is how this saying came about: good intentions that end up causing trouble. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And, as we do in Brazil, you can say that proverb in order to imply that someone knew full well what they were doing when they were “trying to help”, so to speak. Basically you’re accusing them of not being honest: “So Jane, now I know why you offered to bring me lunch. You were trying to give me food poisoning! This sandwich is the worst thing I’ve ever had.” And you finish your rant by telling your colleagues “The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Beware of Jane and her lunch runs.”

So I guess we can all think of great examples of people who meant well but ended up making things worse. Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

Vocabulary

put in a good word for you with = falar bem de você para

coveting = querendo, desejando

talk someone up = falar bem de alguém

mean well = ter/tem boas intenções

wreak havoc = arruinar, causar muito problema

work out = figure out

lunch run = a ida até algum lugar de comida pra comprar o almoço pro grupo/pessoal do escritório

beware of = cuidado com

What’s up, everyone?

Hoje eu falo sobre uma tentativa dos correios daqui de me entregar uma compra que fiz online outro dia. Eu não estava em casa, e então eu comento quais são as opções para pegar o pacote. Veja e ouça o vocabulário e collocations específicos para essa situação: Royal Mail, delivery attempt, “Something for you” card, arrange redelivery.

What’s up, everyone? You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So as I’m here with my laptop open on… my lap, thinking about what my next podcast is going to be about, I decide to check the Royal Mail website and see where my new boots are. Let me explain: the Royal Mail in the United Kingdom is equivalent to our Correios, or the Post Office in the US. A few days ago I ordered a pair of boots off the Internet, and a postal worker should be delivering them any day now to my place.

So I’ve literally just gone to the Royal Mail website right now and typed in the tracking number the shoe shop provided me… and there it is: a Royal Mail worker tried to find me fifty minutes ago at my place, and I wasn’t there. I’m here, at a coffee shop. It’s ten past one in the afternoon now, and for the last several weeks I have always been home at this time.. but today I decided to leave earlier than usual and grab a cup of coffee while writing the podcast. Obviously, that was enough to set Murphy’s Law into motion and bam! That’s when the delivery person showed up. Bummer.

So this is what happens now: the delivery person has hopefully left me a “Something For You” card – that’s a small card that lets me know a delivery was recently attempted. After twenty four hours – which in this case is tomorrow around 1PM – I could go to the nearest post office carrying the card and some ID, and pick up my boots.

There’s another option, though: instead of going myself to the post office, I can arrange a redelivery by either calling up Royal Mail or clicking on a button on their website. You can see what I’m talking about if you look at the screenshot I’ve included in this post.

Rearranging delivery is a nifty little feature of Royal Mail that I have used before – this isn’t the first time I’ve missed a delivery – and I’m probably going to use it again now. So I’m going to click that button and enter some details from the “Something For You” card, and then choose a date for redelivery. Only, this time I’ll make sure I’m home ’cause I don’t want to miss it again!

So what happens in Brazil right now if you miss a delivery? I remember the postal worker used to make three attempts at delivery before returning the package to their warehouses. Do they still do that? And what happens if you miss delivery all those times? Should you go to a Correios office with the Brazilian version of the “Something For You” card and your RG to pick up your package? I don’t think I ever had to do that when I lived in Brazil – let me know if you’ve done it… and talk to you next time.

Key expressions

Vocabulary

on my lap = no meu colo

bummer = gíria (mais comum nos EUA) de insatisfação, como “que chatice”

nifty = particularly nice, good

P.S. A expressão no título deste post pode ser dita simplesmente assim – “I missed a delivery [because I wasn’t home obviously]”

How’s it going?

Hoje eu falo sobre dois idioms comuníssimos no inglês quando queremos dizer que uma pessoa pegou pesado demais com alguém que já estava mal.

How’s it going? You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

Today I’m going to talk about a type of situation that is particularly unpleasant… It’s not nice to take part in it and it’s not nice to watch it unfold either. Interestingly, there are several English idioms that can be applied in this context, so let’s start with kick someone when they’re down.

Just imagine your work colleague John made a big mistake yesterday and, because of his mistake, the company has now lost a significant amount of money. John got reprimanded by his manager and his job is hanging by a thread. Your desk is right next to John’s desk, so you’re there to watch as Margot, a marketing assistant, walks up to John and gives him a scolding for losing the business deal.

