Podcast Inglês Online

Hello, all. Hoje eu falo e dou vários exemplos sobre alguns idioms comuníssimos do inglês que usam a palavra GUT.

Hello, all. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Have you ever heard the word GUT? If you’re in the habit of watching American TV shows and movies, I’m pretty sure you have. Gut means belly, or even ‘intestines’. Look at the picture: that’s a guy with a big gut. By the way, people call that a beer gut, or a beer belly. A beer gut is usually the result of habitual beer drinking. I searched Twitter for people using this idiom and found this: “I’m either pregnant or I have a beer gut.” Well, I hope she has figured that one out by now. Then, this guy complained that… “Every day at the gym so far someone I know has commented about my beer gut.” Geez. Anyway, beer isn’t the only cause of a beer gut, that much I know…

So let’s move on to a very interesting idiom: gut feeling. That does not mean having a sick stomach, or having a bad feeling associated with your stomach. A gut feeling is an intuitive feeling. It’s something you know, and sometimes you can’t explain why you know it or where it came from. Some people call it intuition, some call it instinct, and other people call it divine guidance.

Whatever you call it, when you have a gut feeling about something… I, personally, would recommend that you listen to it. I don’t know about you, but when I have a gut feeling about something, it’s usually right. And, honestly, sometimes I regret not listening to it. I think there have been times when… I felt pressured to take a particular course of action that was the opposite of what my gut was telling me. I can tell you that I always regret going against my gut, or not listening to my gut. OK, so, as you can see, we can just use the word “gut” – listen to your gut, listen to what your gut says, go with your gut. When people say something like that – go with your gut, they’re saying “If you’ve got a gut feeling about this, trust it.” What’s your gut feeling about this, or that? Deep down, in your gut, what do you think will happen?

So I totally agree when someone says “when in doubt, go with your gut”. Do what feels right. This is a very common phrase: go with your gut. If someone tells you they were faced with a difficult situation and didn’t really know what to do but then decided to go with their gut… Perhaps they ended up making a decision that was not what everyone expected, but it felt right because they went with their gut. They had a gut feeling about it and they listened to it.

Now, can you guess what a gut reaction is? This is another great term with the word gut. Your gut reaction is your immediate, instinctive reaction to something. Before you have time to think, before you’re influenced by other people’s reactions… A gut reaction is your true, genuine reaction. If someone says “What is your gut reaction to this? Please give me your gut reaction”, that means they wanna know your immediate thoughts on something, before you have time to choose your words. Just give me your gut reaction. No sugarcoating. Don’t mince your words. I want your gut reaction.

So I am sure everyone has plenty of experience with following or not following their gut. I wanna hear your stories. Did you follow your gut in this particular occasion? Did you not follow your gut? How did it turn out? Talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

that much I know… = é só isso que eu sei…

no sugarcoating = sem dourar a pílula

don’t mince your words = não meça suas palavras

Hey, everybody. Depois da parte 1 dessa série de 2 partes, em que falei sobre as similaridades entre may e might no contexto de possibilidades presentes e futuras no inglês, hoje continuo com exemplos desses dois modal verbs em tempos verbais um pouco mais complexos.

Hey, everybody. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

it might have worked out

So today I give you the second part of a 2-part series on may and might. In the first part, I talked about a few simple ways to use may and might interchangeably. In today’s episode, I’ll take it a step further  and give you examples of may and might being used with multi-word verb expressions. Here’s what I’m talking about: we might have gone to the show if it had not rained. He may have read the letter by now. So today’s examples are a bit more complex and you will hear lots of “have been, have made, have gone” and so on.

There are two main kinds of situation I’m going to focus on: in the first one, there’s a possibility that something may have occurred, or might have occurred – we don’t know. This is the one where may and might are still basically interchangeable in general. In the second situation, I am going to talk about something that might have happened in a certain way, but didn’t – it happened differently, and I know that for a fact. In this one, we usually go with MIGHT.

So on to the first one. Let me present you with a few hypothetical situations… Let’s say your friend Mike said something today that, he thinks, might have offended… his friend Lisa. Mike doesn’t know for sure. Lisa may or may not be offended. Lisa might be offended – no one knows. So Mike thinks that his comment might have offended Lisa. Here we could also say, Mike thinks his comment may have offended Lisa.

