Colloquial English

[Алексей Конобеев]

Помните сказку "Федорино горе"? А знаете, что такое по-английски fedora? Это такая шляра. дети, которые смотрели диснеевский сериал Rescue rangers или просто знают бурундуков Чипа и Дейла, знают и шляпу, ее постоянно носит Чип. Вот тут можно найти изображения: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_%28hat%29

[tam]

Помните сказку "Федорино горе"? А знаете, что такое по-английски fedora? Это такая шляра. дети, которые смотрели диснеевский сериал Rescue rangers или просто знают бурундуков Чипа и Дейла, знают и шляпу, ее постоянно носит Чип. Вот тут можно найти изображения: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_%28hat%29

П-О-Т-Р-Я-С-А-Ю-Щ-Е!!!

[Владислав]

Помните сказку "Федорино горе"? А знаете, что такое по-английски fedora? Это такая шляра. дети, которые смотрели диснеевский сериал Rescue rangers или просто знают бурундуков Чипа и Дейла, знают и шляпу, ее постоянно носит Чип. Вот тут можно найти изображения: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_%28hat%29

 

Спасибо большое за полезную информацию! Расширил мой кругозор!

[пять гор]

I liked new (for me) e-words : in cyberspace = in the Net; netizen = a person who regularly uses the internet (сетянин)))

[Алексей Конобеев]

Yuppies, dinkies, old fogeys - who are they?

Sometimes you hear or read these terms in conversations and newspaper articles, and your students might ask what these words mean.

Well, a yuppie is an acronim, it stands for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional" and refers to a member of the upper middle class in their twenties or thirties. This term appeared in early 1980-s. This word often has a negative social and economic connotation.

The word DINKY may mean either of the following:

# Dual (or double) income, no kids.

# Dual (or double) income, no kids yet.

# Dual (or double) income, no kids yuppie

It usually means a high-earning couple who choose not to have children and are therefore able to afford a more expensive consumer lifestyle than those with families.

 

And a fogey (alternative spelling: foggy) means dull old fellow; a person behind the times, over-conservative, or slow (as in old fogey) or just someone whose style is out of fashion. This word is often used by British teenagers to refer to older relatives or people. Those older relatives duly pay back the debt and call these teenagers pimplies, the reference and origine of this word, I believe, is quite obvious :-)

[Алексей Конобеев]

For donkey's years - this is a fairly colloquial expression meaning "for many years, for a very long time". In early 20th century the expression was sometimes used in a different form "for donkey's ears" and probably originated from some rhyming slang. But the form "donkey's years" soon prevailed, probably originating from the belief that donkeys live for a very long time.

This expression is mainly used in Britain.

[Harry Smith]

Bad workers always blame their tools

"A bad worker always blames their tools" - If somebody does a job badly or loses in a game and claims that they were let down by their equipment, you can use this to imply that this was not the case.

[пять гор]

Плохому танцору...

[Harry Smith]

Keep body and soul together

If you earn enough to cover your basic expenses, but nothing more than that, you earn enough to keep body and soul together.

Keep in touch

If you keep in touch with someone, you keep communicating with them even though you may live far apart.

Keep it on the Q T

If you keep something on the Q T, you keep it quiet or secret.('Q-T' is also used.)

Keep it under your hat

If you keep something under your hat, you keep it secret.

Keep mum

If you keep mum about something, you keep quiet and don't tell anyone.

[Harry Smith]

Day in the sun

If you have your day in the sun, you get attention and are appreciated.

Daylight robbery

If you are overcharged or underpaid, it is a daylight robbery; open, unfair and hard to prevent. Rip-off has a similar meaning.

Days are numbered

When someone’s days are numbered, they are expected to die soon.

Dead air

When there is a period of total silence, there is dead air.

Dead and buried

If something is dead and buried, it has all long been settled and is not going to be reconsidered.

Dead as a dodo

If something's dead as a dodo, it is lifeless and dull. The dodo was a bird that lived the island of Mauritius. It couldn't fly and was hunted to extinction.

