Throw a tantrum: O que isso significa?

Before I get into the expression, I want to suggest that we try to focus on the word tantrum alone. This is one of those expressions that give us a clue of what they mean by just understanding the literal meaning of each word.

Tantrum is usually used around young children because it gives name to a childish behavior. But since we all know people can behave childishly at any age or place, we had better have that word at the tip of our tongue from now on. Tantrum means an uncontrolled outburst of anger and frustration and it usually goes with the word temper, as in "a temper tantrum". But just like I said before, it is not like any kind of display of anger. It is actually a childish display of unreasonable anger, frustration or distemper.

So imagine you are at a restaurant with some friends when you hear a lady yelling at the waiter from way back of the room. You stop and try to listen to what she says and her complaints revolve around too many things: Slow service, meals and beverages served at incorrect temperature, poorly situated table, servers with a sloppy appearance, among other things. It was like nothing at that restaurant was good enough for her.

The thing is, you have been a potential customer of that restaurant for many years and actually that is one of your favorites in the city. You're sure not even half of what she says can be possibly true. She is just an unpleasant lady throwing a tantrum in public.

Alright guys. That is all for now. But before you leave, let me know in the comment section bellow if you know anyone who throws a tantrum every time something doesn't go their way. Bye bye!

Significado da expressão TAKE SOMETHING IN (ONE'S) STRIDE

There is a guy here in my city that is going through a very delicate phase of his life: he is battling cancer. He actually might be just one in thousands of people around here, but there is something different about him that kind of got me wondering. Regardless of how worsened his situation has become, he keeps his head up and accepts such an unfortunate setback just as naturally as he would accept an advantage.

He became known in the city because he keeps an Instagram account to raise money for a surgery that is way too expensive for his financial circumstances. Down in the comment section, I saw once someone mentioning to be very inspired by him because despite the problem, he was able to take it stride. The comment was getting a lot of likes and he replied by saying that her support was part of what made it easier for him to take it in stride and keep going. He also added a few smiley emojis.

But wait, taking something in stride? What does that mean?

When you take something in stride, it means you deal with something difficult or unpleasant in a calm and competent way. It doesnt have to be something as extreme as battling cancer. It can be daily unpleasant experiences, such as a stressful job, criticism, financial problems, tight deadline, etc; or even sudden changes, as in “she was able to take her sudden rise to fame in stride”. As for the guy battling cancer, he may not always be as positive and strong as it shows on his page, but you have to be very courageous to stop cancer from dimming your light.

That is all for now guys. Take care!

Expressions and vocabulary related to COLLEGE and UNIVERSITY

I don't know if you're in college already or if you're about to get into it, but the thing is you are interested in learning some vocabulary related to that universe. So Im going to bring you a few expressions that might come in handy when you need to talk about your college to others in English.

You may have noticed that the system that allows us to get into college here is different from what they have in the USA for example. If you want to know how to say something like vestibular in English, which is actually something very unusual to them, you can check that out here. But Regardless of having an entrance exam or not, some students will eventually want to apply to college. And if that is your case, you might be constantly asked what college major you are going to sign up for. But before we get into that, a major is your main subject at college or university, and if you sign up for it, it means that you are going to take it. You could also say you will enroll in Psychology. Those mean the same thing.

If you didn't take High School seriously, college is not going to be the perfect place to skip classes (to miss class, usually intentionally and without a legitimate reason), cheat on the test or just fool around. You will be surprised at how many nights you will be spending burning the midnight oil. And if you have no idea what I just said, burning the midnight oil refers to the act of staying up late working on a project or task. The phrase comes from the outdated practice of using an oil lamp. And if some friend calls you in the middle of your intense studies to invite you to a party, you can also say you are hitting the books and cant go out now.

I dont know if thats what you'll really say and do when tempted by such appealing invitation, but the first thing your professor will expect you to do the next morning is to hand in the assignment. Handing in anything like a project, an assignment or paper means that you are giving it to a person in authority. On the other hand, if you say your professor handed out an assignment, it just means he distributed it.

But let us go back to when you were hitting the books in the middle of the night and your friend invited you to a party. Suppose you did accept that invitation and ended up forgetting about the assignment. The next morning you go to college and plead with the teacher to give you an extra day to hand in the assignment because you supposedly were very sick in the hospital. If by a miracle, your professor cuts you some slack (which means to do something that makes life easier for someone else), you will have to to pull an all-nighter. That means you will remain awake all night long again, but this time not for partying, but to complete something. You can use that expression with anything that will require you the same thing in order to be done. It is usually used for studying though.

Alright guys. That is all for now. Talk to you next time!!!!

Learn some compound adjectives describing a character

I'm going to touch on some compound adjectives for personalities. If you don't know what a compound adjective is, here is a short definition for it: A compound adjective is formed when two or more adjectives are joined together to modify the same noun. These terms should be hyphenated to avoid confusion or ambiguity. And to emphasize the importance of hyphenating some compound adjectives, take a look at these two examples:

I saw a man-eating alligator.
I saw a man eating alligator.

The first sentence has a compound adjective and it helps us understand that there is a specific kind of alligator: the one that eats men. The second sentence, on the other hand, makes it sound like the man is eating an alligator.

But back to compound adjectives describing a character, here is the first example: strong-willed. If you're strong-willed, you are a very determined person and even if people disagree with you, you will still behave in a particular way. If that's your case, people may even call you stubborn because you show dogged determination not to change your attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so. And if you become angry for that, maybe that will lead people to call you bad-tempered too, which is a character description for people who lose their temper very easily.