So here’s another one – you gave your students homework yesterday, and today you find out that half of your students were not able to do the homework. It may have been too difficult for them. You don’t know yet, but you’re about to ask. So this is what you’re thinking: it might have been too difficult for them, or it may have been too difficult. Your friend Mary said she was going to call you up yesterday, but didn’t. Why? What is the reason she didn’t call? You don’t know for sure. She may have been really busy, or she may have forgotten. You’re not sure, but she might have forgotten, or she might have been busy.

Now, think of a few things that could have happened in a certain way, but did not. They happened in a different way. And you know how they turned out; it’s a fact. Example: my friend John might have enjoyed his new job (it looked very promising) but it turned out that he hated it. We know for a fact that John didn’t like his job, and in this case it is more common to use MIGHT. He might have enjoyed his job, but he didn’t. I bought a lottery ticket when I was eighteen so I might have become a millionaire at 18, only… it wasn’t the winning ticket so I didn’t become a millionaire. Things between you and your boyfriend might have worked out great!… but they didn’t, unfortunately, and you guys broke up after a few months.

Now, think of something from your own life. Something that happened in a certain way. Before that outcome came about, though, that thing might have happened in a different way. What is your example? Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

on to the first one = vamos à primeira, adiante para a primeira (situação)

how they turned out = como elas acabaram acontecendo

it turned out that he… = no fim das contas, ele…

turned out differently  = acontecido de maneira diferente

Hey, all. Hoje eu falo pra você sobre o chamado phrasal verb “keep up”. Você certamente já ouviu essa expressão se tem costume de assistir filmes e seriados legendados, e hoje se familiariza um pouco mais com ela no podcast.

Hey, all. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Today we take a look at the phrasal verb keep up. Keep up can have a few different meanings, and in today’s episode we’re gonna focus on two very popular, very common ways to use it.

Imagine you started a new job two months ago. So today your boss calls you for a little meeting… She says “I want to congratulate you on your work. You’ve been doing a great job. Keep it up!” Your boss told you to keep it up. That’s the same as “keep up the good work.”

“Keep up” is an extremely common phrasal verb and if you’re a movie buff or into TV shows, you have certainly heard it before. When your boss tells you to keep it up, what is she talking about? She wants you to maintain the same level of performance at work. She wants you to keep doing a good job. Don’t drop the ball! She congratulated you on your good work, and then told you to keep it up. Keep on doing a great job.

Your friend Laurie has been learning to play the piano. She plays a beautiful piece on the piano. You say “Keep it up!”

I can’t keep up

Now imagine a different kind of situation. Let’s say you’ve been going to an aerobics class at the gym for about a year. You do great at that class. You even look like you could teach that class – you’re that amazing. You’re moving to a different neighbourhood though, so you leave your old gym and sign up for another gym that’s just next door to where you live now. You start going to the aerobics class, only to realize that you can barely get through 50% of the class! You’re in shock, but it’s really happening: you can’t follow all the moves, they’re too complex. You’re falling behind in the sequences – the pace is too intense. In short, you can’t keep up with the class!

You can’t keep up with this aerobics class. It’s a bit too hard for you; too complex, too fast, it’s too much for you right now. You see the other people in the class and they’re doing just fine. Now, you… You can’t keep up. You can’t keep up with the teacher, you can’t even keep up with the other people in the class! That means that right now you’re not able to match their ability. You can’t do things on the same level they do.

Here’s a different example. You and your friend Mark are both preparing for the same exam. So you guys agree to meet every other day to study together. However, Mark doesn’t have a job and therefore he’s been studying all day long, every day. You, on the other hand, have a full time job and can only study at night. So every time you guys meet to study, you can tell Mark is way ahead of you. You just can’t keep up with Mark. He’s got all that free time to study, and you don’t. He’s always going to be ahead of you.

Now, come on. Tell me about a situation where you couldn’t keep up. Maybe it was a gym class. Maybe it was a night class – you were not able to keep up because you worked all day and you were too tired to learn anything at night. Maybe you can’t keep up with a relative or a friend – they’re so intelligent, so fast in their conversation that sometimes you feel a bit lost… That can happen!

