What’s up? Hoje o podcast Inglês Online tem dois idioms super interessantes e, claro, muito usados por falantes nativos no dia a dia. Ouça já!
Transcrição
What’s up? You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Download the Inglês Online app at the Google Play Store or the Apple Store – search for “inglês online Ana”. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!
So, listen to this: Mary’s parents have been getting on her case because she hasn’t been doing well in school. If you’re familiar with this expression, you understand what I just said, of course. But even if you’re not familiar with it, you may get it: Mary’s parents have been getting on her case about her grades! She hasn’t really been studying too hard and her grades are slipping.
That means Mary’s parents have been telling her “Mary, you need to study harder. Let us help you with Maths and Geography.” “Mary, have you done your homework?” They’ve been getting on her case ever since her grades started to slip.
Teachers can sometimes get on your case. Have you ever had that experience? Parents will get on their kid’s case, and also some friends, boyfriends, wives, etc will also get on their friends’, girlfriends’ and husbands’ cases.
And bosses! How could I forget? Sometimes it’s your boss who’s been telling you to do something this way or that way, or maybe he or she has given you a deadline to get a task done, and… they’re worried you may have forgotten, or they’re anxious. Who knows? In any case, they start getting on your case because they haven’t seen the results yet. “Have you done it? Why haven’t you done it? When are you going to do it? It’s time you did it.” They’re getting on your case a bit.
To be fair, if your boss is asking you all the questions I just said, it’s more a case of them breathing down your neck. That is a bit stronger than just “getting on your case”. When you say someone’s breathing down your neck, that means they’re watching you more closely. That person is sort of monitoring you and probably being overbearing.
I’ll give you an example: my friend used to rent a room in a house that belonged to a woman who also lived in the house. One day my friend left the house and forgot to turn off the light in her room. The woman saw the light was on – and, small detail, in order to have seen it she would have had to get in my friend’s bedroom while she wasn’t there.
The woman called my friend and told her off for leaving the light on. A week later my friend forgot again, and the woman called her again. She was monitoring my friend’s bedroom, getting in there while my friend was out. My friend wasn’t happy about it, of course, and felt like the woman was breathing down her neck.
So, she’s pretty happy that she can wear sweats to her job – to be honest, unless I was a personal trainer, I’d rather not. What do you think?
Have you ever had the feeling that someone was breathing down your neck about something? Was it a parent, your boss, a friend? What happened? Let me know and see you soon.
Key expressions
get on someone’s case
breathe down someone’s neck
Vocabulary
be overbearing = tentar controlar, dominar
tell someone off = repreender ou dar bronca em alguém
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 am kinda of used to having my boss breathing down my neck. It does not matter If it is right or not, he does love sparing people long and boring lectures. What should I do?
olá Ana, seria bom se o podcast recomeçasse automaticamente quando chegar ao fim (pq muitas vezes estou ouvindo enquanto estou deitado longe do micro). Fica a sugestão.
As I hate someone telling me off, I’ve never had anyone breathing down my neck. I’ve always tried to hand in either my paper work on time or up to the deadline.
