How’s it going? Hoje eu falo sobre idioms que as pessoas usam para dizer coisas como “deixe o que já passou no passado”. Curioso/a? Então ouça já!
Transcrição
How are you? You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!
So imagine you had a row with a friend last month, ok? You and your friend argued over where your group of friends was going to spend their next holiday. That’s it: you’re both in the same group of friends and every year you guys organise a trip somewhere over a long holiday, and this year you and your friend… Mark ended up in a row over the location of your holiday.
You wanted a beach, Mark wanted the mountains. You said everyone preferred the beach, whereas Mark insisted it was time for a change and other people in the group were on board with that idea. And it got a bit heated! Pretty soon you both were nearly shouting at each other and a couple of people had to intervene and ask you guys to cool off!
Well, turns out that you did cool off eventually and so did Mark. You’re both in the same group of friends and, more importantly, same soccer practice team so… let’s be honest, it’s just easier if you guys get along. So, in that spirit, the next time you saw Mark you said “Hey Mark, are we cool?” and Mark said “Yeah, we’re cool. Things got a bit heated but it’s water under the bridge now.” And because your mutual friends are great people, they actually picked a vacation place that is neither a beach nor the mountains for your next trip.
So when Mark said “It’s water under the bridge now” – well, if you’ve seen the title of this podcast you know exactly what this means. Even if you haven’t though, I’m sure you’ll get it: we say something is water under the bridge if that thing caused some upset, or trouble in the past… But it’s resolved now. You’re over it, or you don’t care anymore. It doesn’t upset you anymore. It’s water under the bridge.
So, your little brother stole your favourite toy when you guys were toddlers and after thirty five years he decides to give you a heartfelt apology about it. You say “Hey bro, don’t worry. It’s water under the bridge. Really.” Your neighbour backed into your car last week and because of that you were late to a meeting and so on. The neighbour paid for the repair but he still feels bad for causing so much trouble. What do you say? “It was an accident; it’s water under the bridge.”
And here’s a related idiom, although it means something slightly different – and just like water under the bridge, we say something very similar in Brazil: cry over spilt milk. For this one we say, I think we say literally the same thing in Portuguese: cry over spilt milk. Once you spill milk, it’s there: it has been spilt. You can see it there on the floor, and even if you start crying the milk will still be there.
You’ll hear this expression very often like this: OK, let’s not cry over spilt milk. Or, “Look, it’s no use crying over spilt milk so let’s see what we can do moving forward.” If something can’t be rectified; if it’s done and there’s no going back – that is when people will sometimes say “C’mon. It’s no use crying over spilt milk. It’ll blow over.”
Check out what this person tweeted out: It’s no use crying over spilt milk. Don’t express regret for something that has happened and cannot be remedied. Easier said than done, I guess, but there you go.
What do you think? Do you cry over spilt milk? Let me know and see you soon.
Key expressions
water under the bridge
cry over spilt milk
Vocabulary
row = briga, discussão
to be on board with something = concordar com algo, com uma ideia
to cool off = esfriar a cabeça, acalmar-se
toddler = criança pequena
it’ll blow over = a situação vai se acalmar, vai passar o efeito ruim
easier said than done = mais fácil falar do que fazer
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.
So Ana, a row it’s not a big deal to resolve things cause I think we Always saying water under the bridge as a good apologize.
we often to cool off and be on board with something cause It’ll blow over. I know that most of people think easier said then done but we must to try.
I don’t cry over spilt milk, I’m not sure but the preview sentence sounds much better.
See you
Great podcast! I do not agree with the tweet. Expressing regret or apologizing is not crying over spilled milk. Sometimes it just means that you know you made a mistake, and will probably try not to do it again. I think it’s a way to move forward in a better way.
