English Expressions

Hi everyone,

Reaching an advanced level, it's now good to leaRn expressions... which is not that easy.

Why learning?
- to understand your interlocutors
- to try to use them when speaking to natives (*)
- to show off in Polyglot café's
- because expressions teach you much re the culture

(*) "to try to use them when speaking to natives"
Pls don't apply my saying to slang and swearwords as a mistake with an expression would provide you with smiles and explanations but a mistake with swearword might let natives think you're rude.

How to learn?
- one each day?
No need to try to learn by heart: let's just remember the ones that please us and little by little...

Not easy...
Yes you can!
Let's go!

Hi,

(around to come)

• come again[!]? / pardon?
  
• I don't know if I'm coming or going / je ne sais plus où j'en suis
  
• ‘how do you like your tea?’—‘as it comes’ / ‘tu le prends comment ton thé?’—‘ça m'est égal’
  
• he's as stupid/honest as they come / il n'y a pas plus stupide/honnête que lui
  
• come to that ou if it comes to that, you may be right / en fait, tu as peut-être raison
  
• to come as a shock/a surprise / être un choc/une surprise

(around to go)

• to have a go at sb / s'en prendre à qn
  
• to make a go of sth / réussir qch
  
• she's always on the go / elle n'arrête jamais
  
• he's all go[!]! / il n'arrête pas !
  
• it's all the go[!]! / ça fait fureur !
  
• we have several different projects on the go at the moment / nous avons plusieurs projets différents en chantier or en cours en ce moment
  
• (it's) no go! / pas question !
  
• from the word go / dès le départ
  
• that was a near go[!]! / on l'a échappé belle !
  
• in one go / d'un seul coup
  
• to go one better than sb / renchérir sur qn
  
• that's how it goes ! or that's the way it goes! / ainsi va le monde !, c'est la vie !
  
• there you go[!]! / voilà !

NB:
[!] denotes an informal expression
[!!] would denote a rude expression
[!!!] would denote a vulgar expression

Hi Gérard,

Concerning (it's) no go!, I would say it means "it's not going to happen" (ça ne sert à rien)

And no go area means "one cannot enter" eg chantier

> •(it's) no go! / pas question !
>> Concerning (it's) no go!, I would say it means "it's not going to happen" (ça ne sert à rien)

Thanks buckets Krystyna!

How would you say "pas question" then? no way (that's what I guess)?

You is welcome !

Is "pas question" like "sans doute" ?

LOL

krystynaD a écrit:... Is "pas question" like "sans doute" ?

No, "pas question" means no way!

"pas question" est une interjection pour signifier qu'il n'y a pas à discuter la chose et que la réponse sera de toute façon négative !
Pas de question possible, pas de discussion possible, ce n'est pas permis !

Okay, merci buckets to you too !
Something else to add to my ever-bulging notebook of unfathomable quirky french idioms !

Hi Krystyna, hi everyone,

I'd like to share an expression I learned today, it's: let's call it quits! (our "restons en là").

That reminds me of another common expression.
English speaking people have a nice expression to end a meeting, it's "let's call it a day!" which is rather close to our expression "ça suffit pour aujourd'hui" except that it's not informal in En but can be used by everyone.

Do you know other similar expressions, beginning with "let's call it..."?

~~

To quit has got a meaning larger than in the French quitter.
It can be an adjective with to be quit of sb/sth = être débarrassé de qqn/qqc.
The verb needs a tt for its present participle; preterit and past participle accepting both forms quitted or quit.
The meanings range from démissionner de to laisser tomber to quitter, donner congé (à un locataire) for the transitive series.
As for the intransitive series: arrêter, laisser tomber, démissionner.

To be quits[!] means être quitte
To call it quits means en rester là

Quitter[!] is an informal negative/pejorative word.
He's a quitter can be translated into il n'est pas tenace
I'm no quitter! is equivalent to quand je commence quelque chose, je le termine!!

