Como falo em inglês: Já vi melhores…

By Ana | Podcast Inglês Online

Jan 13
Inglês Online Já vi melhores…

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Hi, everybody.  Hoje falamos sobre I’ve had worse e I’ve seen better, expressões muito comuns no inglês

Transcrição

Hi, everybody. This is the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast.

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Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Today you’re going to listen to several examples of a very common structure in English. Imagine that you’re out with a friend and it’s 8 PM and neither of you have properly eaten all day. Yeah, that’s right, you’ve spent the day chatting and snacking on potato crisps and peanuts. You guys are starving and decide to look for a decent place to eat.

However, there’s some kind of restaurant and bar strike going on and the only place where you can get food right now is a greasy joint that sells hamburgers. It does not look good but hey, you guys are hungry and out of options  so you decide to give it a try.

So you go in the joint and order a couple of burgers and, as you’re eating yours you’re surprised to realise that, while it’s not the best burger you’ve ever had… It is actually far from being horrible. So you say “OK, this is actually not so bad. I’ve had worse.”

So notice the use of the present perfect here: I’ve had worse. I have had worse. I have had worse burgers in my life. When did you have worse burgers? I don’t know, it doesn’t matter… I don’t remember when, but I know that there was a time in my life when I had a worse burger than the one I’m having now. I’ve had worse.

So this is a very common term, or structure, which can be used with a few different verbs. Just to keep with the food theme a bit longer, can you remember a time in your life when you were even a bit surprised that a certain food didn’t taste so bad? Nobody was expecting it to be good and then you took a bite, and said “Eh… I’ve had worse.”

We have all been there. C’mon, what’s your recent example? Maybe you’ve been to a football match and you thought the food at the stadium would be crap and then… Upon your first bite on that hotdog you thought “Eh, I’ve had worse.” Or you went to the office party expecting, again, the food to be kinda awful… And in the end you thought, “I’ve had worse.”

Now, you can also say something like “I’ve had better“, and that’s the opposite situation, of course. That’s a complaint – you say “I’ve had better” when you don’t want to outright say that you don’t like the food, or that it sucks. It’s an euphemism, for sure, and it’s very popular in English language conversations.

Let’s say everyone’s been talking about this new movie and when you go see it, you’re a bit disappointed. Your friend asks what you thought of the movie and you say “I’ve seen better.” Or someone shows you some work of art, and… This is your opinion: “I’ve seen better.”

You hear about a restaurant that has been getting rave reviews everywhere and when you finally get to try their signature dish, you think to yourself… I’ve had better.

What is your experience? Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

 

Key terms

  • I’ve had / seen worse
  • I’ve had / seen better

Vocabulário

potato crisps = batata frita de saquinho, no Reino Unido (nos EUA, chamadas de potato chips)

greasy joint = um “sujinho”, restaurante parecido com boteco, que faz hamburger, etc.

to outright say something = dizer algo diretamente

rave reviews = grandes elogios (feitos por críticos)

signature dish = o prato pelo qual eles são conhecido

Ana
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Flavio 18/01/2016

Once I took a long flight and had to have lunch what they serve in the airplane. I really thought it would be disappointing and I was prepared for the worst. It actually was pretty decent…and yeah, I’ve had worse!

    Ana 27/01/2016

    Great example, Flavio. I’ve had the same experience…

Jonata fontela 13/01/2016

Hey Ana ! I remember going to the movies once and I thought the movie was going to suck but it turned out to be pretty good, I’ve had worse haha

    Ana 27/01/2016

    Great Jonata :-) You could say in this case “I have SEEN worse” (because it’s a movie)

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