Hello, all. O episódio de hoje fala sobre expressões em inglês que utilizam as palavras short e long.
Transcrição
Hey, what’s up? 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 let’s get started with an expression that contains both the word short and the word long. Short and long. It’s a great expression and, I have to say, very useful. Picture this: you’ve had a long day. You were supposed to meet up with a work colleague this morning so that you would both work on a report, but your colleague got stuck in traffic and you had to work on the report without his help. Since he had important information that was vital to the report, you were not able to finish it. Well, the report was due by eleven o’clock at your manager’s desk and obviously you didn’t have it ready by then. That created a big problem, because your manager promised the VP of Finance that this report would answer a very important question regarding which direction the company should take in the future. The VP, Mary, came by at eleven, but there was no report. Mary said that that was really disappointing and because she couldn’t read the finished report, she wouldn’t be able to make any more decisions today.
The CEO of the company kept calling Mary, wanting to know what her decisions were, and she kept telling him that the decision-making would have to wait until next week. That’s right, today is Friday and everyone will have to wait until the following week for the report to be completed and for decisions to be made. The CEO got so frantic about it that he came down to your manager’s office and initiated an emergency meeting. He asked all the company VPs to join the meeting and then he explained that this report was extremely important for the future of the company. “I have to be honest”, he said. “I don’t know if we’re still going to be employed next week”.
“Oh, oh”, you thought. “I think my manager failed to mention that the report was that urgent”. After the CEO adjourned the meeting, you went home and your wife was there. She asked a simple question: “How was your day?”. What’s your answer? Well, it depends. You can give your wife the short version, or you can tell her the long version. These are very common expressions in the English language and you will often hear people say “Well, the short version is…” and then, they will give you a summary of what happened. A summarized version, the short version. Many times people will say “The short version is…” and they’ll say just a few words; and then they will immediately follow up with “The long version is…” and then they will tell you the whole story. Or, at least, they’ll give you more information.
So your wife asks “How was your day?” and you answer “The short version is, I may be out of a job next week”. Your wife looks surprised and asks “And the long version?” And you proceed to tell her what’s happened so far.
Here’s another way to give someone the short version: you can say “Well, to make a long story short… We may all be out of jobs by next week”. To make a long story short. That means you’re going to summarize it; you’re going to take this long story and make it short, so you can quickly give your friend an idea of what happened without having to tell them all the details.
So imagine you had your wallet stolen yesterday and you have to get new documents now. Today you’ve spent the whole day taking care of that. A friend calls you up around 9pm and asks “So, what have you been up to?” You don’t feel like getting into the details of it, so you just say “To make a long story short, after a long and busy day I’ve got brand-new personal documents”.
Someone might ask you “So how did you end up working… in a circus?” Well, to make a long story short, one day I needed a job, met a lion-tamer at a party and… here I am!” Of course, you’re leaving out lots of details. Lots of things happened between first meeting the lion-tamer and getting your job in the circus. But you’re not getting into details now; you’re just giving the short version. So, to make a long story short, you met this lion-tamer and before you knew it, you were working in a circus.
Any examples? How about you tell us a story from your own life where you can use today’s expressions? Talk to you next time!
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.
Hi Ana! I remember your post today when I was talking to my husband days ago and I thought I had better make a long story short about an event that happened to me. Thanks again and again. :)
I do not summarize the answers, I do not use to make a long story short; I prefer to tell it with details.
Sometimes I lose acting this way. I am trying to change.
Thanks for your podcast one more time
Hi, Ana!There’s some people I know ,that I never asking “how are you?”, because that people starts tell me ALL the details about their lives.They just can´t summarize the answers, and sometimes I have not enough time to listen them,but I do it ,anyway, by polite.The rigth greeting for them is just “HI”.
Thanks for your post. Kisses!!
Hi Ana! I remember your post today when I was talking to my husband and I had better make a long story short about an event that happened to me. Thanks again and again. :)