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

Key terms

Glossário

movie buff = alguém que curte filmes

drop the ball = falhar, cometer um erro

you’re THAT amazing = você é tão fantástico (que consegue fazer isso)

way ahead of you = muito na sua frente

Hi, everybody. Hoje eu falo pra você sobre mais duas expressões idiomáticas do inglês que estão na boca de todo americano: How come? e What for? A segunda é o nosso famoso “Pra que..?” Quanto à primeira, ouça e descubra, caso não conheça, ou acostume-se mais com ela. Nunca é demais! E mais uma observação para hoje: como eu geralmente faço nos episódios, they, them e their são usados para falar de alguém com gênero indefinido – já reparou nisso? Preste atenção no exemplo onde eu falo sobre a/o spouse.

Hi, everybody. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast, and it’s a bit longer than usual. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Have you ever heard this phrase: How come? How come I have to do this? How come the sky is blue? How come it’s raining when the weather forecast said it was going to be sunny? Well, even if you haven’t heard “How come?” before, it’s a very common phrase and once you get familiar with it, you’ll start noticing it all the time in movies and TV shows.

In short, the most common explanation to “How come?” is that it means Why? I’m talking about the meaning of “how come” here – it’s similar to why. However, we say Why do I have to go to bed now?, and we say How come I have to go to bed now? We never say “How come do I have to go to bed now? “- no! Again, we say “How come I have to go to bed now?” What is the reason I have to go to bed now? How come I have to go to bed now?

And before I give you more examples of How come?, let me clarify one thing: “how come?” is informal, which means you should use it when speaking to friends, family and other people you’re close to. We don’t use it in writing for a general audience, or in speaking to someone you don’t know, for example… Or when you’re addressing an important person, like the President or a judge. If you used informal speech such as “How come? ” with someone like that, it could be considered impolite or even arrogant.

OK. Now that that’s taken care of, here’s another example: How come you’re not attending the conference? You signed up for the conference. You were supposed to come. You told me you were coming. And now my assistant tells me you’re not going any more. How come? You’re not attending the conference? How come? How come no one told me we were having the meeting at a different building? I’d like to know the reason for that. How come no one told me?

You changed your mind about buying a new car? How come? Well, I decided to put the money in a savings account instead.

Can you remember a good example with “How come?” Maybe something you heard in a movie, or read somewhere. Let me know in the comments!

Now here’s the second expression for today’s episode: What for? It’s very simple: when we ask “What for?”, we’re asking “for what purpose”. Let’s say you move to a new neighborhood with your family, and your spouse, who has never had a car in their life, says “I need a car.” You look at your spouse and say “What for? Your office is just around the corner, our kids’ school is three blocks away and we have everything we need within walking distance. What do you need a car for? You think you need a car… What for?

What would be the purpose of a car? What do you need a car for? And your spouse might answer, “Well, I just signed up for yoga classes in our old neighborhood, so I definitely will need a car to get to my yoga classes.” I need a car to drive to my yoga classes. I need a car for the purpose of driving to yoga.

You, however, are not convinced. You tell your spouse “There are several bus lines that go to our old neighborhood. There’s a bus stop just across the street, and you can take bus 432 to your yoga classes.” So you don’t think your spouse needs a car for the purpose of getting to yoga. And they finally agree with you: “You’re right, I don’t need a car for that. I can take the bus – it’s actually much easier.”

You tell your mother you’re going somewhere and she says “Please take the umbrella with you.” You say “What for? There’s no sign of rain.” And your mother says “You never know. Better safe than sorry.” So you end up taking an umbrella with you, for the purpose of being prepared in case it rains.

You tell your friend Mark that you’re going to study Geography next year. He says “What for? You said you wanted to be an engineer! You should study Physics and Maths!” And you say “Well, there isn’t really a good reason other than, I love Geography and I wanna have a great time studying it.” So what do you wanna study Geography for? Well, you enjoy geography, that’s pretty much it! There isn’t a practical reason. It’s not for professional reasons. You want to study Geography for the reason that you enjoy it, that’s all.

When someone tells you they’re going to buy something you consider useless or unnecessary, it’s very common to react with the question “What for?” Can you think of an example in your life? Someone told you they were going to buy something that you thought was completely unnecessary, and you thought, or said “What for?”

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

Key terms

Glossário

that’s taken care of = a gente já cuidou disso

other than = a não ser (a razão que)

Hey, everybody. Hoje eu falo sobre celebridades, os nomes que todos conhecem e os fãs que não conseguem tirar os olhos de seus ídolos, tudo em inglês.