So, at this point, John feels awful for losing the deal, obviously, and he’s already been told off by this boss. You could say he’s in a pretty low place right now. So on top of that, Margot comes up to him and tells him off again. She’s basically kicking John when he’s already down. You feel compelled to pull Margot aside and have a word with her. You say “Margot, c’mon… John’s obviously aware he screwed up. There’s no need to kick him when he’s down.”

There’s no need to kick someone when they’re down. They’re already down, they’re aware of how they acted, they know they have screwed up. It’s a nice piece of advice: don’t kick someone when they’re down. So that leads me to the second idiom of today and it’s closely related to “kick someone when they’re down”. Why?

Well, when Margot scolded John she specifically mentioned that John should not have tried to conduct the negotiation in Spanish, as his Spanish is not that great… She’s basically saying it was a stupid decision. When you heard Margot say that, you thought “This is a bit much – it’s a bit much to comment on the details of how John screwed this up.”

So in addition to telling Margot she shouldn’t kick John when he’s down, you say “C’mon Margot, leave John alone. Now is not the time to point out that his poor Spanish skills were the reason he failed. That’s kind of a cheap shot. He feels bad enough already… Let’s just leave it.” A cheap shot is, let’s say, an attack directed at someone who can’t defend themselves. It could be a mean remark – it could even be a mean comment disguised as concern.

Imagine that someone’s feeling particularly vulnerable after making a mistake or being told off, just like John is. Someone then goes over and makes them feel worse by bringing up something negative about that person’s life that catches them off guard. This person feels weak right now,  so they can’t even properly defend themselves. You know what I mean? So that would have been a cheap shot. If you regularly watch American TV shows and movies, you will have certainly come across someone saying “That was a cheap shot. That was uncalled for.”

So I’d like to hear from you: can you remember the last time you witnessed a case of “kicking someone when they’re down”? Please let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

Vocabulary

is hanging by a thread = está por um fio

gives him a scolding = dá uma dura nele

he’s been told off = já levou uma dura (to tell someone off = dar uma dura em alguém)

a pretty low place = bem por baixo (pretty aqui é intensificador)

let’s just leave it = vamos parar de falar / dar atenção a isso

uncalled for = desnecessário (não precisava ter ido tão longe com a crítica / ataque)

Veja mais:

Como digo em inglês: Pega leve com ele

Hello, everyone.

Hoje eu falo sobre idioms super comuns com a palavra together. Enjoy!

Hello, everyone. You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast, and today I’m going to talk about a few idioms with the word together. They’re very common and you’ll hear them all the time in daily conversation, so listen on.

Here’s one of them: put our heads together, or put their heads together, or your heads. Let’s say you were asked by your boss to find some kind of solution to a problem, and, after thinking about it for a while you realise that Joe, the head of the sales team, has some information that would likely be useful in solving this problem.

So you go ahead and give Joe a ring, and you say “Hi Joe, my boss has asked me to find a solution to problem XYZ. I know you’ve been affected by it as well and you’ve got some experience on the topic, so I thought we’d get to the solution much faster if we put our heads together and try and figure this thing out.”

“Let’s put our heads together” means let’s get together and talk about this thing. Let’s discuss it, let’s hear each other’s ideas and brainstorm together. This way, we will figure things out much faster. You’ll hear this idiom a lot in offices where people are used to getting together and discussing problems, or in companies where teamwork is encouraged. Let’s put our heads together and find a solution to this problem. Or, Karen and Steve weren’t able to find a solution individually, but I’m sure if they put their heads together they’ll get there.

Here’s a related proverb: two heads are better then one. Same idea underlying “let’s put our heads together” – one head may not be able to come up with a plan to fix this issue, but with two heads we’ve got a better chance. Do we have our own idioms to say this kind of thing in Brazil? If you know, please leave a comment – I want to know.

And here’s the other “together” idiom of today: get your act together. If someone at work, for example, tells you to get your act together, they’re, well… saying you should probably change your behaviour a little bit. You should become more organised and generally function a bit better. They probably think that your desk is a bit of a mess, or maybe you’ve been turning in your reports a bit late, or the last couple of times you participated in company meetings you were slightly unprepared and your performance left much to be desired.

So that person – let’s say it’s your boss – tells you “You need to get your act together and start making your desk presentable. I also expect you to turn in your reports on time, and come to meetings better prepared. Get organised and be efficient about your work. Get your act together!”

This idiom can be used in personal situations as well – let’s say Tim’s girlfriend broke up with him six months ago and Tim is still so depressed about it that he hasn’t cleaned his place in months! There’s dust and dirt everywhere and also, a strange smell coming from the kitchen. You are a good friend of Tim’s and therefore it’s your job to finally tell him “Tim, enough is enough, my friend. I know you’re in pain but you have to get on with your life. Look around you! There’s filth everywhere. You have got to get your act together starting now, clean up this mess and move on.”