Dead as a doornail

This is used to indicate that something is lifeless.

Dead duck

If something is a dead duck, it is a failure.

Dead even

If people competing are dead even, they are at exactly the same stage or moving at exactly the same speed.

Dead from the neck up

Someone who's dead from the neck up is very stupid indeed.

Dead heat

If a race ends in a dead heat, two or more finish with exactly the same result.

Dead in the water

If something is dead in the water, it isn't going anywhere or making any progress.

Dead level best

If you try your dead level best, you try as hard as you possibly could to do something.

Dead man walking

A dead man walking is someone who is in great trouble and will certainly get punished, lose their job or position, etc, soon.

[Владислав]

Heart

 

aching heart - a feeling of sadness that one has when love has been lost or has faded

 

at heart - basically, essentially, what one really is rather than what one seems to be

 

get to the heart of (something) - to understand the most important/essential thing about something

 

have a change of heart - to change the way one feels/thinks about something

 

lose heart - to feel discouraged because of failure, to lose the hope of success

 

take heart - to be encouraged, to be brave

 

to one’s heart’s content - as much as one wants

[Владислав]

Far cry from - This means that something is very different from something.

[Владислав]

Wallflower - 1) A woman politician given an unimportant government position so that the

government can pretend it takes women seriously is a wallflower.

2) A shy person who is not asked to dance is a wallflower.

[Владислав]

ENGLISH IDIOMS & IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS WITH PARTS OF THE BODY - http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/...heart-lungs.htm

[tam]

Полезные ссылки:

http://homeenglish.ru/Idioms.htm - большой словарь английских идиом с переводом.

native-english.ru - наиболее употребительные английские идиомы с переводом. Отдельно по буквам алфавита. Иллюстрируются примерами.

englishclub.narod.ru - здесь представлены идиомы, в состав которых входят слова, обозначающие цвет, части тела, одежду, пищу и т.д. - пояснения, в основном, на английском языке.

http://www.enpuz.ru/idioms.php - Вы можете найти значения встретившихся идиом или фразеологизмов английского языка в предлагаемом справочнике.

http://www.english-moscow.ru/rassylki/idiom/ - идиомы, фразеологизмы, пословицы (тематический словарь)

http://abc-english-grammar.com/1/idioms3.htm - В этом разделе Вы сможете найти фразеологизмы английского языка

http://www.englishteacherjohn.com/language...ressionlist.htm - разговорные выражения, которые весьма широко используются

http://a4esl.org/q/h/0101/km-strange.html - разговорные, но не очень знакомые нам идиомы

http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-list.html - собрание идиоматических и разговорных выражений

http://esl.about.com/od/engilshvocabulary/...om_resource.htm - большое собрание идиом и фразовых глаголов

http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html - мини-тесты на знание идиоматических выражений

http://enative.narod.ru/practice/idioms.htm - словарь с примерами употребления идиом в речи

[Harry Smith]

Yes-man

Someone who always agrees with people in authority is a yes-man

Yellow press

The yellow press is a term for the popular and sensationalist newspapers

You can't take it with you

Enjoy life, enjoy what you have and don't worry about not having a lot, especially money...because once you're dead, 'you can't take it with you.' For some, it means to use up all you have before you die because it's no use to you afterwards.

[Алексей Конобеев]

financial infidelity - when a husband lies to his wife about his income and keeps some of the money back. And vice versa.

[Harry Smith]

Live and let live'

If you live and let live, you accept other people as they are, although they may have a different way of life.

[Алексей Конобеев]

Интересная статья о современном состоянии речи многих американцев вышла недавно в City Journal. Цитата:

"I recently watched a television program in which a woman described a baby squirrel that she had found in her yard. “And he was like, you know, ‘Helloooo, what are you looking at?’ and stuff, and I’m like, you know, ‘Can I, like, pick you up?,’ and he goes, like, ‘Brrrp brrrp brrrp,’ and I’m like, you know, ‘Whoa, that is so wow!’ ” She rambled on, speaking in self-quotations, sound effects, and other vocabulary substitutes, punctuating her sentences with facial tics and lateral eye shifts. All the while, however, she never said anything specific about her encounter with the squirrel.

