O que significa "to be taken aback"?

One of these days, my friend and I were discussing a very controversial topic when I said something that might have shocked him or taken him by surprise. After a few minutes, when our conversation wasn't even about that topic anymore, he brought up the fact again that he didn't expect me to have such opinion. Here's what he said: I must admit I was taken aback for a moment when you said that.

When you're taken aback, you're surprised and confused. Suppose you go out for dinner with your boyfriend one night and when you're at the restaurant he unexpectedly proposes to you. You are taken aback because you got surprised and confused at the same time. So much so your boyfriend didn't get any reaction for a few second until you said yes. If you pay close attention to the literal meaning of the expression, you'll see it's based on the idea of aback [backward], something you literally do when you're taken by surprise. See that reaction on the picture below:

An Aladdin's cave: o que isso significa?

The expression of today reminded me of a very special day I spent with one my friends at an exposition about Ancient Egypt. It was incredible to see how that ancient civilization lived and be able to touch all those beautiful antiques, valuable objects and traditional clothing that reflected so very well the way men and women dressed.

When I got home, I was excited to tell about my experience at the shop and rushed straight to my fellows to show them pictures and tell them the stories people from there told me. Here's what I said first: We found a shop that was a real Aladdin's cave of beautiful antiques.

An Aladdin's cave is every place that contains many beautiful and valuable things like a museum or an exposition. So you may come across a place full of interesting things to see that makes you feel as though you were in an Aladdin's cave like the one you can see down bellow on the picture. If you've watched the cartoon Aladdin, you may agree that's a very beautiful place to be at. Take a look:

saiba o que essas expressões grosseiras significam: Do I have to spell it out for you? Do I have to paint you a picture?

Imagine you're a beginner English student struggling with the basics of the language. One day at your English school, you look at the board and everything seems Greek, listen to the teacher and all she says is bla bla bla, grab your pen to do the exercises but everything in the book looks arduous and complicated. What's the right thing to do at such a delicate time like that? Exactly: call your teacher and expect patience from them. So you say: Mrs. so-and-so, can you go over that topic again? I'm having trouble understanding it. In a very offensive and intolerant way she replies: Do I need to spell it out for you? Please, pay attention!

So why do you think what the teacher said was rude? Because when you ask someone if something has to be spelled out or pained for you, it means they lack patience and won't tolerate explaining it once again. In their minds, what they have explained is too clear for you to have any kind of doubts about it and therefore it's not acceptable that you haven't understood it yet. So they say in an ironic way: Do I have to paint you a picture? Do I have to spell it out for you? Anyway, that's the bad kind of English teacher we're talking about. If your teacher treats his students like that, don't think the problem is you. Try to find a more patient one and you'll see how things change for the better. That's it for today guys. Take care!

Como dizer "ficar pra titia", "ser uma solteirona" em Inglês?

In Friends, season 3 episode 25, Monica seems to be having trouble dealing with happy couples around her. That's because all she wanted for herself was the same, but after many attempts and fails she's convinced that she's never going to get married or have a boyfriend again. Here's what she says to Chandler: Am I ever gonna find a boyfriend again? I'm going to die an old maid. Do you know what an old maid is? Let's find out!

When a woman is considered an old maid, it's because either she hasn't had a boyfriend in a lot of time or she's not gotten married at an old age. It's like they reach a certain point in their lives when they're finally convinced living a life alone is their real deal and stop trying looking for a man. In Portuguese, we call them solteironas. Usually, girls worry when they see their friends getting married before them and leave them behind without a boyfriend or even plans for a possible wedding. As a boy, I could say it's the very opposite that works with us. But still, we could also call a boy an old maid just to make fun of him. It's very important to know that can be a very offensive term and therefore should only be used with people you're close to. That's it for now. See you next time!

como dizer "tirar proveito de algo ao máximo" em Inglês?

Imagine you've been having bad weather for one month in a row and you're desperate to enjoy a sunny day again for outside activities, like rollerblading or jogging. One day, when you least expect, the day rises up bright and beautiful and you can't believe you're finally gonna have the chance to take a step out of your house without taking the risk of getting the worst flu of your life.

When you're about to leave home on your way to the door, your mom gives you a heads-up: Make the most of the good weather today because rain is forecast for tomorrow. Do you understand what she just said? When you make the most of something, you take full advantage of it, you enjoy it as much as you can, as if it was the last thing you'd do in your life. When you want to exploit something or get as much out of something as possible, you can also use that expression. For example, you're a good artist, can sing and dance very well, knows how to deal with technology, speaks several language, but still you don't do much with all your talents and knowledge. You don't have a job that lives up up to your standards. So a friend of yours comes up to you and say: You may know how to do many things, but you have to learn how to make the most of your talents and get money from them.

to laugh something/someone out of court: o que isso significa?

