Hey, everyone. Hoje temos um podcast com duas expressões super comuns no inglês com a palavra WORTH.
Transcrição
Hey, everyone. This is the 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. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.
For what it’s worth… I think your hair looks great
So today we kick off our episode with this very, very popular idiom: for what it’s worth. Actually… every term or idiom I talk about on this podcast is pretty popular – that’s how they make the cut. So that’s the case with today’s idioms as well, and “for what it’s worth” is one you’ve certainly heard if you routinely watch American movies or TV shows.
First of all, if you’re not clear on the meaning and usage of WORTH, I recommend you take a look at my previous post about it. OK, so imagine that you’re having a chat with a friend who’s just inconsolable about not winning a contest. Yeah, it was a drawing contest. Your friend is a talented artist, and he prepared, he studied, he took specialized classes, he put a lot of effort into this… And he didn’t win. OK, so now he’s standing in front of you and you can tell he’s sad and all that… You don’t really know what to say, I mean you know he’s good – at least, you think he’s good. So you tell him “Look, for what it’s worth, I think you’re an amazing artist.”
For what it’s worth, I think you’re an amazing artist. I don’t know if my comment will help, but I think you’re an amazing artist. I don’t know if my comment is worth much, I don’t know if it matters or not, if it’s important or not, so just take my comment for what it is worth, and it may not be worth much. So, for what it’s worth – I think you’re an amazing artist.
You don’t just use “for what it’s worth” when you’re trying to console someone, though. For example, it can be a very unassuming way to introduce your opinion. Unassuming means modest, unpretentious. No one has asked what your opinion is, no one’s invited you to speak, but you’d like to offer your opinion anyway, for what it’s worth. You’re not saying your opinion is the right one and everyone should listen, so, for what it’s worth, here’s my opinion.
Now, if you’re in a business meeting and all the other participants are there to listen to what you have to say, you should not start your speech with “For what it’s worth, this is what I think.” You’re in that meeting as an expert, as someone who’s supposed to know their business – so obviously you should state your opinion with confidence. We use “for what it’s worth” when we want to come across humble, unassuming… You know, I’m just putting my opinion out there, for what it’s worth.
And here’s another term with WORTH that I really like: money’s worth. Let’s say you’re going to visit a place that is very touristic and has lots of interesting attractions, so you pay for a ticket that gives you entrance to all the attractions in the same day. You want to get your money’s worth, so you go to every single attraction. That’s right, there are thirty different things to see in that place and you manage to go to every single one of them. That’s because you want to get your money’s worth. You wanna get good value for your ticket. You paid a certain amount of money which gives you the right to visit thirty different attractions, so you want to get your money’s worth. You’re gonna visit all thirty of them.
Here’s another example: Mary went to Madonna’s concert last week and said Madonna really gave fans their money’s worth. That means that Mary thinks fans got exceptional value from the concert. What they paid was certainly worth it. Fans got their money’s worth.
And there’s one more interesting comment I found on Twitter, and it’s related to what’s been going on recently in London. Well, in the space of just a few days a royal baby was born, then there were the elections, followed by protests and then there was V-E Day, which is the eighth of May, to celebrate the victory of the Allies in World War II. So this guy said that tourists last week certainly got their money’s worth. Whatever they spent to come and visit London, they sure got a lot of value for it.
What’s your example with worth? Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!
Key Terms
for what it’s worth
money’s worth
Glossary
that’s how they make the cut = é assim que são aprovados ou selecionado
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.
