Como digo em inglês: Ele perdeu a cabeça

By Ana | Podcast Inglês Online

Sep 28
Como digo em inglês Ele perdeu a cabeça

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Hello, everyone. Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre algumas expressões em inglês com o verbo lose, como a que quer dizer “ele perdeu a cabeça”.

Transcrição

Hello! How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m going to talk about the word lose. Remember? Lose? That’s what you may use when you can’t find your keys. “I’ve lost my keys”. So you may remember that lost is the past tense and also the past participle of the verb lose. So I’m gonna talk about a couple of expressions and I’m gonna use lose and lost in the examples.

So picture this: imagine someone who has been under a lot of stress lately. Let’s say it’s your boss. He’s lost two great employees recently; he’s going through a divorce; his kid has been getting in trouble in school; and to top it off some big clients have been canceling orders. The atmosphere in your department is pretty tense… you can tell your boss is getting more irritated and impatient by the minute and you’re not sure how much longer he’s gonna be able to keep it together.

Well, not much longer as it turns out. It’s 3PM now and you just stepped out of a meeting with your boss and the VP of Finance, a woman named, let’s say, Tina. Tina came with some bad news: she said there are going to be budget cuts that are going to especially affect the advertising budget. That’s when your boss lost it. He was counting on the advertising budget. He was planning on hiring a new ad agency to try and get some big new clients. So when Tina gave him the news about the budget cuts, he just lost it.

Your boss lost it. What does that mean? That means he lost control of his emotions; he lost his temper, he got really, really angry. He lost it. His face turned red and he raised his voice as he said “So tell me, how am I supposed to recover sales without decent advertising! There’s only so much that can be done with no advertising budget! Who do you think I am, a magician? Am I supposed to perform a miracle? Should I ask my staff to chip in so we can hire a stupid ad agency?” And then your boss stormed out of the room. Your boss completely lost it when Tina gave him the news of the budget cuts.

Have you ever lost it? In public? How often do you lose it? Hopefully not that often ’cause that might make your life a bit hard… And by the way, we say “he lost it”, “she lost it”, also to communicate that that person simply lost control of their emotions… it doens’t mean necessarily that that person became very angry; it could be that he or she became so moved by something they were witnessing that they started to cry. That person might say “My friend was telling me about everything he went through. I was so touched I just lost it and started crying.” I just lost it and started to cry… what does that mean? I lost control of my emotions; I couldn’t control myself any longer so I started to cry. I lost it.

Did you notice I used the expression “lost his temper” about a minute ago? I said that “your boss lost his temper”. That’s another very common expression with lose. Many of you may already be familiar with it. When we say someone lost their temper we’re just saying this person got really angry, usually at someone else. Do you know people who lose their temper often?

And here’s another one with lose just to wrap things up. Gamers will immediately get what I’m saying here. As will compulsive readers. You know when you’re occupied in some activity and you’re so into it that you don’t realize hours have gone by and it’s already midnight and you’re still playing that videogame, or reading that book, or doing whatever? You’ve lost track of time. You’re so entertained, you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you lost track of time. Well, that is one big reason why people lose track of time – they’re very entertained by something; a book, a game and so on. Or they’re very focused on an activity: something at work, or something they’re building, a puzzle they’re trying to solve, and the list goes on.

What makes you lose track of time? Reading sometimes does that to me. When I’m reading an interesting book I often lose track of time and before I know it, hours have gone by and I’m still reading the book. So tell us your stories and talk to you next time.

 

Key expressions

  • he lost it
  • she lost her temper
  • lose track of time

 

Glossary

someone who’s been under a lot of stress = alguém que tenha estado muito estressado

to top it off = ainda por cima

you can tell you boss is… = dá pra ver que seu chefe está…

keep it together = manter-se calmo, sob controle

chip in = contribuir (com dinheiro); fazer uma vaquinha (quando é um grupo)

stormed out of the room = saiu da sala rápido / bravo

I was so touched = eu fiquei tão emocionado/a

As will… = Assim como (essas pessoas vão também…)

Ana
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Mattheus 26/02/2013

I’m used to losing track of time here in Inglês Online.

Ana 16/10/2012

Everyone – thanks for all the comments and examples!

Alexandre 05/10/2012

Hi Ana, What´s up? So, amazing podcats, I love it.
Just FYI , Today I had no problems listening to them. So I guess is a problem with that guy.
About this podcats, Is it wrong or not natural someone says “He/She has lost his mind” ? Or t means like someone who had his had cut…lol.

Thanks a lot! Huge hug!

    Alexandre 09/10/2012

    Hi Ana,

    Although you didn’t answer my question and I guess because I wrote it wrong, would be “He/She has lost his(her) mind, or it means like someone who had his HEAD cut”.
    I did a research about it and found this :
    Lose your head: to become unable to behave calmly or sensibly
    Lose your mind: to become crazy [= go crazy, go mad]

    So nobody will have the HEAD cut when I lose my mind.
    lol

      Ana 16/10/2012

      You got it!

      Nope, my not answering before has nothing to do with possible mistakes – it’s just that I’m not always able to answer comments as they’re posted.

