slang

Hi there!
Am I the only one who still visits this blog?!
He! You guys could drop by and comment every now and again!!
ò.ó
hehehe
ok..ok..you may not be interested in participating actively but you won't make me give up posting here! At least I AM practicing some English! =P

Well, I've found some interesting stuff, a bit of slang. Have fun!

• BIG TIME = a lot/very (US)

They screwed up big time.

• ITTY-BITTY = a little/little

She has these itty-bitty little fingers.

OR

• ITSY-BITSY = a little / little

She has these itsy-bitsy little fingers.

• UMPTEEN = a lot/very

I called him umpteen times, but he was never there.

• ZILCH = nothing
  

These old coins are worth zilch.

• HELLUVA = a lot/very

I’ve been waiting a helluva long time.
(helluva = hell of a) !! amazing isn't it?

• NO END = a lot / very

His work has improved no end.

• OODLES = a lot / very

Mary put oodles of chocolate sauce on her ice cream.

• SERIOUSLY = a lot / very

He plays some seriously good music.

• DEAD = a lot / very

The test was dead easy.

• ISH = a little / little

“Did you get nervous during the interview?” “Ish.”

• TEENY-WEENY = a little / little

Just a teeny weeny piece for me, please.

• PIFFLING = a little / little

How can I buy a new car with such a piffling salary?

OR

• PIDDLING = a little / little

How can I buy a new car with such a piddling salary?

• JACK SHIT = Nothing

He doesn’t know jack shit about computers. (US)

• GOOD AND… = a lot / very

I like my coffee good and hot.

• MASSES = a lot / very

We’ve still got masses of things to do. (UK)

• BUGGER ALL = Nothing

Bugger all! (UK)
[Porcaria nenhuma!]

• DINKY = a little / little

He lives in a really dinky apartment.

• MILES = a lot / very

His new movie is miles better than his last one.

• HEAPS = a lot / very

I’ve got heaps of things to do.

• ODD = a little / little

I’ve lived here for twenty odd years.
[Eu moro aqui há 20 e poucos anos.]

• A TAD = a little / little

I’m feeling just a tad disappointed.

• TONS = a lot / very

I’ve got tons of emails to answer.

• REAL = a lot / very

Why don’t you try it? It’s real easy. (US)

• ZILLIONS = a lot / very

On New Year’s Eve there were zillions of people on Copacabana Beach.

• DIDDLY = nothing

She doesn’t know diddly about computers. (US)

• ZIP = nothing

He knows zip about women. (US)

That's all!
see ya!

curiosities

hi there!!

hey this is really cool!!
do you know what it means??
yeah "Whatchamacallit", it does mean something!
^^
that's the word you use when you are speaking about something or someone whose name you can't remember!!!

and when you're at restaurant or something and you want pay the bill for your friends...what do you say?
"my treat"
^^

nice isn't it??

well...that's all
see ya!!
=**

Thunder and Lightning!

Hello everybody,

I dare to add a little post. I haven’t found the correct answer to Tássio’s piquant “bumpkin” but I’ll find one some time “soon”.

I chose a passage from the novel “the adventures of Huckleberry Finn” written by an American writer, Mark Twain. (Yeah yeah I know you guys are more into British English…) If ever you can get a hand on that book: read it! It’s enriching in many ways, i-e, it’s meaningful, pleasant to read, funny, just… an American classic. Well anyway, here’s the extract:

“It would get so dark that it looked all blue-black outside, and lovely; and the rain would thrash along by so thick that the trees off a little ways looked dim and spider-webby; and here would come a blast of wind that would bend the trees down and turn up the pale under-side of the leaves; and then a perfect ripper of a gust would follow along and set the branches to tossing their arms as if they was just wild; and next, when it was just about the bluest and blackest -- fst! it was as bright as glory, and you'd have a little glimpse of tree-tops a-plunging about away off yonder in the storm, hundreds of yards further than you could see before; dark as sin again in a second, and now you'd hear the thunder let go with an awful crash, and then go rumbling, grumbling, tumbling, down the sky towards the under side of the world, like rolling empty barrels down stairs -- where it's long stairs and they bounce a good deal, you know.”

To thrash: it can mean to whip or to move or swing about with flailing, violent motions (I’d say it’s this definition in the text). It can also be to work windward, against the tide or when swimming.

A Ripper of a gust: a violent/sharp blow of wind.

Yonder: distant but within sight

Rumbling, grumbling, tumbling: “a loud low dull continuous noise” (from www.wordreference.com) and for tumbling : “pitching headlong with a rolling or twisting movement” This I suppose was clear. Just listening to the words and you guess the sound of thunder! Great isn’t it?

Well that’s it! Hope you enjoyed it!