-> to give a tenant notice to quit / donner congé à un locataire
-> to quit whilst one is ahead ou on top general / s'arrêter avant que les choses se gâtent; (in career) partir au summum de la gloire
-> he quit as chairman / il a démissionné de son poste de président

Hi Gérard, hi everyone
" Let's call it off"= Annulons tout

Hi Muriel, hi everyone,

Thanks a lot for your message.

However, I would say that's not exactly an expression but rather a phrasal verb.

To call off sth or to call sth off
-1- literal - rappeler eg to call off a dog (who's attacking)
-2- figurative - interrompre, annuler
eg to call off one's engagement / rompre ses fiançailles
eg to call off a strike / annuler un ordre de grève
eg let's call the whole thing off / laissons tomber.

Hi Muriel, hi everone,

I thought I had posted this (prolly in my dreams)!

In the previous 2 posts, we wrote about to call off = stopper, annuler, interrompre.

That made me think of another phrasal verb wich is composed of "off" as well, a bit less strong than call off and which simply means repousser, reporter: can you gess it?... a synonym of to postpone.

Another question: there's a verb I love, which comes from the French (which is not very used or known in France) and which means to continuously postpone - do you guess?

Hi everyone,

Another series of expressions, around the word "lid" this time:

• to blow the lid off sth[!] / lever le voile sur qch
  
• to flip one's lid[!] / éclater
  
• to keep the lid on sth[!] / contrôler qch
  
• to put a lid on sth[!] / mettre un frein à qch
  
• to put the lid on sth[!](finish) / mettre fin à qch
  
• that really puts the (tin) lid on it![!] / ça, c'est vraiment le pompon[!] !

Hi Gérard, Hi everyone
I have also seen "to blow one's lid"= to blow up with anger !

Thanks for your message Muriel !

> I have also seen
A note as I am at it: you very often see me use the simple past...
Americans use the simple past a lot while Brits prefer the present perfect. Of course it's not a mistake, just a style

> "to blow one's lid"= to blow up with anger !
Very good example.
However, I'm a bit surprised as, in my mind, "to blow up" often already includes anger.

Be very careful with the verb to blow as many expression are built with it that have informal to naughty meanings.
Already, blow means marijuana (UK) or cocaïne.

Idioms

• to blow a fuse[!]ou a gasket[!] ou one's lid[!] ou one's stack[!] ou one' s top[!] / piquer une crise[!]
  
• it really blew my mind[!] ou blew me away![!] (with admiration, astonishment) / j'en suis resté baba[!].

To blow up:

blow up

1. (in explosion) [building] sauter; [bomb] exploser;
   
2. [wind, storm] se lever;
   
3. [trouble, problem, affair] éclater;
   
4. [!](become angry) [person] s'emporter; to blow up at sb s'emporter après qn, engueuler[!] qn;
   
5. (inflate) it blows up c'est gonflable; it won't blow up! je n'arrive pas à le/la gonfler!

blow [sth/sb] up, blow up [sb/sth] (in explosion) faire sauter [building, person]; faire exploser [bomb];

blow [sth] up, blow up [sth]

1. (inflate) gonfler [tyre, balloon];
   
2. photography (enlarge) agrandir;
   
3. (exaggerate) exagérer; the story has been blown (up) out of all proportion l'histoire a été exagérément grossie.

hello Gérard hello everyone
In british english they use the present perfect when they consider the past action result on the present
You can say for instance I drank a lot of wine yesterday but when you look dead drunk you say "I have drunk"

Hi Muriel,

Yes I knew that but wanted to draw the attention on this difference b/w Am./Brit En

In your example, Americans may be stronger and retrieve quicker so that the effects are gone!

Hi Muriel, everyone,

I guess I've got a good question:

Do you know what RSVP means on an English invitation card?

From the French RSVP, répondez s'il vous plaît, does it mean “reply please” ?

Yes Muriel, it means exactly that !

Hi Gérard,

I will try to guess !

to postpone = PUT OFF

continously postpone = maybe PROCRASTINATE (a favourite word of mine, as it is something I am good at !)

That made me think of another phrasal verb wich is composed of "off" as well, a bit less strong than call off and which simply means repousser, reporter: can you guess it?... a synonym of to postpone.