Imagine you're a kind with your classmates at school trying to get the hell out of there. You want to skip a very boring class, and now all you need to do is to come up with a bright idea to make your teacher believe you all need to leave school immediately. So you suggest saying to your teacher a very loved friend of yours has passed away and all of your friends were friends with him very well and everybody's feeling too bad for school. The other friend of yours suggests you're all coming down with the flu because of something you all ate the night before. And finally, the silliest friend of you all suggests saying you've all got head lice and therefore should be kept from the other children to avoid affecting them as well. That last idea sounds so funny and bad that it's immediately laughed out of court. How could he think they'd get away with such a lame excuse? But wait, what does laugh out of court mean?

When something is laughed out of court, people refuse to take it seriously, be it an idea, belief or possibility. You can also laugh someone out of court, the way you did to your friend when he came up with such a terrible idea. You could say: Anyone who had made such a ludicrous suggestion would have been out of court. Easy huh? See you around!

O que significa "asleep at the switch"?

Imagine you're a stay at home mom trying to take care of everything at the same time. There's your baby crying for attention, a lot of cleaning up to do and still all the food you're cooking for lunch before your husband comes back from work. That's definitely a juggling act [a situation in with you try to achieve many things at the same time]. In a fraction of seconds, while you're changing the diaper of your baby, you hear some strange noise coming from some pan you left on the oven indicating you've just ruined the whole food. When your starving husband comes home looking to have lunch, you tell him what happened: Sorry, but I was asleep at the switch changing diapers when I burned all our lunch. I guess we're eating out today. Do you know what being asleep at the switch/wheel means? Read on!

In Portuguese, we could say that we have a very similar expression for that: dormir no ponto. We say we're asleep at switch when we're not paying attention to something, usually something that requires a quick act to avoid problems. Even women that are known for their great ability to do many things at the same time fall asleep at the switch sometimes. It happens all the time. Tell me about your stories. The last time you fell asleep at the switch and had something terrible happen. Talk to you next time!

5 maneiras de aumentar vocabulário em Inglês

1. leia muito - As pessoas estão acostumadas a relacionarem a ideia de se aprender vocabulário com listas gigantes de palavras. Não é bem assim que funciona. Aprender uma palavra inserida em determinado contexto aumenta as chances de memorização de forma considerável. Por isso, ler é a melhor opção. E quando eu falo em ler, eu não me refiro a leitura técnica, pautada em livros didáticos entediantes de Inglês [se bem que qualquer tipo de leitura em Inglês pode beneficiar]. Leia sobre o que você gosta, se permita iniciar o seu primeiro livro completamente escrito em Inglês. Com a ajuda dum dicionário ou o tradutor online, procure pelas palavras que você realmente não conseguiu entender. Eu tenho certeza que a maioria delas você entenderá através do contexto.

2. utilize flash cards - eu entendo se você ainda não sabe o que são flash cards. Aqui no Brasil, eles não são tão populares quanto são nos Estados Unidos por exemplo; Mas a ideia é muito simples: em pequenos pedaços de papel, escreva a palavra inglesa que você quer memorizar e do outro lado a tradução ou a definição da palavra na própria língua inglesa. É interessante associar essa técnica à primeira mencionada acima. Anote em vários pedacinhos de papel aquelas palavras desconhecidas que você vai encontrando com o decorrer da leitura e em seu verso a sua tradução. Depois, é só colocá-las num recipiente como uma sacola ou uma caixa e ir pegando papel por papel. Se vier no lado da tradução, tente lembrar a palavra em Inglês; se vier a palavra em Inglês, tente adivinhar a sua tradução. Uma boa ideia é separar os papeis que você já conseguiu de certa forma memorizar num segundo recipiente. De vez em quando, volte para revisá-los.

3. ouça a língua inglesa o máximo possível - Talvez de todas as maneiras de se aprender vocabulário novo, essa é a mais natural e intuitiva. Afinal, é dessa maneira que aumentamos o vocabulário na nossa própria língua enquanto crianças. O problema é que quando você ouve uma palavra estrangeiura desconhecida, na sua mente aquilo não passa dum ruído sonoro e, portanto, não haverá aquisição de vocabulário novo. Por isso, assista ou ouça o mesmo material repetidas vezes com o auxílio do transcript se possível. Você vai ver que depois de determinado número de repetições, todo aquele novo vocabulário soará intuitivo o suficiente pra você agregar ao seu vocabulário ativo. O contato com a língua inglesa falada é o mais importante de todo o processo de aquisição da língua. Por isso, não subestime o poder dos seus ouvidos. Lembre-se que a língua é, acima de tudo, oral. A linguagem escrita nada mais é que uma invenção humana.

