O que significa a expressão TO SHOT FROM THE HIP?

• I don't want to be harsh but I can't bear one more second of Mary's sensitiveness anymore.
• What happened? I thought you guys had hit it off pretty well.
• Well, me too. But then I got to know her a little bit better and I realized how much of a flower she is. I need to be very careful with every word and reaction I have with her or else she will be extremely offended. I've had enough of this.
• Well, maybe it's just your nature to shoot from the hip.
• Definitely not. You know me better than that. Although I tend to be very frank to people, I've learned to be more careful with her, but she still manages to hang on every word I say. She must be mad at me about something I said. You can give me a million dollars to find out what it is and I'll have no clue.

shoot from the hip

1. Lit. to fire a gun that is held at one's side, beside one's hip. (This increases one's speed in firing a gun but is muchless accurate.) When I lived at home on the farm, my father taught me to shoot from the hip. I quickly shot the snakebefore it bit my horse. I'm glad I learned to shoot from the hip.

2. Fig. to speak directly and frankly. (Alluding to the rapidness of firing a gun from the hip.) John has a tendency toshoot from the hip, but he generally speaks the truth. Don't pay any attention to John. He means no harm. It's just hisnature to shoot from the hip.

EXPRESSIONS WITH THE VERB TO PASS

Your family has owned a grocery store for many generations. Your parents were given the responsibility to take care of it by your grandparents a few years back and, just like you expected, your turn is just around the corner. You see your mom and dad getting older and you're just a few months from graduating from business administration, the major you were pretty much doomed for. It's pretty obvious that the torch is about to be passed to you. But wait, who is going to pass the torch to you? And what does that mean?

To pass the torch to someone means to give responsibility to someone, to transfer the responsibility from someone to someone else. "This metaphoric expression alludes to the ancient Greek torch race, in which a lighted torch was passed from one runner to the next." http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pass+the+torch

Now imagine you decide to hang out with a male friend from college at a bar on a weekend. It's just supposed to be a hangout and the purpose of you two meeting up is above all discussing a project you guys are involved in due two days from then. The unexpected started to happen when he out of nowhere caressed your hand and looked at you like never before. How could you ever imagine he would pick that day to make a pass at you? Now you wonder if there's really such a thing as true friendship between men and women.

When someone makes a pass at you, they flirt with or suggest sexual activity with you. It's a way to show they are sexually interested in someone. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/make+a+pass+at

O que significa a expressão "TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY"?

Imagine you've been tormenting the life of one of your classmates during the whole semester and everything seems to be doing pretty fun for you. Actually, you are not the only bully. It's you and your gang from the back of the class. When the semester ends and your gang gets gets tired of mocking that specific guy, they turn their back at you and do what you would have never expected in a million years: They start bullying you! Now you run from your old gang and look for rescue in the one that used to be your old target. Here's what he says: So you don't like to be made fun of! Well, turnabout is fair play.

Turnabout is fair play.

Prov. It is fair for one to suffer whatever one has caused others to suffer.

Try to think of this other situation: You and your roommate usually share the household tasks and today's your housemate's laundry's day but he refuses to cooperate. Here's your complaint: I did the dishes yesterday and even this morning. You do it this time. Turnabout is fair play.

O que significa a expressão TO GO/JUMP THROUGH HOOPS?

Your dream is to get your licence so you can finally get around just fine and feel a little bit more independent. You've just turned the legal age to drive in your country and you're excited for your first lessons. You show up, go about just like anybody else and your first impressions aren't just quite the ones you had in mind. There's too much information to process and the idea that you would understand everything automatically vanishes. When everything is finally put into practice, it's not like the steering wheel feels like foreign to you. But they expect you to be perfect. You do your job 95% just fine, but in the end, there's always something left undone. How can you ever get your license? Here's what you say at the height of your despair:

_My instructor expects me to jump through hoops for him before he allows me to get my license. I've had enough of this!

go/jump through hoops

to do a lot of difficult things before you are allowed to have or do something you want 

O que significa a expressão (STRAIGHT) FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH?

So imagine you work for a company that's about to go bankrupt and everybody's very fearful of their own financial lives. One day, during lunch time, one of your coworkers talks to you about the things she's overheard through the halls of the company. Among the many things she says, one of them catches your attention. She says the other day the boss was whispering something like cutting costs of the company by half by cutting people by a third. You hesitate to believe what she says, but she won't give up easily. Here's what she says:

-You can definitely believe me! Like I said, I heard it straight from the horse's mouth. It was the boss who said those things. It wasn't just anybody.

If you get an information "straight from the horse's mouth", you get it from someone who is involved in it and who knows a lot about it.

Expressions with the word PET

Hello, guys. Today I'd like to bring you two expressions with the word pet. I'm not going to list them this time. Instead I will talk about them using situations to try to help you understand when and how to use them in your everyday speech. So without further ado let's get started!