 

Uh-oh. It was a classic case of Vagueness, the linguistic virus that infected spoken language in the late twentieth century. Squirrel Woman sounded like a high school junior, but she appeared to be in her mid-forties, old enough to have been an early carrier of the contagion. She might even have been a college intern in the days when Vagueness emerged from the shadows of slang and mounted an all-out assault on American English...

 

...All’s fair in love and language, and the American lingo is in constant motion. “You should,” for example, has been replaced by “you need to.” “No” has faded into “not really.” “I said” is now “I went.” As for “you’re welcome,” that’s long since become “no problem.” Even nasal passages are affected by fashion. Quack-talking, the rasping tones preferred by many young women today, used to be considered a misfortune...

...In 1988, my elder daughter graduated from Vassar. During a commencement reception, I asked one of her professors if he’d noticed any change in Vassar students’ language skills. “The biggest difference,” he replied, “is that by the time today’s students arrive on campus, they’ve been juvenilized. You can hear it in the way they talk. There seems to be a reduced capacity for abstract thought.” He went on to say that immature speech patterns used to be drummed out of kids in ninth grade. “Today, whatever way kids communicate seems to be fine with their high school teachers.” ..."

Вся статья: http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_snd-american-english.html

[Radislav Millrood]

Интересная статья о современном состоянии речи многих американцев вышла недавно в City Journal.

Вся статья: http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_snd-american-english.html

Материал статьи очень точный. Мой друг из США, который долгое время работал в "соросе" в Самаре уже лет десять назад говорил "No problem!" в ответ на мое "Thank you!" Заполнение пустоты в форме ... like ... было в США еще в 90-е годы и многие наши студенты после пары месяцев в стране, с удовольствием хватались за это спасение, когда нужное слово своевременно не всплывало в памяти. Вообщем, очень полезная статья.

[Anna4]

Get a life

 

"Get a life" is an originally American idiom and catch phrase usually intended as a taunt, to indicate that the person being so addressed is devoting an inordinate amount of time to trivial or hopeless matters. It may also be directed at someone who is perceived as boring or single-minded; suggesting they acquire some other, more practical interests or hobbies and get dates, find a job.

[elkaJUNE]

Alcopop: Fruit drinks fortified with alcohol, designed and marketed to appeal to young people.

Baggravation: Blend of the words ‘bag’ and ‘aggravation’. A feeling of annoyance and frustration at the airport when your baggage has not arrived but the other passengers’ bags have.

Busking: Performing on the streets and other public places, while soliciting donations.

E-cruitment: Online recruitment of employees, including online submission of resumes and cover letters.

Fashionista: Person who dresses according to the latest fashion trends.

Freemale: A woman who is happy to stay single and independent so that she can do what she wants when she wants.

[пять гор]

какие современные выражения могут быть эквивалентом нашего "классно, клево, круто, зашибись " и проч? дети постоянно спрашивают..

[Алексей Конобеев]

Материал статьи очень точный. Мой друг из США, который долгое время работал в "соросе" в Самаре уже лет десять назад говорил "No problem!" в ответ на мое "Thank you!" Заполнение пустоты в форме ... like ... было в США еще в 90-е годы и многие наши студенты после пары месяцев в стране, с удовольствием хватались за это спасение, когда нужное слово своевременно не всплывало в памяти. Вообщем, очень полезная статья.

Еще интересно, как вытесняется постепенно выражение My fault - сейчас в США все чаще говорят My bad, хотя это пока и не mainstream и все еще звучит скорее как языковая игра.

[tbogdanova]

Thanks! Very interesting indeed. Getting back to the question "How to work with the expressions?"... I like the following: to give students the expression and ask them to explain or guess the meaning. There are sometimes very interesting and funny ideas. It may be done in pairs or in groups. The process itself encourages them to speak and at the same time we can have some fun during the lesson.