Hey, everybody. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

So how do we say “todo mundo conhece o Faustão” in English? We can say “everybody knows Faustão”… of course. And that structure is not the focus of our podcast. This one is: Faustão is a household name in Brazil. Listen again: Faustão is a household name in Brazil.

First of all, what is a household? A household is a domestic unit where a group of people live – usually a family but sometimes it’s just a group of people who are not even related to each other. A household can be an apartment, it can be a house, a hut, a trailer – whatever serves as a home to a group of people. When you ask that person for their address, they will tell you the address of the household.

So when we say that someone is a household name, that would mean that this person is known in every household – in other words, almost everyone knows who they are. In Brazil we have, like everywhere else, a huge number of people who are household names. Roberto Carlos, Xuxa, Ronaldo, Faustão, just to name a few.

Some people dream of becoming a household name, right? They want to become a celebrity, or a famous scientist maybe, or a politician. And obviously there are people who are household names locally, in their hometown. If you grew up in a town that isn’t the capital of your state, you know what I’m talking about. Some people become local celebrities, widely known to the population, so they’re a household name in that town.

I was reading a blog post the other day about an artist called Marian Hill. The blogger asked the following question in the post: “How is Marian Hill not a household name yet?” She thought this artist, Marian Hill, was so great, so talented, that she could not believe the artist had not yet become really famous and well-known… In other words, a household name.

If I asked you to name a few household names in Brazil, who would you say? The first name that pops up in my head is Pelé. The second one, I have to say, is Xuxa (although I never watched her show – it’s true.) Let me know in the comments who pops to mind first.

So we’re talking about celebrities and I wonder who’s gonna tell me about their celebrity encounter. Yep, I’d like to hear about it (actually, read – please post a comment). Have you ever had a run-in with a celebrity? Who was it? Are they a household name? Share the deets! Where were you, and when?

Or maybe it was a celebrity sighting and you saw them from afar. Whatever the case, I’m curious: are you a starstruck kind of person? If you are, that means you have sort of an ongoing fascination with celebrities – at the very least you’re interested in them and you would probably be in awe if you spotted a celebrity at the supermarket, for example. You wouldn’t be able to take your eyes off them, your heart rate would go up a bit, and you would probably want to follow that person around for a bit until you worked up the courage to approach them and ask for an autograph.

So.. come on, tell us: when you had that run-in with your celebrity, were you starstruck? What was your reaction? What did you do? Talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

pops to mind = vem à cabeça

a run in = um “encontro” que não estava marcado

deets = gíria para ‘details’

celebrity sighting = quando você avista uma celebridade

from afar = à distância

in awe = maravilhado(a)

Hi, everyone. Hoje eu falo sobre as diferenças (ou seria ‘similaridades’?) entre may e might. Esse episódio é a parte 1 do assunto, que continua com mais um episódio em algumas semanas. :)

Possibilities

Hi, everyone. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

This episode is part 1 of a two-part series about MAY and MIGHT. Trust me, it’s not a complicated topic – you’ll see. However I try to keep every episode under five minutes, so I’m guessing I’ll have two episodes to cover all the examples of may and might I wanna give you. So this is part 1, and part 2 is coming up in a few weeks.

OK – let’s talk about the basic differences between MAY and MIGHT. Actually I should say… Let’s talk about all the similarities between MAY and MIGHT, since, as it turns out, these are more frequent than the differences. My hope for this episode is that it helps dispel the myth that there are rigid rules about the usage of one or the other – most of the time, there aren’t. So just relax and give this episode a good listen.

Fist off, both may and might are very common when we talk about possibility. If you come to London I will tell you that you might have a hard time getting on the tube after midnight. That’s because most tube stations close around thirty minutes after midnight. You might have a hard time, but it is possible to get on the tube after midnight. And I could also have told you “You may have a hard time getting on the tube after midnight.”

And what would be the difference in that case? Well, you will find that some people think that it’s better to use might when something is less likely, and may when something is a bit more likely… I’ll admit that that’s how I do it, and that’s the general feeling I get from listening to English. If you have a different experience in your contact with native English, please let me know in the comments. So I, in particular, would say “You may have a hard time…” if I thought that would be more likely to happen.

Now, here’s what I really want you to pay attention to: is that a rule? Would one or the other significantly change the meaning of what I’m saying? The answer is “No.” Some grammar books state that may means a stronger possibility than might; and by the same token, other people, including teachers, think that this is a very flexible “rule.”