What are your examples? Let me know in the comments and talk to you next time!

Key idioms

Vocabulary

enough is enough = já chega, já deu

filth = sujeira, imundície

Hi, all.

Hoje eu falo sobre idioms muito comuns aqui no Reino Unido, e que ouvi recentemente por causa do que aconteceu numa saída em grupo. Não perca!

Hi, all. You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast, and today I’m telling you what happened at a recent group outing.

Thank you for listening and for telling everyone you know,  and enjoy the podcast!

So you know when you get together with a friend and you catch each other up on what you’ve been up to… That’s what my friend Yasmin and I did about a week ago. So Yasmin was telling me that back in November her friend Sofia organised an outing on a Friday night. And here’s the first piece of vocabulary I’d like to highlight for our episode today: organise an event, organise an outing and so on. That’s what a British person will say when he or she is the one planning the event.

I’ll give you an example: a few weeks ago I organised dinner for a few friends of mine. I texted everyone with potential dates, heard back from them and settled on the final date. Then I called the pizza place, made a reservation and texted everyone back with the details. So I organised dinner for us, and later that evening my friends said “Thank you for organising”. This is more of a British way of saying it – I guess in the US you’d say something like “plan dinner” rather than organise.

So anyway, Yasmin’s friend Sofia organised an outing for herself, her boyfriend John, Sofia and two other people. So that was a total of 5 people. They went to a new pub in the neighbourhood, and once there they found a table and grabbed some drinks. Sofia, however, was disappointed that there was no dance floor. She really wanted to dance that night, and she was expecting to find a good dance floor and some nice music.

My friend Yasmin told me that the rest of the group was actually pleased with the pub, Yasmin included. Sofia wouldn’t let it go, though. She insisted on moving the party to a different pub with a dance floor, but by then it was already 10pm and no one really felt like leaving. Well, Sofia decided to go anyway – so she left and John, her boyfriend, went with her.

About a half hour later Sofia texted Yasmin, asking her to come to the other pub. Yasmin texted back saying she didn’t really feel like going as she was having a good time with the two other girls. Sofia insisted, saying that John was – listen to this – in a strop, and if Yasmin came over his mood might improve. To be in a strop means to be moody, to be in a bad mood. It’s British slang – never heard that in the US.

So basically Sofia wanted Yasmin to get to the second pub ’cause she thought John’s mood would improve – that’s because Yasmin and John have been friends for years. John was in a strop… And here’s another idiom my friend used to describe the situation – she said “Sofia told me John was throwing his toys out of the pram”. What does “pram” mean? A pram is a stroller – a four-wheeled sort of chair where you put a baby – and then you push it, of course! So the baby will often have toys in the pram, right? And when the baby has a strop and wants to throw a little tantrum, he or she will start throwing their toys out of the pram.

So when Yasmin told me that John was throwing his toys out of the pram, what she meant was, John was being immature and behaving like a child – maybe throwing a little temper tantrum. I think we can all think of examples when someone we know behaved like an immature child and threw their toys out of the pram.

Please let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

Vocabulary

a group outing = uma saída em grupo

catch someone up (on something) = atualizar alguém (sobre algo); contar as novidades a alguém (sobre algo)

Hey, you guys.

Hoje eu conto a confusão que aconteceu numa loja aqui na hora de buscar os pedidos que fiz pela Internet. Enjoy…

Hey, you guys. You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast, and today I’ll tell you about a mix-up at the store where I was supposed to collect my online orders.

So this is obviously our last episode of 2016 (two thousand sixteen) and I wanted you to hear about something that happened to me in the past couple of weeks. It’s nothing really out of the ordinary – not that it should happen all the time, hopefully it won’t. But it can happen to anyone, though, and it’s a bit of a departure from our usual content about shopping, which is usually, you know “How much is it?”, “Here’s your change” and so on.

Here’s what happened: there’s a store chain here in the UK called Wilko. I guess in Brazil the closest thing to Wilko would be Lojas Americanas. So, it was the second week of December and I realised I needed some cleaning wipes for my cell phone. Simple as that, my cell phone was getting dirty and I needed to clean it, so I went to Wilko and looked for wipes. No luck: they were out of cleaning wipes. That same day I went online and ordered the wipes to be delivered at my local store. Total of the order: £1.50.

