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

Estou achando que tenho aumentado a velocidade da fala nos últimos episódios. Que acham?

Transcrição

Hi, you guys. 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.

So today let’s take a look at a couple of expressions with the word SKY. You know, sky, that thing that looks blue from where we stand. We have to look up to see it and it is also a place, so to speak, that we think of as very high, very far away from where we are right now. So there’s a little expression that we use to communicate that… something is at a really high level. Of course, it has to make sense: we could be talking about prices, we could be talking about inflation, or the temperature when it’s really hot. We use the expression sky-high for that.

So what does “sky-high” mean? It means as high as the sky, and I think we can all agree that that’s really high. Here’s one example I found, from a tweet. It is a question, so just listen: “How many times has your anxiety, stress or worry reached sky-high levels?” What that person is asking is, how many times have you felt really intense anxiety, stress or worry; so intense that we could say that the levels of anxiety, stress or worry you felt were sky-high? In other words, as high as the sky. So you can see that this expression, sky-high, here works as an adjective. Listen again to the question: How many times has your anxiety, stress or worry reached sky-high levels?

Or let’s talk about inflation. Maybe younger listeners won’t remember but inflation in Brazil, in the 80’s, was out of control and prices were sky-high. No surprises there, right? Prices usually go sky-high when inflation is out of control. Here’s another example I got from the Internet… “Never get your hopes high because it would mean the disappointment would be sky-high.” So this person is advising others to not get their hopes high. Don’t be too hopeful, don’t expect things will go just the way you want them to, ’cause if you do that your disappointment will be sky-high.

Here’s what another person said: “I’ve been eating a lot of cake and sweets the past few months… I had my blood tested last week and my blood sugar went sky-high! What to do?” Well, I’d say… Cut down on the sugar, right? But that’s just me. Sometimes when people move to another city, their expenses go sky-high. Why? Well, because everything is more expensive in the new city: rent, groceries, utilities… So their expenses go sky-high. What are your examples? When did something like that happened to you? Maybe your emotions got to a sky-high level after something happened? Maybe your performance at work went sky-high after you started your new job? Let us know in the comments.

And now listen to this: There is no limit to what we could achieve or create. Sky’s the limit. “Sky’s the limit”, or “The sky’s the limit”, is a popular way of saying… what? That actually there is no limit. Of course, this term, or this expression comes up a lot when we’re talking about dreams, creativity, or what we can achieve in life, how far we can go, or prosperity, things like that. The sky’s is the limit. I have a feeling many listeners here will like this phrase. What do you think about that? Do you think there are real, actual limits to what a person can do? Sometimes we hear those unbelievable, incredible stories about people who achieved something that just seems impossible. It could be someone who was dirt poor as a child and went on to build an empire (I guess Silvio Santos...