American colloquial expressions

Hey guys!

So I decided doing and all-american post with (slangish) expressions used in the states! Here we go :

- to push off = to leave

I am going to push off now.

- put the moves on = seduce

If you like her, put the moves on her!

- rack = bed

I have to hit the rack by ten or I'll be tired in the morning.

- to rack out = to sleep

- grubby = dirty/untidy

Those clothes are too grubby to wear to the party.

-hairy = dangerous (I particularly like this one)

That was a hairy plane trip. I am glad the storm is over.

-hang loose = relax

Just hang loose for another few days.

-have good vibes = feel good about (this one must be my father fav)

I have good vibes about our new secretary.

-to not have it all together = to not feel mentally all there

-Expressions with "gut"
Gut = stomack but in the expressions "to have guts" "it takes guts" it means courage and if you say the "GUT issue" = the basic issue

-ditch = leave, skip clases

I'll ditch my younger brother with my grandmother.

-flaky = unreliable

He is too flaky to do the work.

- Out in the boonies (that's mine^^)
the boonies are places in the middle of nowhere, in the wilderness
I lived in the boonies in France

Well well I think I'm going hang loose taking a nice shower and reading a good book before I rack out! Tomorrow is a big day and although it will be tiring and have good vibes about it!

I hope I'll be less flaky with V'sT but I can't promise anything!

Eye halve a speling chequer

It never occurred to me to exploit this in teaching a language. The following poem is a pearl. I hope you enjoy!

Eye Halve a Spelling Chequer

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weight.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its really ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weight
My chequer tolled me sew

(Sauce unknown)

Awesome, in't it? Well, just for checking here is what someone said (pfff) the author meant...

I Have a Spelling Checker

I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC
It plainly marks for my review
Mistakes I cannot see.

I strike a key and type a word
And wait for it to say
Whether I am wrong or right
It shows me straight away.

As soon as a mistake is made
It knows before too long
And I can put the error right
It's rarely ever wrong

I have run this poem through it
I am sure you're pleased to know
It's letter perfect in its way
My checker told me so.

(Source unknown)

'Till next time!

Over the hump?

How are you guys?

There's often this fight between two parts of me, one which is well aware of things I want to do and another which is well aware of the (nondisposable) time it'll all take to be done.

This time, after some coaxing by the former half, the whole being was convinced to be back (definetely, hopefully) to posting.

After all, we're supposed to be over the hump of the steep learning curve of the language. From here on honing skills is mostly a matter of perseverance and exposition. (Right?)

Well, straight to the point, I'll tell you a tad about my recent English-related activities. I've read: a selection of Sherlock Holmes' tales, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Fight Club. Last three weeks I've been engaged on a quick foray reading a physics book written to be accessible to non-specialists: Molecules, the second book of the series Physics for Everyone, by L. D. Landau and A. I. Kitaigorosdsky.

Now I write this last sentence in the nick of time I'd stipulated for today: see you!

How can I say...

Hi there folks!
I guess you all know www.forvo.com, but I'm pretty sure this one is all strange to you guys: http://howjsay.com/

For those who are into the british accent, like me, that's an awesome website for spending free time!

See you!!!

In the words of the ancients...

Actually, my post is about what (and how) the moderns say =) You probably have a friend who's your pocket dictionary, to whom you ask the meaning of any and every word you may stumble upon. Maybe you are such a subject! Like me! What I find attractive about this is that my fellow human dictionaries and me are capable of giving more flexible definitions which may not be as accurate as the ones given by our official counterparts, but surely hit the mark more often. Bearing that in mind, I present you a little discovery of mine which has given me quite a share of new knowledge and amusement: the Urban Dictionary!

http://www.urbandictionary.com

This site works exactly like that friend of yours only instead of one person you can hear people from everywhere in the world giving their own definition of a word or expression. It's pretty useful for searching slangs and unusual expressions (e.g. expression generated in the Internet, such as "lol"). Let me give some examples:

Textrovert: a person who feels boldened when communicating by text (in opposition to doing this in person) or who can only reveal his or her true feelings in written form.

Bromance: a deep friendship between two straight males who are so close their relationship is almost a marriage

Zonked: to be in a state of extreme exhaustion or under the effect of drugs

Mouse Potato: someone who spends too much time in front of the computer (similar to 'couch potato' which refers to people who watch too much TV)

Of course, it's predictable there will be a lot of vulgarity. I'll keep from posting some of them since I know Tássio-san wouldn't be pleased by my doing so. Instead, I'll give you a couple more curiosities. By the way, some definitions you'll find in this site don't refer to words, but facts or ideas.

Mozarting: Screaming while peeing in a public urinal as to make others frightened

F'shizzle my n'izzle: A bastardised version of "Fo' sho' nigga", which is a bastardised version of "for sure my nigga", which is a bastardized version of "I completely concur my african-american brother"

French military victories: Early mistake by Google that when you typed "french military victories" it would say "No entries. Did you mean french military defeats?"

And now for a last round, I'll explain some of the expressions I used in this post:

Hit the mark: to be correct, suitable, or successful

Bear in mind: to remember a piece of information when you are making decisions or thinking about a matter ((often + that))

[Source: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com >> a good site for searching idiomatic expressions]

e.g. : it means "for example" and its cousin is "i.e." which means "that is" (when you explain the same thing with different words).

[Source: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/e.g.html >> this site has a list of common errors in English which may come in handy (be useful): http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors]

That's all folks! Hope you've enjoyed the post!

Intense inactivity? Or discrete action?

Something is comming. I now it.

Just put your patience to work while I go fetch it.

As usual

Long time no see folks!

Again, some er... short time has passed since our last update. Dio must be rejoiced. But there is always and explanation. What is it? No need to tell, some things are best left unknown.

As for a quick note on English-learning lately, I can say that I had the chance of reading The Elements of Style, by William Strunk. The book is a classic on English writing. It was written in 1918, and even so was very easy to find (!). Yes, I didn't read it by chance, I was looking for the book. I was pointed to it by the references of the great book LaTeX: a Document Preparation System, by Leslie Lamport.

Even though some of the advised spelling pactices are out of date (to-day things are different, as surely as the writers of to-morrow will not spell as we do) the reading gave me a handful of interesting insights on important aspects of writing (and also of not writing). Let me tell it another way. Writing involves much more than laying down words in a gramatically acceptable way. Writing is (can't help thinking has to be) connected with communication, thus implying the existence of a recipient for the message. It is then that things get messy. As long as the main goal is to have the message conveyed, the necessity of a transparent containter for it will be highly important. The text is the container of the message, the clearer it is, the "tastiest the milk" (Paulo Feofiloff). Plainly speaking, that was the line I followed while reading the book (it may not apply directly to literary writing).

So much for this post.