Another question: there's a verb I love, which comes from the French (which is not very used or known in France) and which means to continuously postpone - do you guess?

Krystyna,

Like Obelix who fell into the Magic Potion, you fell down into English when you were a baby so that you are permitted to answer the French riddles only
These are too easy for you and you take all of the jackpots.

Hi everyone,

Caught on Facebook where my niece is talking with her pals:

Cool chicks, yummy mummies, groovy grannies

Interesting to see their tastes for rhymes in funny expressions.

As far as I understand, adjectives are there mainly for the rhyme.

They speak about different periods of their lives:
- a chick comes after chicken and also means oisillon, poussin
but also nana[!], gonzesse [!!]
"Cool" doesn't rhyme with "chick" - I already heard people pronounce chuck which better rhymes with cool.
Chuck is not displayed in my dictionary as having the same meaning as chick but I am quite sute it has.
However, there are several informal or rude words around chuck... look up!
- (informal) mum or mummy means "maman" in the UK
(informal) mom or mommy means "maman" in the US
- yum, yummy means delicious
- (informal) granny or grandma means mamie but also "vieille mémère"
old granny is pejorative
- mam means maman
- mama means maman in the US
- mamma means maman in the US; it can also have a pejorative meaning
- mammy means maman
- groovy means sensass or dans le vent

Hi Gérard
I understand each word but not the entire expression . Thank you for explaining;

Bonjour Muriel,

Cool chicks, yummy mummies, groovy grannies

Ce n'est pas une expression littéraire de haut niveau et il n'y a pas grand chose à comprendre.
Il faut plutôt considérer la chose comme une sorte de comptine.

4 ou 5 filles discutent.
L'une d'elle s'est cassé la cheville mais on lui a enlevé le platre et elle commence sa rééducation ; elle dit qu'elle marche encore comme une grand-mère mais qu'elle essaie de retrouver son beau déplacement de nana : "I am sooooo learning how to shuffle in a cool way - not a granny shuffle ".

La discussion porte sur leur style et leur âge (du moins la période de leur vie) mais en fait, elles ne cessent de raconter des sottises entre elles.
Puis la première associe 3 expressions courantes correspondant à 3 périodes de la vie: "Cool chicks, yummy mummies, groovy grannies".
Chacune des 3 est couramment utilisée (mais rarement ensemble).
Il faut d'abord y voir les sortes de rimes à l'anglaise c'est à dire qu'on se contente d'une syllabe commune (pas obligatoirement la dernière) ou même une lettre - la traduction importe peu, ce sont les sonorités et juste l'idée émise, l'ambiance de l'expression :
-cool chicks = belle nana (je pense que ça irait mieux en utilisant "cool chuck")
-yummy mummies = maman délicieuse mais peu être aussi la maman qui fait des gâteaux anglais à la maison
-groovy grannies = grand-mère sensass
Encore une fois, chacune de ces associations est courante dans la langue.
Bien voir que ces sonorités voisines sont le délice du parler familier de l'anglais.

Okey Dokey
et des tonnes d'autres dans la langue de tous les jours.

Bonsoir à tous,

Je voudrais revenir sur "chuck" auquel j'ai fait allusion...

gerardM a écrit:... - a chick comes after chicken and also means oisillon, poussin
but also nana[!], gonzesse [!!]
"Cool" doesn't rhyme with "chick" - I already heard people pronounce chuck which better rhymes with cool.
Chuck is not displayed in my dictionary as having the same meaning as chick but I am quite sute it has.
However, there are several informal or rude words around chuck... look up!
...

"Chuck" doesn't exist.

In fact the spelling is "chook" and it is Australian slang (they -of course- also use "chooky").

Krystyna told me that a chook meant an old woman or a normal chicken, never a young woman as I had supposed.

She also told me that they had meetings to play kinda lotto (double t in En) with a raffle (Fr tombola) for which tickets were picked out from a hat and the guy was shouting "You win the chook raffle!" (just refering to an old practice, when the prize was a chicken).

There're lots of links from Google, asking about "chook".