So here are other things I could say using may and might interchangeably: I may go to the party – I’m not sure yet. We might swing by after dinner. Jane may call you about the report… She seems to be unclear on a few numbers. My friends might enjoy this restaurant. I may go to the gym on Sunday but I’m not sure yet. So just for the sake of being very clear, here are the same examples with the other word: I might go to the party – I’m not sure yet. We may swing by after dinner. Jane might call you about the report… She seems to be unclear on a few numbers. My friends may enjoy this restaurant. I might go to the gym on Sunday but I’m not sure yet.

When talking about present and future possibilities in life – such as illustrated in the examples, use may or might fearlessly. In part 2 I’ll explore slightly different situations and we’ll see what works best with each one of them. Now go ahead and type a couple of your own examples in the comment area. Talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

dispel the myth = acabar com, quebrar o mito de

have a hard time (doing something) = vai ser difícil (fazer algo)

by the same token = da mesma maneira

interchangeably = um ou o outro, sem prejudicar o resultado

swing by = dar uma passada

Hey, all. Sabe quando alguém te conta uma história, e no fim a pessoa não consegue entender porque a amiga ficou brava com ela… E você pensa “Hmm, nem imagino porque…”, pois está óbvio pra todo mundo, menos para ela? Pois é. Nosso idiom de hoje serve exatamente para isso.

Hey, all. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

So almost every time I see the word WONDER being taught to English students, the expression “I wonder if” is there. That would be equivalent to our “Será que…” I wonder if it’s going to rain. I wonder if Brazil will ever win the World Cup again, and so on. The term “I wonder”, however, is not our focus for this episode.

Let’s take a look at another very common way to use wonder. Let’s say your friend Chris tells you that his brother bought a used car at Mike’s Used Cars shop. You look at Chris and you say “I wonder why your brother did that… Mike’s shop is the most expensive  place in the area to get a car.” And then Chris goes on to explain to you that although Mike’s cars are indeed expensive, their service is unbeatable. So when Chris tells you that, you say “Oh, ok. Now I get it.”

Now you understand why Chris’ brother bought the car with Mike, even though Mike’s cars are super expensive. Before Chris explained it to you, though… It was a mystery. “I wonder why Chris’ brother would buy a car with Mike. They’re so expensive!”. Hmm, he bought a car from Mike… I wonder why…? You can basically use that for anything. Whenever you don’t get why someone did something, or the reason why something is the way it is.  I wonder why they’ve changed their logo; I liked the old one. I wonder why “tanto faz” means “it doesn’t matter.”

So now listen to this one: imagine you’re throwing a party and you decide to hire a florist to decorate. Only, your friend Sally was planning on hiring the same florist for her wedding. In fact, she was the person who told you about the florist. She was very excited about having this person decorate the church, the reception ceremony… So she’s very surprised when you tell her you hired this person to decorate your party, which is a week before her wedding.

You can’t see why that would be a problem, so when you realize Sally hasn’t come to your party you’re really surprised! The two of you are such good friends. You try to call her, and she doesn’t pick up. You tell a mutual friend about what’s going on, saying at the end “Not only has Sally missed my party but now she won’t pick up the phone!” Your friend says “I wonder why…!” You look at her, puzzled, and she says “C’mon! You stole her florist one week before her wedding!” Oh. It all makes sense now. Sally’s mad because you hired the same florist she wanted to hire.

So when your friend says “I wonder why…!” she is being sarcastic, of course. Here’s another example: your brother has an exam next week, but instead of spending most of his time preparing for the exam, he’s really more interested in watching TV and playing videogames. Every time you walk past his bedroom, you notice he’s… not studying. Later that week he tells you he failed the exam.  Your reaction is… “I wonder why.” Obviously, you’re being sarcastic. You know very well why he failed the exam.

Tell me: how would you use “I wonder why” in your life? Please let me know in the comments when that happened and what it was about. Talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

indeed = de fato

unbeatable = imbatíveis

Hi, everyone. Neste episódio, eu falo sobre dois idioms do inglês que você não vai querer perder: um equivale ao nosso “dá um desconto” (quando alguém é iniciante, por exemplo); e o outro é para quando alguém está folgando… Sabe como é?

