Hi, there. Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre expressões em inglês com a palavra book.

Transcrição

Hello, there. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

How about we take a quick look at a couple of very simple expressions with the word “book”? And I’ll go straight to the example so you get the meaning of the first expression. Let’s say you’re talking to your friend Leslie about this guy, Michael. Leslie is saying that Michael is eighteen years old and doesn’t want to go to college because he thinks working is more important than getting a formal education. Many people criticised his decision, but Leslie’s opinion on this matter is that someone who is willing to take on a job and work hard is an admirable person.

You have the opposite opinion, though: you think everyone who’s around Michael’s age should concentrate on studying, on getting an education. You think Michael is just looking for an excuse to not go to college. In your opinion, college is hard work and he’s trying to avoid it. Well, Leslie strongly disagrees. She says “Michael isn’t a lazy guy. He’s only eighteen and he’s already got a job. He’s a hard worker and very independent. That is a pretty great thing to do at his age in my book”.

Again: Leslie said “That is a pretty great thing to do in my book”. In my book… what does that mean? Is she an author, has she written books? Nope, not likely. That’s an expression which pretty much means “in my opinion, according to what I believe, according to my values”. That’s a great thing in my book means, in my opinion that’s a great thing. As I see it, that’s a great thing. So that’s a really good thing in my book.

Here are more examples I found on Internet forums: one guy said he went shopping for a guitar and found one that was really heavy. He then said that that was not a bad thing in his book, since he has a preference for heavy guitars. According to what he thinks, according to his views and to what he believes, heavy guitars are a good thing. Heavy guitars are not a bad thing in his book.

People also say “Not in my book” to communicate “Not in my opinion, not according to my views”. One example: I was reading a website that allows people to book hotels online. OK, this is another meaning for the word “book”. That means “make a reservation”. So after someone has had their stay in a hotel, they can go back to this website and leave a review. In other words, they can evaluate the hotel and write about what they thought was good and bad about their stay. One person said that the hotel advertised itself as “trendy”. What does trendy mean? When something’s trendy, that means it represents or displays or is built according to the latest fashion trends; it’s modern; it’s hip and so on.

Well, that person said that this hotel promoted itself as trendy, and then he said in his review “Trendy hotel? Not in my book”. So according to what he understands as trendy, hmm… that hotel is not trendy. Not in his book. He went on to explain: he said that the room was dusty, worn and there were lots of cobwebs on the curtains. Yeah, I guess that would not be trendy in my book either. What do you think?

So how about I ask you a few questions and you give me your answers saying something like “Yeah,