A lesson of war (and english too)

June 7th, 1945 - Normandy, France
Pvt. Lazlo Perestroika (a.k.a. Poor Lazlo)

Cpt. James Ryan: "Ok, private, here's the situation: we're under heavy fire from a nearby enemy artillery unit. If we don't solve this ASAP, the poop will hit the paddles.Problem is: they're right in the middle of a mine field, so we can't just step in their yard. I want you to get near them and kill them with the mortar. Corporal Blaskowitz will help you."

Poor Lazlo: "Roger that, sir!"

Some minutes later, near the enemy artillery unit...

Cpl. Blaskowitz: "Ever fired a mortar? No? Here, give it it whirl!

The Poor Lazlo pressed the fire button, but he had forgotten to open the launch tube so the shell exploded just in front of his face. He died instantly, but Corporal Blaskowitz survived with just a scratch. Private Perestroika was buried and in his thomb you can read the following message:

Private Perestroika, KIA
"Poor Lazlo was a nice guy, but was killed by his own stupidity"
RIP

Right, this story was just an excuse to use some expressions and words. Here come their explanation:

a.k.a. = also known as >> it's used to give another name or nickname for something or someone, for example: Frank Sinatra, aka 'The Voice'
Ok >> everybody knows this is used to answer positively to questions and to say 'everything is fine' and so on, but do you know the origin of this word? Well, there are lots of theories, but one I like is that it comes from the military reports in the American Civil War saying that there were '0 kills' (nobody died) in a mission. '0' can be said 'zero' or 'oh' and 'kills' abbreviated (shortened) to 'k' (pronounced 'kay'). That's why you can also write 'okay' instead of 'ok'.
ASAP = as soon as possible >> it's used when the speaker wants to emphasize the urgency of something and means the same as 'quickly'. Another expression with a similar meaning is 'on the double'.
The poop hit the paddles >> this means the situation will get bad or you'll get in trouble. I don't know if it's a dirty expression, but I wouldn't use it in any situation other than informal ones. By the way, 'poop' means 'shit'and paddles are what you use to move a boat or play table tennis.
Give something a whirl = Give something a try >> it's a expression used to encourage someone to experiment doing something new
KIA = killed in action >> it's a word used in military contexts to say someone died during a battle
R.I.P. >> this one is a classic! It means 'rest in peace' If you like latin quotations, here's the original expression: 'requiescat in pace'.

I hope you have enjoyed my first post in this collaborative blog even though my English writing skills are no match for Tássio-san's.

Ashamed, flabbergasted, but alive and kicking!

Hi there folks!
Almost run out of time, but here I am, fulfilling the weekly-post-promise. As it is already late, I am going to be quick, although I can assure more is to come (really) soon.

This week I have happened to get an overdose of amazing English learning sources I hadn't ever imagined would exist in such a big number. It was like references to english learning just kept popping up all the time, out of the blue. Some of the e-resources I came across this week and which are easy to share are listed below:

vocabulary:
http://www.englishidioms.uni.cc/
listening english - english resources:
http://www.listen-to-english.com/
http://www.thewordnerds.org/
http://www.eslpod.com/website/
http://feeds.thisamericanlife.org/talpodcast
http://englishcaster.com/idioms/

portuguese-english blogs - surprisingly good material there!
http://www.teclasap.com.br/blog/
http://denilsodelima.blogspot.com/

All those are worth each minute you can spend on them.
And, just to deny I only pasted the websites, not ading anything of my own this week, I'd like to comment on an unusual word: bumpkim (sounds like pumpkin...). It is a word which shows disapproval, and sometimes is even offensive, used to refer to a person who was brought up in the countryside (remembers me of someone... jk). I was saving it for my vacations - going to receive an special guest - but couldn't just keep it for myself. As a way of not forgetting it, I wrote it on my hand before going bed, and, to my utter astonishment, it worked! Maybe I've just developped a new and fantastic method of language-study!! Well, let aside the joke, it is worth messing up with your study method. Although with time people tend to acquire knowledge of their favourite ways of learning, it is sometimes worth to change to less effective, different ways, even if it is just for fun. It is nice having an unusual learning experience, you'll remember it later. I think.

As usual, follows a saying - an English proverb this time:

Enough is as good as a feast.

Next week - or as I prefer to call it - this week, if the best comes to the best, I'll be able to post a heap of (= a lot of) sharp material here. Anyway, even if the worse comes to the worse, it will be done ASAP (= as soon as possible)

ttys! (talk to you soon)

The Changeling Twins of Corwrion

Hi there!
Yeah I finally decided to post something in here! I thought long and hard about what should I write - you know, first post...very special thing ^^ - and I've decided on a traditional tale!
So I've searched the web from top to bottom and found this really cool website (http://www.cln.org/themes/fairytales.html) which contains a lot of tales from all over the world.
I've choosen a British one. Enjoy!

