O que significa let one off the hook?

I was listening to the radio the other day when one of the hosts confessed doing something bad three nights before. He dropped a very expensive piece of art that belonged to someone else in the show. The owner had a very positive reaction and forgave him right off the bat, but he couldn't let it go for a minute and kept going on and on about it for 3 days straight. Here's what he was told as an attempt to make him take it easy on himself:

Let yourself off the hook.

When you let someone or even yourself off the hook, that means you allow one to escape from blame, responsibility, obligation or difficulty. So consider that he couldn't sleep a wink since the unfortunate event for guilt and a sense of responsibility. There was nobody blaming him for anything at that point, but he was the one who was beating himself up for not letting himself off the hook.

That's all for now guys. Do you have troubles letting yourself off the hook? Let me know in the comment section down bellow. Bye bye 

A origem do termo Queer na comunidade LGBT e a expressão Queer fish

A long time ago I came across an Instagram filter that displayed the word Queer in bright colorful letters. I was confused because that was one of the first times I ever heard of that word.

I soon came to understand that queer is an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender. But what intrigued me most by then was that the term originally means strange or peculiar. How come would a minority group call themselves by such a pejorative term?

In the late 19th century the term started to be used against those with same-sex desires, but ended up being reclaimed by activists as a deliberatively provocative alternative. Isn't that interesting?

Now that you've learnt the etimology of the word, how about a new expression with it? A queer fish does not have any association with the minority group I just mentioned before, but can be used to refer to anyone who's deemed as odd by others. Do you know of a queer fish or consider yourself to be one? Let us know in the comment section down below. Bye bye 

O que significa slap someone on the wrist?

I just saw an expression in an article earlier today and I thought I'd share it with you guys. The thing is, there's a lot going on in brazilian politics right now and by that I mean a lot of inconsequential punishment.

For the last few months during the new government we have heard our president say the most unbelievably disgusting things. And as disgusting as some of those quotes are, it seems like we are living in a kind of subtle dictatorship where he just can get away with everything he says or does. And it makes sense that all of that's been happening if instead of fighting for our democracy we are just slapping him on the wrist. 

When you slap someone on the wrist, you give them a mild punishment or warning. It alludes to the act of literally slapping someone on their wrist when they put their hands where they shouldn't be. Tell me if I'm wrong, but that's not the proper way to administer punishments for someone who's done nothing but destroy our country. Let me know what you think down in the comment section Bellow. Bye bye 

O que significa a expressão grind to a halt?

There's been a fuss over how long smartphones the way we know them today are going to stick around. The stagnation of the mobile phone industry and the fact it's gone flat over the last years have encouraged people to believe we will have a replacement for this kind of technology in about five years time. 

The other day I saw an article on the internet touching on the same topic. It's the one you see right above in the screenshot. Can you understand what the highlighted expression means?

When something grinds to a halt or comes to a grinding halt, they gradually come to a standstill or end. "This expression alludes to a clogged engine that gradually stops or a ship that runs aground."

So without reading the article I mentioned before why do you think smartphones sales growth ground to a halt? Do you think it's because of the increase in smartphone prices? No more as exciting new features? Let me know in the comment section down below. Talk later!

O que significa a flash in the pan?

There's a new kind of music that's become very popular over the last years and I really love it. It's called bedroom pop and as its name suggests the music is recorded at home, rather than at traditional recording spaces. 

The popularity of a musical genre like that became possible today because of how democratic virtual spaces usually are. A band posts a video on YouTube and suddenly draws a lot of attention at once. But can they keep it?

What happens is that most of these bands that become successful overnight always run the risk of losing their popularity just as quickly. Just think of how many bands and singers had only one hit song! To describe those bands, we have an expression: a flash in the pan.

Someone or something is a flash in the pan when their success or popularity is short-lived. And that's also applied to anything else other than bands. A startup can be a flash in the pan, a movie star, a book, a trend, etc.

"This metaphoric term alludes to the 17th-century flintlock musket, which could be fired only when the flash of the priming powder in the lockpan ignited the charge in the bore. When it failed to ignite, there was only a flash in the pan and the gun did not shoot."

That's all for now guys. Talk to you the next time!!!!!

O que significa a expressão a quantum leap?

I've been a teacher for some years now and what I've noticed is that students' performance in my classes can be very unpredictable sometimes. Some have sudden and dramatic improvement over the course of an year, but some start off very well but soon fall behind the class. As far as the students who tend to improve their English language proficiency, sometimes their improvement is so dramatic and sudden I describe it as a quantum leap.

