Hello, all. Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu vou falar sobre duas expressões em inglês com a palavra foot.
Transcrição
Hey, how’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.
So in today’s episode we’re going to hear examples for a few expressions with the word FOOT. You know, foot, that part of your body you stand on. And just to recap: foot is singular, feet is plural. We have two feet. So we’ve had a quiz here at Inglês Online on expressions with the word ‘foot’ and one of those is in today’s episode as well. Which one? It’s coming up. but you’ll have to keep listening to find out.
So, picture this: you’ve just arrived at a party and you strike up a conversation with someone you just met. The two of you start talking about food and you mention you hate Italian food. Therpe’s a pause in conversation and you decide to change the topic. You ask him – let’s say it’s a guy… So you ask him what he does for a living, and he says “I own a restaurant… an Italian restaurant”. Now, of course you could not know. But that’s good example for our expression because now you feel you put your foot in your mouth.
You regret now saying that you hate Italian food. You feel like that was insulting to the guy and you’re very embarrassed – after all, he owns a restaurant that makes Italian food. You feel like you put your foot in your mouth. Yep, that’s the expression for when you say something that feels really stupid and insulting after you’ve said it. It’s usually because you didn’t know, right? I think most people don’t do that on purpose, but still… We’re used to being embarrassed after something like that. So you’ve just told an Italian restaurant owner that you hate Italian food. You look at him and you say “Alright, so now I’m just gonna take my foot out of my mouth”. It’s common to hear that – you just say that you’re going to have to get your foot out of your mouth…
So, again: the expression is put your foot in your mouth; or she put her foot in her mouth, or he put his foot in his mouth. And that happens when you say something insulting, embarrassing, etc. usually unintentionally. I think most people have been there. So when you tell the other person “Okay, I’m gonna take my foot out of my mouth now” you’re admitting and acknowledging you said something silly or stupid. What are your examples? C’mon, let us know in the comments!
Here’s another expression with ‘foot’: get off on the wrong foot with someone. Can you kinda guess what this one is about? When you get off on the wrong foot with someone, that means the two of you get off to a bad start. That means your initial contact wasn’t good. Something bad happened, such as a strong disagreement, or even a fight. Or maybe one of you put their foot in their mouth, and the other person took offense! You tried to apologize but it was useless. The two of you got off to a bad start.
Has that ever happened to you? Maybe you were in a bad mood the day you met this person; you were just not feeling well and not in the right mood to be friendly. I’ll admit: I’ve been there. I was supposed to do a job with someone else in a company I used to work for and we just got off on the wrong foot and it seemed like we were about to have a really unpleasant time together. Fortunately we were able to turn things around and we ended up having a nice time working together. What about you? Come on, it’s time to spill the beans on all your uncomfortable stories! Give us your examples, and talk to you next time.
Key expressions
put (someone’s) foot in (someone’s) mouth
get off on the wrong foot
Glossary
most people have been there = a maioria das pessoas já passou por isso
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.
I remeber once when I get in lift with my coworker and I ask her: Are you pregnant? Oh, i was very stupid and get my foot out of my mouth. Most people have been there.
I remember once I was in a class and I met girl who was new in the school. We started talking about lots of subjects and one of them was about one teacher of ours. Actually, we were talking how boring were her classes and other things that’s not suitable to be told here. While we were going down stairs and we didn’t realize the teacher was behind us listening to our conversation and I really felt like I had put my foot in my mouth.
Hi Ana, how are you? So ten years ago I was working at a supermarket, and every day one beautiful girl passed in front of the supermarket, and one day I said to a costumer who I was talking, how beautiful was that girl, and how I wanted to know her, and automaticaly he said to me, hey man, that girl is my daugther, what are you thinking, so in that moment I felt that I put my foot in my mouth, very embarrassing.
But in the end we laugh together.
Hi Ana,once i was at a restaurant ,and i had just joined the queue and i saw a childhood friend and right after i said to my sister and my girlfriend ” look,my childhood friend is here” and she asked “where” and i said ” next to that fat girls , that with red blouse is her sister and the other one is his mother” and my sister looked at me and said “shut up” and she pointed to the person behind her,who was my friend’s father,and ive really put my foot in it, i didnt realize that was his father listening to all this thing that id just said..hehe
Once, when I was estudent, a classmate introduced to me other girl. During the conversation, she asked me if I knew a teacher in particular and as I don’t liked him I said a word offensive in reference to him. Then my classmate told me that the girl was daughter him and I felt I put my foot in my mouth.