Hi, everyone. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Alright. So how about when you get to the office on Monday and as soon as you step in, your boss calls you to introduce you to your new colleague, Johnny? It’s Johnny’s first day in the office. So on Thursday you overhear another colleague, Mike, telling your boss that Johnny has messed up a couple of spreadsheets. Your boss says “I’ll talk to Johnny and train him to use the spreadsheets, don’t worry. Now cut him some slack, the guy has been with us for less than a week.”

Your boss asks Mike to cut him some slack. Cut Johnny some slack. Johnny is the new guy, and he hasn’t been fully trained in his new job yet. He hasn’t learned all the ins and outs of the job. So cut him some slack. Cut Johnny some slack. Give him some time to get used to the office, get used to the job, get used to the spreadsheets… Don’t be too hard on Johnny – cut him some slack.

So when you cut someone some slack, you’re treating them in a way that is less severe than usual, or being less demanding with that person. Why? Well, there’s more than one reason why you may want to do that. Let’s say you have just lost your job and your friend Mary came over to your place to keep you company and make sure you’re alright. She’s being a good friend. So, right now she’s setting the table for lunch. Your sister looks at what she’s doing and says “Hey, your friend Mary can’t set a table… She’s doing it all wrong!” And you say “OK, I’ll fix it later. Please cut her some slack… She’s just trying to help.” So here’s your sister criticizing your friend Mary, because Mary just isn’t very good at setting a table. You know Mary’s just being sweet and trying to help, though. So you tell your sister “Cut her some slack, she’s just trying to help.”

I found an interesting examplo someone posted on Twitter: “When you make a mistake, fix it, but also be sure to forgive yourself. Cut yourself some slack… Nobody’s perfect.” So this one is for when you mess up and then start beating yourself up for it. Cut yourself some slack. Everyone makes mistakes. So, here’s a plan: learn from your mistake and next time hopefully you’ll do better.

OK, so… You know when a person all of a sudden, for some reason, starts working less hard than usual? Their work, or effort, used to be OK. Now, it’s like they’re not working as hard. They’re not putting in the same amount of effort. Something has changed. Maybe they’re preoccupied with other things, maybe they’re not so interested in this activity any longer, or… who knows? Whatever the reason, this person is slacking off. This person has become inefficient, or maybe they have become a bit lazy. They are slacking off.

There are other slightly different meanings for this idiom, “to slack off”, but the one I just illustrated is, by far, what I hear the most. And we use it just like that: Susan is slacking off; he’s slacking off; they’re slacking off. It’s common to say where or when you or someone else slacked off. For example, someone posted on Twitter “I regret slacking off in high school.” So the girl who posted that was probably not a great student in high school. Maybe she missed some classes, or she just didn’t study much. And now she regrets it. She regrets slacking off in school.

So imagine you’ve gone to a beach house with a group of friends and every one has a job. Your job is to take the trash out every day. Your friend Mary’s job is to wash the dishes. Tony’s job is to sweep the floor, and so on. So after a few days you notice that dirty dishes are piling up in the sink. What’s going on? Well, Mary’s slacking off. She hasn’t really been doing her job of washing the dishes. The first day she did it, but now she’s slacking off and there’s a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and it has been there for two days.

Sometimes we can tell that someone is slacking off – they’re just not doing their job as well as they’re supposed to. Has that happened to you? Have you had to talk to someone at work, or maybe fire someone because they were slacking off?  Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

overhear = ouve (a conversa ou fala de outros, sem estar participando dela)

setting the table = pondo a mesa

beat yourself up = se torturar por causa de um erro que você cometeu

preoccupied = tem outras coisas na cabeça

Hello, all. Neste episódio, eu falo sobre dois idioms do inglês super comuns com o verbo count. Um deles é o que se usa pra dizer a uma pessoa que ela deveria ser grata.

Hello, all. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

So let’s get started. I was thinking about our first idiom of today, which is related to gratitude and being grateful, and… Well, some people say that it is actually really important to be grateful or express gratitude. They say that being grateful will impact your life positively – it will not only make you feel good but it will also attract good things. Do you share that opinion? If you don’t, why not?