Ana 01/10/2012

Alguém mais tendo o problema do Luciano aí em cima?

    Luciano 03/10/2012

    Foi assim, todos os podcasts funcionavam normalmente, e depois de um tempo alguns pararam d funcioar, depois voltaram ao normal e agora NENHUM funciona :(

      Ana 03/10/2012

      Luciano, to achando q é algum problema local daí de onde vc acessa, pois como eu disse os arquivos estão OK. Tente acessar em outro local pra ver.

      Luciano 05/10/2012

      Eu tambem acho.

Samuel Correa 01/10/2012

Ana Luísa, eu estudo inglês ha uns 4 anos, e ainda assim eu não conseguia desenvolver um papo legal. Desde que começei a escutar seus posts, ler seus textos, tenho progredido visivelmente. Muito obrigado mesmo por dividir seus conhecimentos conosco. Isso não tem preço. :) Thanks a lot. I s2 you.

    Ana 02/10/2012

    Oi Samuel!

    Fico super, super feliz toda vez que alguém dá um depoimento desses contando que viu PROGRESSO! Teoria tem muita por aí, os mesmos conselhos são dados sem que haja evidência de que funcionam (para alguns “conselhos consagrados” eu tenho evidência que não funcionam). Mas se a pessoa passa meses com aquilo e náo vê progresso concreto… será que não tem algo mais eficaz por aí?

    Entendo que vc está vendo progresso na sua habilidade de se comunicar (me corrija se for o caso). Parabéns! E continue por aqui ;))

Luciano 01/10/2012

Não consigo ouvir nada desse podcast e de outros mais antigos, pois sempre fica escrito “file not found”.

    Ana 01/10/2012

    Luciano,
    Estranho pois os arquivos estão OK. Vc teve algum problema de conexão?

Débora 01/10/2012

I can say the same as you, Ana. When I’m reading a good book I often lose track of time. I catch myself reading for hours.

Maicon JS 29/09/2012

Ótimo podcast Ana, cada vez mais você está se superando…rsrs… O que quer dizer a expressão “as it turns out”?..no glossary acima está em branco…Só mais uma coisa, eu sou fascinado em aprender expressões da vida real, por isso sou seu fã, por favor como podemos dizer “Tô de saco de cheio de alguma coisa” e “Alguém está me enchendo o saco”?…..I love your work…Keep recording more and more podcasts…hugs and kisses…take care….bye

    Ana 30/09/2012

    Oi Maicon,
    Obrigada pelo comment, pelos elogios tbem ;)

    Sendo franca – o “as it turns out” ficou em branco porque eu esqueci ele lá, e não consegui pensar numa tradução boa no português. Já lancei a pergunta a um amigo americano q vive no Brasil- vamos ver se ele consegue.

    Se alguém tiver uma sugestão boa pra essa tradução, please be my guest.

    Ana 02/10/2012

    Uma sugestão que recebi do Tim Barrett foi “no fim das contas”. É uma boa aproximação.

Maiara 29/09/2012

I always lose track of time when I’m in front of the computer studying english with you.

Thanks a lot for your precious time!!!

Luis 29/09/2012

Hi, Ana!

First of all, congratulations for your podcasts and English tips! They really help me a lot and my understanding of English is way better now!

Here’re my examples:

Nowadays I’ve been losing my temper very often and getting angry all the time (hahahaha)

I use to lose track of time when I’m drawing our reading a interesting book.

helly lucas 29/09/2012

I lose track of time when I’m studing or playing video game, I lose track of time when I’m doing something that need a lot of concetrantion.

thanks a lot, contunue keeping with this even flow of content, this site is very nice.

    Ana 29/09/2012

    Great examples, helly… Lucky you that you lose track of time when you’re studying!

Luis Eduardo 29/09/2012

Hi Ana

Instered of you say ” I so touched I just lost it and started crying.”, it wouldna be ” I WAS so touched I just lost it and started crying.”

Thank you very much!

    Ana 29/09/2012

    It was a typo (=erro de digitação). Thanks, Luis.

Adelmo Ferraz 29/09/2012

Seus textos são simplesmentes incriveis,
grato por tudo isso.

Abraços

    Ana 29/09/2012

    You’re welcome, Adelmo :)

Cleide Caetano Cândido 29/09/2012

Gostaria de saber se é possível fazer a pergunta (Você perdeu a noção do tempo?) desta forma (Did you lose track of time?)
Como sempre o podcast esta ótimo. Cada dia aprendo mais com você.

Abraços…

    Ana 29/09/2012

    Hi Cleide,

    Não vejo por que não… Seria uma pergunta mais com o sentido de curiosidade mesmo, pra saber se o outro se atrasou, por exemplo, porque perdeu a noção do tempo.

Camila 28/09/2012

Eu adoro seus textos ja montei varias aulas inspiradas neles , Aprendo muito com voce!! Obrigada por dividir seu conhecimento! Um abraco

    Ana 29/09/2012

    Camila, que legal!! Fico super feliz de saber que estou ajudando outros profs de alguma forma ;)

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