"A quantum leap is a dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method. This term originated as quantum jump in the mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones."

That's all for now. Talk to you next time!!!

O que significa pale in comparison?

The first time I came across the expression we are learning today I was listening to Amy Winehouse's You should be stronger than me. In the song Amy complains about a boyfriend who doesn't seem to act his age or live up to gender roles she expected him to adopt. She says "don't you know you're supposed to be the man? Not pale in comparison to who you think I am".

When something or someone pales in comparison to something/someone else, it means they seem less important, impressive, or otherwise deficient when compared. A second time I came across the same expression I was watching workin' moms, a Netflix original series. A mother is back at work after spending 9 months away on maternity leave and is now competing against her co-worker for a chance to go on a very important business trip. The one with the best numbers at the company will get the trip but she's afraid her career break might give her disadvantage with her recent numbers. She says to her boss something like: don't you think my recent numbers will pale in comparison to his?

Ok guys that's it. Talk to you next time!!!

O que significa a drop in the ocean?

I have a friend who's been searching for a house these days. She considers renting one but everyone around her says the wise decision would be to buy it; paying for something that's going to be eventually hers. She doesn't know yet and is still figuring things out.

The thing is, when she talked to a real estate agent about the amount of money she'd need to make a down payment on the specific house she's interested in she realized she hasn't saved enough money to buy it just yet; that the money she's saved so far is just a drop in the ocean. Wait what?

"If something, especially an amount of money, is a drop in the ocean, it is very small in comparison with the amount which is needed or expected. This expression may come from a line in the Bible: `Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.' (Isaiah 40:15)"

That's all for now guys. Take care. 

O que significa to set one's sights on?

If you've been studying English for a long while I can say that you had to get over many things to still be engaged and interested in learning a second language. Things like lack of motivation, time, self-esteem play a big role in whether or not you will persevere.

If you're reading this post that says a lot about you. So I guess I can suppose that one day you set your sights on speaking English and there you are, having that idea as an ambition and focusing on it as your goal. And that's what we are dealing with today.

If you set your sights on someone or sometjing, you have them as your goal and hope strongly to reach it. That's all for now guys. Take care!

O que significa the ball is in your court?

There's a very famous american daily weekday radio program called Elvis Duran and the morning show and I've been listening to it for some years. Since I'm in Brazil I have to listen to it on demand on one of these audio streaming services like Spotify (in case you're interested). 

It's very common for these radio shows to read daily horoscopes of all zodiac signs. My sign is cancer and I remember my horoscope for yesterday, July 26, started like "the ball is in your court. It's time to take action." Do you know what that means?

My horoscope was encouraging me to take responsibility for further action, especially after someone else previously held it for me. It becomes intuitive to think that in tennis if the ball is in your court it is your turn to hit it. That's all for now. Bye bye 

O que significa a expressão lay down the law?

I have a 4-year-old nephew and everybody knows that's the phase they tend to misbehave the most. They're exploring the world around them and most of all exploring people's reaction around them.

My brother is a first-time dad and what usually happens to first-time parents is that they are constantly bombarded with advice regarding how they should educate their kids. "Let your child know you", "don't let guilt rule you", "ask for help", so on and so forth. But the one piece of advice that can be reoccurring is the expression we are learning today: "lay down the law".

When you lay down the law in your house to your kids or whoever may be, you're giving them a directive or order, scolding them, dictating how to bebave, making something very clear, often sternly or forcefully. 

Do you think that's good advice? Did you respect your parents when you were a child because they would lay down the law otherwise? Leave your answers down in the comment section. Talk later!!!!

O que significa e como usar a palavra outing? Ela é uma palavra antiquada?

The title of an article on Twitter went like "Angelina Jolie enjoys going on regular outings with her children". I can't deny I was surprised to see the word outing (which seems to be so intuitive and familiar) being used for the first time. Yes, that was the first time I saw the word outing in context. Am I one of the only people?

I guess not. I immediately googled it and found native speakers discussing whether or not the word was dead or at least old-fashioned. What I noticed was that they couldn't find a compromise. Some claimed to both hear and use the word very often while others insisted on not hearing the word for a long time. What they seemed to have agreed on was that the word is more frequently written than spoken. Besides, an outing seems to be used more often as an organized event, such as church outing, school outing, group outing, etc.

I don't know if I'll incorporate the word in my active vocabulary, but I'll keep my ears open for the word (since I haven't heard people say it before other than this only time). That's it for now guys. Talk to you next time!!!!!!