Imagine everyone has a few things in their lives they hate. Just like favorite things they have in life that they love, they have favorite things that they hate. Those kinds of things we can call pet peeves. So if you stop to think about most often encountered annoyances, you may come up with: people that don't signal, people that cut lines, people that come into the theater after the show has started, people that chew with their mouth open, and so on and so forth. If I was to think of my own pet peeve, I would say one of my most frequent ones would be people acting intolerant and biased. What are your pet peeves?

The second expression with the word pet takes me way back to my school days. When I was in the last year of Elementary School, I remember there was this girl in my class that my Math teacher would offer preferential treatment. And it was not like she was always currying his favor in hopes of better grades. It's just that she had been established as the teacher's favorite pupil by the teacher himself. Everybody called her "teacher's pet". That's an expression you use to talk about someone who has gained favor with any kind of authority. Have you ever been a teacher's pet? Let me know in the comment's section. Talk to you next time!

Como dizer "pagar à vista", "pexinxa", "parcela", "nota fiscal" em Inglês? Vocabulário relacionado a compras

-May I help you?
-I was wondering if you have those shoes up there in my size.
-And what's that?
-8.5. I really hope you have it because they look really awesome and I can't find them anywhere else.
-I'll check that out and I'll be right back with you. Please take a seat, I won't take long.
-Today's your lucky day ma'am. Not only do we have those shoes in your size, but also most of our items in the store.
-I'm in kind of a hurry now, so I'll only take those today. What's the sale price on this?
-Oh, that's already its sale price. It's a real bargain if you compare it with other stores.Will that be all for you today?
-Yes.
-What is your payment method going to be?
-What are the ones that you offer?
-Credit cards, debit cards, Apple pay.
-Do you take Master?
-Sure. How many installments do you wish to make?
-2... no, 4... no, wait! I guess I should pay cash. Here's the money.
-Alright. Here's your receipt. Have a good day!

sale price: preço promocional
real bargain: pexinxa
payment method: meio de pagamento
installment: parcela
pay cash: pagar à vista
receipt: nota fiscal

Aprenda alguns termos e expressões com a música Car Radio de Twenty One Pilots

I ponder of something great

to ponder of: pensar em relação a algo numa maneira mais cuidadosa. Porém, tenho que chamar atenção pra algo. Apesar de na música termos a preposição of, a expressão mais aceitável seria to ponder upon ou ponder on. Sendo que esta é mais informal que aquela. Veja este exemplo: I've been pondering on the meaning of life lately.

My lungs will fill and then deflate

They fill with fire

Exhale desire

I know it's dire

dire: terrível, medonho.

My time today

I have these thoughts

So often I ought

To replace that slot

ought to: este é o único verbo modal acrescido de to. Se você não está habituado com os verbos modais e até com o próprio conceito gramatical, clique aqui e você será encaminhado prum post que tratará especialmente disto. Ought to e should passam essencialmente o mesmo sentido, sendo que ought to tem um tom mais formal. Os sentidos são de conselho, obrigação, dever, etc. Por exemplo: You ought to give her a gift. It's her birthday. (conselho) you ought to wear seat bealt. (obrigação).

slot: abertura. Neste caso, a abertura do painel do carro que dá espaço para colocar o rádio.

With what I once bought

Cause somebody stole

My car radio

And now I just sit in silence

Sometimes quiet is violent

I find it hard to hide it 

I find it hard: eu acho difícil. Você pode está se perguntando porque a existência do it nessa sentença. A resposta é simples: O verbo to find é transitivo e, portanto, sempre necessitará dum objeto. Nesse caso, it. Mesmo que no Português nós o ometimos, o Inglês exige a presente dele ali. Veja mais alguns exemplos: I find it awesome the way you speak in public. I found it depressing how they talked to me the other day.

My pride is no longer inside

It's on my sleeve

My skin will scream

Reminding me of

Who I killed inside my dream

I hate this car that I'm driving

There's no hiding for me

I'm forced to deal with what I feel

There is no distraction to mask what is real

I could pull the steering wheel

steering wheel: volante

I have these thoughts

So often I ought

To replace that slot

With what I once bought

Cause somebody stole

My car radio

And now I just sit in silence

I ponder of something terrifying

Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind

I find over the course of our human existence

over: percebça que também podemos usar a preposição over no sentido de "ao longo de". Nesse verso, temos: Eu descubro ao longo de nossa existência humana, mas você pode também conferir esse outro exemplo: Energy consumption patterns have changed significantly over the history of the United States.

One thing consists of consistence

And it's that we're all battling fear

Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here

Oh my, too deep - please stop thinking

I liked it better when my car had sound

I liked it better: eu gostava mais. Mais um exemplo de verbo transitivo que precisa do objeto it pra ter ser sentido completo.

There are things we can do

But from the things that work there are only two

And from the two that we choose to do

Peace will win

And fear will lose

There's faith and there's sleep

We need to pick one please because

Faith is to be awake

And to be awake is for us to think

And for us to think is to be alive a

And I will try with every rhyme

To come across like I am dying

come across: este phrasal verb tem mais de um significado, mas nesse contexto, significa "parecer ser", como em: He comes across as an intelligent person. Um outro significado muito comum desse phrasal verb é "achar algo por acaso", como em: I was cleaning out my room and I came across a lost picture of me in High School.