4. Converse com nativos nas redes sociais - Grande parte do meu próprio vocabulário procede das minhas inúmeras conversas com meus amigos estrangeiros virtuais. É interessante notar que quando eu me refiro a vocabulário, as palavras isoladas é apenas parte do conjunto. Os nativos também te proporcionarão contato com expressões novas, combinações de palavras e gírias que você jamais aprenderia numa sala de aula. É importante ressaltar também que exercitar a língua inglesa conversando com um nativo reforça ainda mais o vocabulário que você já possui, além de abrir espaço pra novas informações. Esse é o contato mais íntimo com a língua alvo porque, além de tudo, te proporciona um toque real com a cultura estrangeira e a forma de pensar do outro.

5. use a sua língua materna a favor da língua inglesa - A internet está cheia de gente dizendo que a língua materna deve ser completamente isolada da língua inglesa. "Pense apenas em Inglês, apenas em Inglês", é o que eles dizem. Eu discordo um pouco dessa teoria. Como adultos, nós temos uma incrível vantagem de podermos usar uma língua já adquirida como ponto de referência para a aquisição duma segunda língua. Por isso, enquanto você está conversando na sua própria língua materna, tente pensar como determinada palavra ou expressão seria expressa na língua inglesa. Toda vez que surgir alguma questão ou curiosidade, use o Google ao seu favor. Ele está aí para ser usado.

take the shine off something: o que isso significa?

Imagine you're eating your favorite dessert and it's like you're enjoying the highlight of your day. You turn to the TV for something entertaining and what you're faced with is a very disgusting scene from a horror movie. Suddenly your dessert doesn't taste as good and it's like your throat refuses to let anything pass through it. You can't believe a stupid movie took the shine off you dessert. But wait, what does that mean?

When something takes the shine off something pleasant, it spoils it or makes it less enjoyable. It can happen in many situations. For example, you're in the best trip of your life through Europe, going to art galleries, museums, taking the best pictures and having the best food when out of nowhere there comes a thief and steals everything you've bought so far. That was the worst thing that could happen to you at that moment. He simply took all the little presents you had bought to your family and friends. Definitely having your stuff stolen took the shine off your trip. Can you remember of a situation like that? When you're having the bewst time of your life when something unexpected spoils it all? Let us know in the comment section. Talk to you next time!

a one-way ticket to something: o que isso significa?

Imagine you're at a party when you take notice of people using drugs around you. The friend you came with seems curious to know what it would feel like to do drugs for the first time. You think that's a terrible idea. Here's what you tell him: Dude, experimenting with drugs is a one-way ticket to addiction. You shouldn't try it at all.

If something like using drugs is a one-way ticket to an unpleasant situation, it means it will cause that situation to happen. For example, many people say "one-way ticket to hell" when they want to talk about a very bad situation you're going to have to deal with for the rest of your life if you make a bad decision. It's like a trip you take to a very bad place with no going back. That's very bad huh? Talk to you next time!

Inglês com a Bíblia: o que significa "plea" e a expressão "cop a plea"?

One of these days, while I was skimming through the Bible, I stumbled upon a very beautiful verse from Psalms. Here's Psalms 55:1

Listen to my prayer, O God,

do not ignore my plea;

hear me and answer.

If you're like me, you may be wondering what plea means. When you make a plea, you make a very earnest request, a desperate appeal. And that's what David was doing in his prayer to God in Psalms 50:1. But now that we've all learned a new word, what should we do with it besides memorizing it?

I always think it's a great idea to look for expressions or collocations with a recently learned word. And here's an expression I found with plea: cop a plea. Do you know what means? Imagine you're a lawyer working for a guilty man. And as a very experienced lawyer, you think that if your client admits he's guilty of the crime, he'll get a less severe punishment. So you tell him: You should cop a plea to get reduced sentences. That's what people do as their last resort when they're guilty of a crime and want to lessen time of imprisonment. They cop a plea and hope for the best. That's it for today guys. Take care!

O que significam as expressões "begin to see the light" e "to see the light at the end of the tunnel"?

You're attending a Math class on a very difficult topic and you couldn't be more confused. During break time, you come across your friend at the hallway and you tell him how frustrated you are for being at such a total loss with this new topic. He tells you he didn't have much trouble understanding it and that if you wanted he could help you out by giving you private one-on-one lessons. After some of these lessons with your friend, you begin to see the light after his explanations.

When you begin to see the light, it means you're starting to understand something. Be careful not to mistake that expression for a very similar one: to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In that case, when you see the light at the end of the tunnel, it means you feel hopeful after a lot of struggling, you can finally foresee an end to your problem. So imagine you've been ill for a long period of time and then one day you wake up feeling way better. That's when you say you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, because you're full of hope again. Those are the two expressions of the day. I hope you enjoyed them. Take care!