The next day I decided to buy a nice box of chocolates I’d seen at Wilko a few weeks before. However, I already knew my local Wilko store was out of that because I checked last time I was there. So I went online again and placed a second order for the box of chocolates. That one cost me £8.

Every online store in the UK accepts PayPal as a payment method, right? So I paid for both orders using my PayPal account. It’s just easier than typing my card info every time. So right away my bank statement showed two charges by PayPal: one for £1.50 (one pound, fifty p) and another for £8.

So a week or so went by and I got a call from Wilko saying my stuff had arrived. They didn’t really say which order so I just assumed both of them were there. So I headed over to Wilko and then to the Customer Service counter, and gave them my name. The lady behind the counter went to the back of the store and only came back, like, ten minutes later, empty-handed. My stuff wasn’t there! Neither the cleaning wipes nor the chocolate box.

She asked me to wait a few more minutes so she could search for the products in the store. Then, she came back with the wipes, which were fortunately in stock now, but they were still out of the chocolates. So she just apologised for how long it was taking, and then I told her that I had actually changed my mind. Instead of waiting for the chocolate to arrive, I would cancel the order and take a refund. So right then and there, she asked me for my card and proceeded to credit my account with £8.

It should all have been done and finished right then – but it wasn’t. So just last week I got another call from Wilko saying my order had arrived! What? Anyway, I ended up forgetting about it until yesterday, when I looked at my bank statement and saw that Wilko had charged me for £8, again. Some kind of mix-up, for sure.

So today I swung by my local Wilko shop again in the hopes I’d be able to sort this all out and get a second refund. This time a guy spoke to me and I explained what happened. He said my refund should have come from PayPal, since it was my chosen method of payment for the order. So he rang some PayPal person and asked them to process my refund. And PayPal has now sent me an email saying the refund is being processed. So I guess that lady was maybe a bit hasty in giving me a refund through the store system rather than having PayPal do it.

So there you go everyone, rather than doing a whole episode reminiscing about our year together and talking about the highlights of 2017 – you got my refund story. This is useful stuff – I promise :) so enjoy.

Happy holidays and talk to you next year!

Vocabulary

a mix-up = uma confusão onde alguém achou que uma coisa era outra, o que era dessa pessoa era de outra, etc.

fifty p = fifty pence (pence é o plural de “penny”, o centavo inglês)

swung by = passado de ‘swing by’, ou ‘dar um pulo em (algum lugar)’

reminisce = lembrar e falar sobre algo que algo que já passou

she was a bit hasty in = ela foi um pouco apressada em

so there you go = então aí está / então é isso

Hey, everybody.

Hoje eu falo sobre um aspecto cultural super relevante dos ingleses! Não perca.

Hey, everybody. You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast, and today I’m talking about a cultural trait of English people.

Please download our Android app and leave a comment about this podcast at the iTunes store. Thank you very much and enjoy the podcast!

Today I’m going to tell you about something quite interesting – a cultural aspect of English people. So I dedicate this episode to all the listeners who are really curious about different cultures and, as for the rest of you… Keep listening ’cause there’s some good English here and you can never listen to too much good English.

So check this out: like most of you, I own a smartphone, right? And guess what – we get scam calls here in the United Kingdom as well. I know… Shocker. Scam calls are basically made by dishonest people who would like to steal your money, so they will tell you a lie hoping that you’ll either give them money or disclose personal information that they will use to swindle you out of your hard-earned cash.

So this week I received a message from my cell phone carrier warning about scam callers. After a brief introduction, they laid out the steps to beating the scammers, and that’s where this gets really interesting. I’m going to read them out to you:

First, hang up: Think calmly about what you are being told, ask yourself if it makes sense. Don’t give out any personal details. If it feels wrong, hang up. Then, call back: If the caller claimed to be from a company, call the official number (not the number you were called by) and ask whether they’ve called you. If they didn’t, they can help you report it.

Good advice, right? I mean, hang up, then try to call the company to find out whether they have really tried to contact you or not… That’s sensible advice and it could have been offered by a responsible company from any country, really.

But… that wasn’t all. I omitted step #2 on purpose, because that’s something only the English would say. Yes, there’s one more bit of advice between step #1, “Hang up and think calmly”, and step #3, “call the official number of the company”. Here’s step #2: Make tea: Making a cup of tea is the perfect opportunity to get away from the phone, pause and reflect on what to do next.

