Hoje eu vou falar sobre duas expressões em inglês relacionadas, que tem a ver com nossas expressões em português “Pega leve”, “Dá um tempo pra ela”, etc.
Transcrição
Hi, everybody! What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.
So picture this: you work for a company that sells pencils. It’s a very competitive market and the salespeople in your company work 14 hours a day. You’re the sales manager, so you have to make sure that everyone in your team is at the top of their game and working really hard to bring as much business to the company as humanly possible. So what happens one day is that your boss, the president, presents his protegé to you, and tells you that from now on, he is part of the sales team. So the new guy, Gary, has zero experience in sales. He looks like he doesn’t even like selling. He may not even like pencils that much, you’re not sure. However your boss has asked you to be patient with Gary. He said “Look, I know Gary is not an experienced sales person, but please work with him. Be patient, go easy on him, OK?” Hey, he’s your boss. He’s the president of the company and the one who pays your salary, so you answer “Sure”.
So one of the things your boss said was “Go easy on him”. What does that mean? That means.. be extra-patient with him. Be gentle. Go easy on him. For example, if an experienced sales person lost an important client, that sales person would be in serious trouble! But not Gary. If Gary loses an important client, be patient. Don’t be mad, don’t fire him, go easy on him. This expression “go easy on someone” is very common when we’re dealing with beginners, with rookies… A rookie is someone who’s just starting out in a profession, or an activity. For example, if you enjoy watching cop shows, you’ve probably heard the word rookie before. There’s always a police officer who’s just started working for the force; he or she is a rookie. And when there’s a rookie in the group, you may hear someone say “Go easy on her” or “Go easy on him”. Although I don’t think that’s very common in the police because they like to be very tough, but… I think you get the idea: don’t be so hard on this person. Be patient, because he or she is a beginner, they don’t have much experience, they’re still learning. Go easy on him; go easy on her.
So here’s a related expression: give someone a break. When you’re demanding a lot from someone, and it’s clear that what you’re demanding is more than he or she can handle, someone might say “Give him a break!” or “Give her a break!”. Let’s say you have a new employee, Tony, and he is doing everything he can to do a good job. However, the company is not doing so well. It’s not Tony’s fault… Times are hard, customers have less money than ever before, so everyone in the industry is having a hard time meeting goals.
You think Tony can take the pressure, though. He’s experienced, he’s tough and he’s very smart. So you keep increasing his workload and demanding great results from him. Tony is looking increasingly tired, but you still think he can take it. Your friend Mary, however, thinks you’re going too far. She says “You should give Tony a break. You should definitely give him a break. He’s doing his best to meet your demands and he’s doing very well. He’s already proven himself. Give him a break, or he’ll get sick and you’ll lose him”. So your friend Mary thinks you should give Tony a break. In Portuguese we might say something like “Dá um tempo” or “Dá uma folga pra ele”. Give him a break, he’s doing his best and he’s visibly tired.
In movies it is very common to hear someone tell another person “You should give yourself a break. Don’t be so hard on yourself, give yourself a break!”. That happens when the character, let’s say, John… So John is blaming himself for some mistake he made in the past, and he can’t forgive himself, and he’s suffering… So a friend tells him “John, give yourself a break. You didn’t know what you were doing back then, so just give yourself a break”.
So give us your own examples in the comments! Talk to you next time!
Key expressions
go easy on someone
a rookie
give someone a break
Glossary
at the top of their game = com a melhor performance possível
bring as much business as humanly possible = fazer (trazer) a maior quantidade de negócio que for possível para um ser humano
his protegé = o protegido dele
don’t be so hard on this person = não exija tanto dessa pessoa
everyone is having a hard time… = todo mundo está tendo dificuldade em…
…meeting goals = atingir os objetivos (bater meta, como dizemos no Brasil)
Ana criou um blog de dicas de inglês em 2006, e depois de muito pesquisar o que faz alguém ganhar fluência numa segunda língua, criou seu primeiro curso de inglês em 2009.
Oii Ana, quero parabenizá-la pelo site. É realmente muito útil e enriquecedor para quem quer aprender ou aprimorar o inglês. Obrigada por disponibilizar todo este material gratuitamente. Os podcasts e as dicas são ótimos e sua pronúncia é incrível.
when it comes to learning a different language, students that really wanna succeed tend to be extremely rude with themselves and they always blame themselves for what they havent learnt yet. ive always been one of them, but lately ive tried to give myself a break when i face difficulties. even when we think we’re stuck at the same level we are actually improving unconsciously. thats why we should always take it easy
Hi Frederico – eu vejo “take it easy” sendo usado com uma pessoa que vem com tudo pra cima de você (de modo figurado). Ex. ela está muito nervosa, vem falando um monte, etc… Seria como nosso “Calma” ou “Se acalma”