Also, feeling grateful does feel good, doesn’t it? It’s a nice feeling. So when someone tells you to count your blessings, they’re really telling you that you should think about the good things in your life. When someone says that, they’re usually trying to make you see the positive things in your life. What is a blessing? Basically, a blessing is something good that happens to you or someone else. Christians, for example, usually pray that God will bless them. However, it happens to all of us every once in a while: things don’t go our way and we get angry, upset, depressed… That’s when someone might say “Count your blessings.” Think of all the good you’ve had so far, remember all the good in your life. I did a search for “count your blessings” on Twitter and found these examples:

So what do you think? It is always nice to say “Oh I think it is really important to count our blessings” but do you actually remember to do it in your daily life?

Now here’s an idiom that is very similar to what we say in Portuguese, and for that very reason, many people probably don’t say it the right way. I’m talking about “lose count of something.” We do not say “lose THE count.” Rather, we say “lose count of something.” That means you can’t remember how many times something happened, or happens. So here are a few very simple examples from my life: I like the sitcom Friends so much that I have lost count of how many times I watched each episode. It’s true. I have definitely lost count. I’ve lost count of the podcasts I’ve made. Does anyone care to count? It’s in the hundreds, that much I know. I lost count of all the times I started a gym membership in Brazil.

Someone posted on Twitter that they have lost count of how many cups of coffee they’ve had today. Someone else posted she lost count of how many times she’s cried today!

Please give me your own examples in a comment. Can you think of anything that’s happened in your life so many times, you just lost count? Talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

things don’t go our way = as coisas não acontecem do jeito que a gente quer

rather = aqui no texto, o sentido é “ao invés disso”

Does anyone care to count? = alguém quer contar?

that much I know = isso eu sei

Hello, everyone. Neste episódio, eu falo sobre dois idioms super comuns com a palavra LIFE… Nenhum dos dois pode ser traduzido literalmente para o português, mas acredito que não seja difícil pegar o sentido deles. Por isso, ouça bem o episódio e me diga se tiver perguntas!

Hello, everyone. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

OK, so today we have got a couple of very interesting terms – they’re really idiomatic expressions, or idioms, and they’re both used when you want to communicate that you can’t do something. So listen to this: I can’t draw to save my life. I can’t make a good drawing, I can’t draw anything. I can’t draw to save my life. If I needed to draw in order to save my life, I’d be dead. If my life depended on my drawing abilities, I’d be dead. I can’t draw to save my life.

Listen to this – someone posted on Twitter “I’ll remember a face but can’t remember a person’s name to save my life.” Are you that way? I have to say, I am a lot like that. I will always remember a face, but I can’t remember that person’s name to save my life. There are exceptions, of course… In general, though, I can’t remember a person’s name to save my life. Then if I meet them again, and they tell me their name again… That’s a different story. I’ll remember it. But the first time I’ve met them? Forget it.

Now think about your life. Try to remember something you have tried to do – an activity like dancing, singing, playing soccer, cooking… What is it that you can’t do to save your life? What is it that you can’t do at all? For me it would have to be singing. I can’t sing to save my life. What’s your example?

Now here’s another idiom that is kinda funny. Listen to this: I know I parked my car in this lot but I can’t for the life of me remember where. I’m sure this is the parking lot where I’ve parked my car, I know that much. However now I can’t find it. I don’t know where I’ve parked it. I can’t remember at all where I’ve parked it. I can’t for the life of me remember where my car is.

“For the life of me” is one of those expressions that sounds a bit dramatic because, well, it’s making a point, really: it’s giving emphasis to that thing you can’t do, or can’t remember. Here’s another example I found on Twitter: “For two days I’ve smelled like cigarettes and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why.” I get what this guy is saying. If he doesn’t smoke and nobody in his office smokes, and his housemates don’t smoke – how can he be smelling like cigarettes? Of course, these are only my assumptions but I think they’re good assumptions ’cause the guy sounds pretty confused. He has smelled like cigarettes for two days, and he’s saying “I can’t for the life of me figure out why.”

Can’t remember if I turned off the curling iron

One girl said “I remember what I did 10 years ago but I can’t for the life of me remember if I turned off the curling iron this morning.” I think that happens to lots of people – they can’t remember whether they switched the lights off, or the TV, or the oven… I had something similar happen to me this afternoon – I couldn’t for the life of me remember if I had locked the door when I left.

So I would like you to think about some recent event in your life – a situation where you had a thought like “Geez, I can’t for the life of me remember something, or do something.” Please let me know in the comments when that happened and what it was about. Talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

it’s making a point = está comunicando uma ideia específica

Geez = caramba (provavelmente vem de “Jesus”)