Only then, after you’ve made tea and calmly reflected, do they recommend that you try and contact the company. I’ve talked a little bit about tea and British people – if you’ve read my post you now know I wasn’t exaggerating when I said tea is a very important matter in this country and is seriously woven into the fabric of British society.

But there’s a reason why the company brought up “tea” in their advice – they’re telling their clients to reflect and think camly about what to do next. This is a very, very English way to behave. You guys, you have no idea how calm English people generally are at all times. Things that, communicated to the average Brazilian, would make them pull their hair out are met with a pensive look when relayed to an English person – that means they’re taking it in and trying to think about it rationally. Being rational, reacting calmly and not letting your emotions overtake you are traits that are highly valued by people out here.

That’s why only in England would you see a step 2 like the one I got on this email – a step that combines tea and calm reflection in the face of a problem.

That’s it for today – hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. Let me know either way and if you have your own ideas on how to react to scam callers – let me know in the comments and talk to you next time!

the original message (excerpt)

Vocabulary

“I know… Shocker” = expressão sarcástica (como “que surpresa, não?”)

swindle you out of (money) = trapacear, enganar você e roubar (dinheiro)

cell phone carrier = empresa de telefonia celular/móvel

sensible = com bom senso

they’re taking it in = eles estão absorvendo, “processando” aquilo que foi dito

relay = (nesse caso) passar uma informação (a alguém)

Hi, everyone.

Hoje eu falo sobre três idioms da língua inglesa que eu ouço toda hora vendo TV aqui. Confira!

Hi, everyone. You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast, and today I’m going to tell you about three terms, or idioms, that I hear all the time when I watch reality shows on British telly.

Please download our Android app and leave a comment about this podcast at the iTunes store. Thank you very much and enjoy the podcast!

So today I’m going to tell you about three idioms that I hear all the time watching shows with groups of friends… Especially some reality shows that involve, you know, groups of people that know each other, and they spend lots of time together, and… um, they’re friends but there’s a lot of drama, and people fight and make up… In other words, your run-of-the-mill reality show.

So the first one is when someone says “It’s not my place to say this or that to so-and-so”. Well, first of all, “so-and-so” is a generic term for an unspecified person. It’s like when we say “fulano” in Brazil. Back to our expression, it’s not my place. Its meaning is probably pretty straightforward, but let me give you an example: imagine you have a group of friends and then, one day, two people in this group have a fight.

Since you are particularly close to the two people involved in the disagreement, the other friends in the group ask you if you’re going to have a word with them to try and get them to make up. And you say “No, I’m not. It’s not my place to say anything. This is between the two of them.”

I think it’s very common to say this when there’s a fight between girlfriend and boyfriend, for example. Usually friends of the couple will say “It’s not my place to tell Mary that I think Richard did nothing wrong” or “It’s not my place to tell her what I heard about her boyfriend.” And like I said, I hear this a lot on reality shows but make no mistake – people outside of the television world use this a lot. This is very common in everyday conversation.

Our second idiom of today is an interesting one and it is really about people taking sides when there’s a disagreement between two people they know. People have rows all the time in reality shows, and their mutual friends will tend to take the side of the person they’re closest to. For example: John and Richard had a row, and Mary is taking Richard’s side on this one. She says “My loyalty lies with Richard; I’ve known him the longest.” That’s usually how it goes on the shows I’ve watched – if you’ve been friends with Richard for 5 years and friends with John for only a year, then your loyalty lies with Richard because you’ve known him longer than you’ve known John.

So sometimes the person who had a row with your friend will approach you and try to get your support, and you’ll say “Look, my loyalty lies with so-and-so.” What that means is, you’re saying you have your friend’s back. You’re on your friend’s side so you’re not going to side with this person.

And here’s our third idiom, which is also related to rows and disagreements. After two people have a disagreement, one of them will approach the other in order to talk and clear the air. Clear the air means make peace, at least superficially, so that they can be civil to each other when they’re in the same room. People don’t always clear the air in real life after having disagreements, right? But in the reality shows I watch that seems to be part of the cycle every time. This is the cycle: things are said, word spreads, people tell other people what was said about them, people fight, then they bump into each other and clear the air… so that they can have a new row in the future – seriously, that’s like 80% of what goes on in these shows.

I’m curious about your opinion on the topic. Do you usually clear the air with someone when you’ve had a disagreement with them, for example? Please let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

Vocabulary

telly = television (gíria UK)

run-of-the-mill = (algo) normal, típico

straightforward = fácil de compreender / realizar / etc.

row = (pronunciado “ráu”) briga

word spreads = a notícia se espalha