One of these days, I witnessed an argument at the hospital which led to discrimination. As a way to calm the victim down, someone told her not to mind the abuser. He was narrow-minded after all. But why did they call him that? Because during the argument, he had the hardest time accepting or even just respecting ideas or ways of behaving that were different from his own (the opposite of someone like that is an open-minded person). Unlike him, she didn't have much trouble keeping her cool. She was well known for being an easy-going person, which opposed to a bad-tempered person, does not easily get upset or worried. Maybe we could also call her level-headed, because in a very bad situation she was able to make sensible decisions and remain calm.

The argument wasn't too loud but loud enough to call people's attention. Even so, I believe some people were absent-minded and never noticed any tension. I call them absent-minded because that's how we can describe someone having or showing a habitually forgetful or inattentive disposition. If you tend to forget things very easily and never pick up  on anything around you, you're also an absent-minded.

And that's all for now guys. Talk to you next time!!!

Analisando a gramática da música WARRIOR, de AURORA

I fall asleep in my own tears
I cry for the world, for everyone
And I build a boat to float in
I'm floating away

Nessa primeira estrofe, o que eu quero focar sao as preposições. Por que cry for e não cry to? Nesse caso, for é usado para falar de benefícios. Se ela diz chorar nesse verso, é porque ela chora em benefício do mundo (world) e todo mundo (everyone). Se mudássemos a expressão para to cry to, o sentido tambem seria modificado. Dessa vez, to seria usado para falar de destino e direção. Ou seja, Aurora estaria chorando para o mundo da mesma forma que uma criança chora em direção a sua mãe quando está com fome ou com sono.

I can't recall the last time
I opened my eyes to see the world as beautiful
And I built a cage to hide in
I'm hiding, I'm trying to battle the night

No segundo verso, nós temos um adjetivo em seu grau comparativo: as beautiful. Aurora diz não se lembrar da ultima vez que abriu seus olhos pra ver o mundo tão bonito (quanto o mundo que ela vê agora). A estrutura desse grau comparativo segue esse padrão: as + adjetivo + as, como por exemplo: Come in and get warm, your hands are as cold as ice. (Entre e aqueça-se, suas mãos estão frias como gelo.) O verso da música da Aurora demonstra que é possível omitir o segundo as quando o objeto de comparação está implícito. Por exemplo: Ana is pretty. But Joana is just as pretty (as Ana). 

[Chorus]
Let love conquer your mind
Warrior, warrior
Just reach out for the light
Warrior, warrior
I'm a warrior
Warrior, warrior
I'm a warrior
Warrior, warrior of love

I stand behind the wall of people and thoughts
mind controlling
And I hold a sword to guide me
I'm fighting my way

Mind controlling é o termo que me chamou atenção aqui nessa estrofe. Trata-se na verdade dum adjetivo. E como você pode perceber, palavras terminadas com ing nem sempre se tratam de verbos no gerúndio. Neste caso, pra ser mais específico, é um adjetivo composto formado dum substantivo + adjetivo. Mas existem várias outras construções possíveis para adjetivos compostos. Por exemplo: ADJ/SUB •an easy-going student ADJ+SUB+ED •a bad-tempered child SUB+ADJ •a tax-free product ADJ compostos de 3 ou mais termos •a down-to-earth writer NUM+ADJ •a three-year-old boy.

I can't recall the last time
I opened my eyes to see the world as beautiful
And I built a cage to hide in
I'm hiding, I'm trying to battle the night

[Chorus]
Let love conquer your mind
Warrior, warrior
Just reach out for the light
Warrior, warrior
I'm a warrior
Warrior, warrior
I'm a warrior
Warrior, warrior of love

Underneath darkened skies
There's a light kept alight

[Chorus]
Let love conquer your mind
Warrior, warrior
Just reach out for the light
Warrior, warrior
I'm a warrior
Warrior, warrior
I'm a warrior
Warrior, warrior of love
Warrior of love
Warrior of love

Talking about fashion

If youre not a fashionista, maybe you dont have the highest range of vocabulary related to fashion. Thats why Im here to help you with that. And by the way, a fashionista is someone who works in or writes about the fashion industry. Here is a list of the 5 most influential fashionistas and the trend they made famous: (do you know any of them?)

• Grace Kelly: The Preppy Princess.

• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Chic Simple.

• Katharine Hepburn: The First Lady of Menswear.

• Lauren Bacall: Princess of Prints.

• Madonna: Costume Couture.

What they made famous, as I said before, was a trend. When it comes to fashion, a trend is a new development in clothing, make-up, etc...sometimes you dont even have to work in fashion., All you have to be is famous and influence people who admire you by making them want to copy everything you wear or do to your hair, make-up, etc. By the way, if you fit into that description and start new fashions with your fame and influence, you can also be called a trendsetter. 

If you follow the most recent fashions or ideas influenced by trendsetters, you can call everything you wear, have or attend trendy, such as trendy clothes, trendy nightclubs, trendy magazine, and so on. Another way to say that something is really popular at the moment, like leather jackets for example, is by saying that they are very IN. Yes, In fashion world, if something is in, it means many people are wearing it.

The word trend can also be used in different aspects. For example, if you work at a store and you notice that sales are down, you will do everything possible to change that downward trend. In that way, a trend is any change in a situation or the way people are behaving.
But back to fashion world, if youre like most people who enjoy following fashion trends but dont have much money to afford them, here is a segment that you might want to consider: high-street fashion. That term is used to describe clothes that can be bought in ordinary shops, cities, rather than being specifically made by fashion designers. And if you like to safe money while still being fashionable, bear with me because there is a specific kind of store that sells secondhand clothes and other household goods. We call them thrift shops. They typically do that as a way to raise funds for a charitable institution.

Alright guys, thats about all fow now. I will talk to you next time.