Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Slang and idiomatic expressions
Slang
Consists of very informal expressions or words which normally feature in speech rather than writing and are used by people who know each other well or who have the same jobs, backgrounds or interests. They often relate to sex, drink, drugs, relationships, social groups, etc. They are often fairly strong in emotive terms and may sometimes be found offensive to people outside the group.
Here are some more expressions:
It may be big bucks to you, but it's chickenfeed to me.
So, who came to this knees-up, then?
My ex was absolutely bonkers.
We'll have to get some booze in for tonight.
Big bucks denotes a large amount of money (bucks are dollars), chickenfeed is small change. Knees-up = party, my ex = former boyfriend or girlfriend. Absolutely bonkers is very crazy or unpredictable. Booze is alcohol, just as a boozer is a pub or someone who drinks a lot of alcohol.
If you are exposed to slang expressions in your learning of English, it is important for you to understand their meaning and the emotive force behind them. It may be less appropriate for you to use them if you are not part of that group. In fact, it may sound strange and inappropriate if you do so. Also slang changes very quickly.
Idiomatic expressions
Idiomatic expressions are combinations or collocations of words which cannot be translated word for word. Thus:
I could eat a horse.
It is an idiomatic way of saying:
I'm very hungry.
Idiomatic expressions are extremely common and are found in all kinds of English, both formal and particularly informal. But do not make a special effort to learn them. There are too many. You will learn the most common naturally through the learning material that you are using. And it is much better to be accurate when using non-idiomatic English than inappropriate when using an idiom. For example, it is better to say:
It's raining very hard out there.
than:
It's raining cats and dogs out there.
which has gone out of fashion. As a learner, it may be difficult for you to know what idioms are in fashion and which are not.
Fonte:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv167.shtml
Consists of very informal expressions or words which normally feature in speech rather than writing and are used by people who know each other well or who have the same jobs, backgrounds or interests. They often relate to sex, drink, drugs, relationships, social groups, etc. They are often fairly strong in emotive terms and may sometimes be found offensive to people outside the group.
Here are some more expressions:
It may be big bucks to you, but it's chickenfeed to me.
So, who came to this knees-up, then?
My ex was absolutely bonkers.
We'll have to get some booze in for tonight.
Big bucks denotes a large amount of money (bucks are dollars), chickenfeed is small change. Knees-up = party, my ex = former boyfriend or girlfriend. Absolutely bonkers is very crazy or unpredictable. Booze is alcohol, just as a boozer is a pub or someone who drinks a lot of alcohol.
If you are exposed to slang expressions in your learning of English, it is important for you to understand their meaning and the emotive force behind them. It may be less appropriate for you to use them if you are not part of that group. In fact, it may sound strange and inappropriate if you do so. Also slang changes very quickly.
Idiomatic expressions
Idiomatic expressions are combinations or collocations of words which cannot be translated word for word. Thus:
I could eat a horse.
It is an idiomatic way of saying:
I'm very hungry.
Idiomatic expressions are extremely common and are found in all kinds of English, both formal and particularly informal. But do not make a special effort to learn them. There are too many. You will learn the most common naturally through the learning material that you are using. And it is much better to be accurate when using non-idiomatic English than inappropriate when using an idiom. For example, it is better to say:
It's raining very hard out there.
than:
It's raining cats and dogs out there.
which has gone out of fashion. As a learner, it may be difficult for you to know what idioms are in fashion and which are not.
Fonte:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv167.shtml
More expressions
Você sabe qual a palavra que os americanos usam para “caipira”? Ou seja, alguém com sotaque da zona rural.
Depende da região. Pode ser backwoodsman; hillbilly; redneck; cracker. São algumas opções, mas tome cuidado na hora de usá-las. E tome ainda mais cuidado, principalmente, onde as usa. Pode arranjar um problemão.
Você sabe como dizer na língua inglesa que algo é “brega”?
Uma boa opção seria “tasteless” mas também existem outras como “in bad taste”. No entanto, quando se aplica exclusivamente a roupas, pode ser também “overdressed” e “badly dressed”. Tudo vai depender do motivo da breguice. Aí, pode-se dizer “out of date”, “old fashioned”, “corny” (mais para “piegas”). Ou também “Tacky” .
Você conhece o termo “puxa-saco” em inglês?
Bem, não é apenas no Brasil que encontramos bajuladores, então nós temos: Apple polisher; ass kisser (vulgar); ass-hole crawler (muito vulgar); ball licker (muito vulgar); boot licker; brown noser (vulgar); cajoler (talvez raramente usado hoje em dia); crawler; lickspittle (antiquado); sucker up; toady; wheedler (antiquado)… infelizmente, a maioria dos termos para puxa saco são termos vulgares!
Há em inglês expressões semelhantes a "maria-vai-com-as-outras" e "dedo-duro"?
Existem expressões equivalentes, sim. Para "maria-vai-com-as outras", usamos o verbo to follow like sheep. "Dedo-duro" é mais complicado e depende do contexto. Em círculos criminosos, seria stool pigeon, stoolie ou informer. Num contexto infantil, teríamos tell taler e tell-tale-tit. Tattler, é um termo mais usado apenas na Inglaterra. No entanto, talvez o mais comum, tanto como substantivo quanto como verbo, é snitch: A snitch is always detested by his peers (Um dedo-duro é sempre odiado pelos seus pares); She would never win a popularity contest after snitching on her classmates (Ela nunca ganharia um concurso de popularidade após dedar suas colegas de classe). Há ainda o mais prosaico to tell on: If you don't tell on me, I'll buy you an ice cream (Se você não me dedar, eu te pago um sorvete).
Fonte:http://www.inglescurso.net/creative/basico-ai-instructions-fr.html
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