To let you know you need to try to think

O que significa a expressão PUT ON A FRONT?

-Hey, I've known you for a while but I've never talked yo you about your taste in music. What kind of music do you like?

-I love rap and my favorite singer is Eminem.

-Really? What's your favorite thing about him?

-I just like the fact he acts the way he wants and says whatever he feels like in his lyrics. He is not worried about putting on a front, you know? Most people in the music industry are fake and that bothers me a lot. I'm just trying to say he's authentic.

-Wow wow! You have a really strong opinion on that guy. You must really like him a lot.

#001 put on/up a front: to pretend to be someone you're not

-I heard about James' father's fatal accident. Have you heard from him since then and how he's been?

-I only saw him at the funeral and oddly enough I have to admit he didn't show any sign of grief over his father's death and I'm not the only one saying this.

-Well, I had the best impression of their relationship and it seemed they got along pretty well. I'm sure he's just putting up a front.

#002 put up a front: to pretend to feel a certain way

Usando o verbo WISH + simple past

Se você procurar o significado da palavra wish no dicionário, verá que, como substantivo, ela significa desejo, pedido, mas como verbo significa desejar, como em "I wish you good luck", "he wished me Marry Christmas". O post de hoje focará mais no signficiado da palavra wish como verbo, mas não isoladamente como nas sentenças acima, mas seguindo a estrutura "wish + past simple", como em:

"I wish I had a car"

Se fôssemos traduzir essa estrutura, teríamos algo equivalente a "gostaria de...", algo diferente do que tínhamo anteriormente no verbo "wish" isolado, que significa simplesmente "desejar", ou "querer". Veja mais algumas sentenças aplicadas em outras pessoas:

I wish I had = eu gostaria de ter

I wish I could = eu gostaria de poder

We wish we lived = nós gostaríamos de morar

She wishes she knew = ela gostaria de saber

He wishes he played = ele gostaria de jogar

Abaixo eu vou listar algumas sentença em que a tradução "gostaria de" não vai se encaixar. Nessas situações, você a substitui por "gostaria que...":

I wish he had more free time to go out with me. = Eu gostaria que ele tivesse mais tempo livre pra sair comigo.

We wish they lived near here. = Eu gostaria que eles morassem perto daqui.

They wish she knew more about the job. = Eles gostariam que ela soubesse mais sobre o trabalho.

I wish you didn't tell them. = Eu gostaria que você não contasse para eles.

Para finalizar o post, veja algumas sentenças expressando sentido de desejo com a palavra wish com o verbo to be. Claro que tudo isso seguindo a estrutura wish + simple past:

I wish I was = I wish I were – eu gostaria de ser/estar

You wish you were – você gostaria de ser/estar

He wishes he was = He wishes he were – ele gostaria se ser/ estar

They wish they were – eles gostariam de ser/ estar

I wish it was = I wish it were – eu gostaria que fosse/ estivesse

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Antes de dizer bye bye pra vocês, o que me motivou a criar esse tópico gramatical pra vocês foi uma música de Twenty one Pilots, uma banda que eu gosto musica, chamada Stressed Out. Logo os primeiros versos da música são cheios de sentenças escritas nas regras gramaticais que eu acabei de ensinar. Dá só uma olhada:

I wish I found some better sounds no one's ever heard

I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words

I wish I found some chords in an order that is new

I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang

I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink

But now I'm insecure and I care what people think

My name's 'blurryface' and I care what you think

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days

When our momma sang us to sleep

But now we're stressed out

We're stressed out

Para ter acesso a letra da música completa clique aqui

O que significa a expressão CATCH 22?

-Hey, I heard you were super excited for a job interview that was supposed to happen yesterday. how did that go?

-That went terrible. They said they were fine with young employees because they needed fresh perspectives but they actually couldn't hire people who had under 5 years of experience. But how can that make any sense? How can I have experience if they won't give me a chance to have my first job?

-Yeah. It's a typical catch 22 situation.

Catch 22: a situation where one thing must happen in order to cause another thing to happen, but because the first thing does not happen the second thing cannot happen

O que signfiica a expressão "TO TAKE DOWN A NOTCH"

-Do you remember that popular cheerleader from high school that made everybody's life hell?

-Yeah I do. Gosh I hated that girl.

-I just saw her on my way here and she seemed desolated. Life doesn't seem to be treating her very well. Somebody told me her husband left her for her best friend and she became very depressed.

-Yes, what goes around, comes around. Soon or later somebody would eventually take her down a notch.

-Come on, don't say that! I know she was mean, but maybe she's changed. And nobody deserves such a thing!

TO TAKE DOWN A NOTCH: to deflate or humble someone. You can also use it as an expression such as: take it down a notch! meaning to say "hey you, act less arrogantly". A variation for that expression would be "to take down a notch OR TWO".