The Changeling Twins of Corwrion
John Rhys, Celtic Folklore

Once on a time, in the fourteenth century, the wife of a man at Corwrion had twins, and she complained one day to a witch, who lived close by, at Tydyn y Barcud, that the children were not getting on, but that they were always crying day and night.
"Are you sure that they are your children?" asked the witch, adding that it did not seem to her that they were like hers.
"I have my doubts also," said the mother.
"I wonder if somebody has exchanged children with you," said the witch.
"I do not know," said the mother. "But why do you not seek to know?" asked the other.
"But how am I to go about it?" said the mother.
The witch replied, "Go and do something rather strange before their eyes and watch what they will say to one another."
"Well, I do not know what I should do," said the mother.
"Well," said the other, "take an eggshell, and proceed to brew beer in it in a chamber aside, and come here to tell me what the children will say about it."
She went home and did as the witch had directed her, when the two children lifted their heads out of the cradle to find what she was doing--to watch and to listen.
Then one observed to the other, "I remember seeing an oak having an acorn," to which the other replied, "And I remember seeing a hen having an egg"; and one of the two added, "But I do not remember before seeing anybody brew beer in the shell of a hen's egg."
The mother then went to the witch and told her what the twins had said one to the other; and she directed her to go to a small wooden bridge not far off, with one of the strange children under each arm, and there to drop them from the bridge into the river beneath.
The mother went back home again and did as she had been directed. When she reached home this time, she found to her astonishment that her own children had been brought back.


So, the moral of the story is that witches are good at giving advice. - ?!
Maybe the traditional Celtic tales have no moral...

Well, that's all.
Take care!

What to study and what not to...

Learning. Such an important thing (nowadays more than ever), it is a subject that fascinates me. As I grow older, I have come to realize the importance of planning and organizing the study as something special and capital on learning.

Thinking about things to post on this e-notebook, I went into considering what are the areas one should focus on when studying by him/herself. It turned out that what people might be lacking *personal point of view on* 'home vocabulary'. By this I mean tools to comunicate every-day simple things, often left aside on english courses. For example, what do the salt containers on restaurant are called, how to describe food flavours and textures, how to nickname a pet or to make jokes. I got to that through thinking on the profile of people who need to improve their english, but already have studied it for a time. These people already, I think, got handle of specific, career-linked vocabulary. Therefore the formal structure of the language is already something of a familiar ground to them (us). The big gap yet to be filled (besides, in some cases, literary vocab) is the language one use outside the walls of the laboratory/office/library. *personal point of view off*

People, I promise I will cut out the meta-discussions, it just happens that I like them ... a lot ...

Smart alecks . . .

Finders keepers, losers weepers.

Childhood is really a rich time. It's when we build an important part of our cultural background, which is going to be quite useful in understanding many subtleties of the life in the community we belong to. I have been drawn into thinking about how much those cultural frameworks are important to the actual communication the other day. This led me to consider how deep it is interesting to dip into children's world when learning a new language.

As individuals, it is during the childhood that we are taught the language which is going to accompany us all our lives (usually). It seems reasonable therefore to consider peeking into how we teach children a language if one wants to learn about how we learn a (new) language. I was amazed, even though not really surprised, therefore to recognize some familiar ways of introducing vocabulary when I read a short story for children. *philosophical mode off*

I'll take the opportunity to do some anti-marketing here. Surprisingly enough, I'm not the only person blogging about english-learning on the web! Here's a nice blog I've just found, which has many interesting posts, and seems to be frequently updated: www.inglespraque.com (mainly writen in portuguese). I learned quite some new tricks in there, i.e.: that sure thing! may be used when one wants to express informally ready agreement: 'Could you give me a ride today?' 'Sure thing!' Frankly, that blog inspired me. I hope we can do here something nice like that!

There are some things left to say: smart alec(k), or smart ass is that person which always comes which an intelligent answer, usually intended to annoy people (a know-it-all). As for the 'saying', well it's something fit into grating category... referring to the 'belief' some people have that whoever finds something becomes it's owner, even if the actual owner happens to appear!

I'll stop here, this post is already too long. More later on!

A second thing

To begin with, I'd like to share a saying I've just seen:

Many a true word is spoken in jest.

To me, the first obstacle was the meaning of jest. Accordingly to Cambridge's online dictionary (http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org), jest is something which is said or done in order to amuse, (hence in jest means intended as a joke and not said seriously).
So... "many a true word is spoken in jest" refers to humorous remarks which contain serious or truthful statements (yet according to Cambridge's dic).

Ah, almost had let it go: CEO is the abbreviation of Chief Executive Officer, as someone asked me the other day.
That's it for today!

First things...

Hey everyone! At last this blog was created (you're all supposed to agree).
This blog is meant to be an open notebook with interesting English vocab people come across. Here's where the motivation comes from:
I think we learn best through teaching. And we teach by telling people things we're interested in, or discoveries we made which brought us amusement. The interaction involved in telling, trying to transmit something, adds to the post-it we stick to our memories a special taste, which helps us remembering it - and therefore learning it.
So this is the space to tell your eager fellows - students of English - what you have just learned. I'm eager to hear from you!
My farewell!