Wow! Interjections!

Wow! Interjections!

E as interjeições, hein? Eu me espanto ao constatar que até as interjeições, ou seja, as manifestações mais espontâneas de dor, alegria, espanto, surpresa, contrariedade, medo etc. – até as interjeições são agora copiadas do inglês.

Já copiamos as roupas (eu, por exemplo, só saio à rua vestindo jeans, camisa polo ou camiseta e tênis.).

As músicas mais populares, com exceção das execráveis duplas ‘sertanejas’, são de bandas ou cantores americanos (Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Fifth Harmony etc.), ou inglesas (Amy Winehouse, Adele, David Bowie, Rolling Stones etc.).

Cinema? Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Johnny Depp etc.

TV: novela (argh!), futebol, noticiário e sitcoms (todas).

Livros? Os autores que mais vendem por estas bandas são J. K. Rowling, Jeff Kinney , E. L. James, Bruce Cameron etc.

Em política, temos de esperar para ver o que o nosso presidente vai fazer de agora em diante. Refiro-me, é claro, a Donald Trump.

But I digress. Voltando às conjunções, já estou me acostumando a ouvir aqui e ali um debiloide, que provavelmente não sabe nada de inglês, exclamar  ‘uau’, ‘helôou’, ‘dãã’, ‘úpis’, ‘ou mai gódi’ e por aí vai.

Se é assim, não adianta remar contra a maré. O jeito é se adaptar, como recomendaria Darwin.

Por isso, sugiro que se incorporem à chamada norma popular ou coloquial - eufemismo inventado para evitar chamar a coisa pelo seu nome verdadeiro, ou seja, português errado – mais duas interjeições inglesas: the F word e the S word. Sou, como sabem todos os que me conhecem, um cara fino e evito falar palavrão em público.

O f**k! e o s**t! são muito versáteis e podem ser usadas em praticamente toda e qualquer situação. Vejamos alguns exemplos:

1.   Acabou a gasolina no meio da avenida: S***!

2.   Você cortou o dedo descascando uma cebola: S***!

3.    Você abriu a gaveta e viu um escorpião lá dentro: Holy s***!

4.   Uma antiga namorada, que você não vê há anos e da qual mal se lembra, lhe envia um email: S***!

5.   Alguém lhe conta uma história difícil de acreditar: No s***!

6.   Você encontra uma barata numa garrafa de coca zero: F**k!

7.   Você está discutindo asperamente com alguém: F**k you!

8.   Seu chefe é insuportável e você não aguenta mais: F**k you!

9.   O carro não pega: What the f**k?

10.             Ao atravessar a rua na faixa de pedestre, com o semáforo verde para você, um motoqueiro o atropela e vai embora: F**k! F**k! F**k!

11.             Você está atrasado para o trabalha e não encontra a chave do carro: Where are the f**king keys?

Mispronounced names

Even those who are familiar with English sounds may be in trouble when they have to pronounce certain words or names. I have selected a few items that are a bit difficult for foreigners. If you check You Tube you can hear the way native speakers pronounce them and practice your pronunciation. Unfortunately I can’t manage to transcribe the phonetic symbols on my blog or on my FB. If you guys remember any other 'difficult' names, please feel free to add them to my list.

Place names

Arkansas, US  
   

Bangkok, Thailand

BatonRouge, Louisiana

Beijing, China

BelvoirCastle, UK

Boca Raton, Florida

Brisbane, Australia  

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Gloucester, UK

Gotham, UK

Houston, Texas

Illinois, Chicago

Leicester Square, London

Louisville, Kentucky

Melbourne, Australia

Montreal, Canada

New Jersey, US

Niger

Plymouth, UK

Qatar

Quebec, Canada

Reykjavik, Iceland

Tottenham Court Road, London

Vermont, US

Worcester, Massachusetts

Yosemite National Park, California

People’s names

Al Gore

Andy Warhol

AnthonyHopkins

Ava Gardner, American film star

Beethoven

Caesar

Francis Ford Coppola, American film director

Henry Thoreau, American writer

Jack Kerouac, American writer

Michelangelo

Ralph Fiennes, English film star

RonaldReagan, US president

SeanConnery, 5th (yes, 5th, not 1st) 007 film actor

Sinead, Irish singer

Sinn Féign, Irish political party

Somerset Maugham, English writer

Thomas Wolfe, American writer

Thames River, UK

Truman Capote, American writer

Vincent van Gogh

Professor Charles Xavier, comic book character

YulBrynner, American actor

Brand names

Hyundai, South Korean car

Ikea, Swedish furniture chain

Bad English Speakers Anonymous

A man stands up and says, “Hi everybody. My name is so and so and I’m an alcoholic.” 

This is what happens when someone joins the AA. They introduce themselves by saying their name and admit openly that he or she is an alcoholic. I’m sure you’ve often seen this scene in movies.

Now what would it be like to go to a meeting of foreigners who can barely make themselves understood in English, but are doing their best to improve? The new member might begin like this:

“Hi, my name is so and so and my English sucks.”

Well, what could we do for this poor fellow?

The very first step, I think, should be to teach him how to pronounce correctly the suffix –ed of the simple and past participle of regular verbs. Mispronouncing that suffix is a sure indication that his English is - how should I put it - mildly poor.

So here we go:

1.   The suffix –ed may be pronounced in three different ways:

/t/ (when the verb ends in a voiceless sound)

/d/ (when the verb ends in a voiced sound, including all vowels)

/id/ (when the verb ends in t or d)

2.   Voiceless sounds are pronounced with no vibration of the vocal chords. Try putting your finger on your throat. You will feel no vibration at all when you pronounce: p, k, s, sh, ch and th (as in tooth).

3.   Voiced sounds, on the contrary, are pronounced with some vibration of the vocal chords. If you put your finger on your throat, you will feel your vocal chords vibrate when you pronounce: b, th (as in this), v, l, r, z, j (as in joke), or any vowels or diphthongs.

This is a small list of regular verbs in the past tense, which you may feel like practicing, in case you have nothing better to do.

/t/	/d/	/id/
attacked	admired	accepted
announced	agreed	added
attached	advised	admitted
developed	allowed	afforded
liked	begged	calculated
rushed	argued	needed
impressed	bathed	waited
dropped	arrived	wanted
danced	borrowed	avoided
kicked	amused	completed
helped	buried	expected
fixed	destroyed	commanded
coughed	listened	prevented
laughed	closed	counted
slapped	complained	exploded
dropped	opened	doubted
washed	breathed	heated
watched	answered	icluded
kissed	carried	loaded
unearth	disapproved	landed
faced	afforded	succeeded
launched	ignored	intended
harassed	annoyed	requested
introduced	considered	supported

And here is an exercise: fill out these columns correctly, using the following verbs: jailed, labeled, rhymed, murdered, licked, overflowed, lasted, married, managed, prayed, knitted, occurred, melted, produced, judged

/t/	/d/	/id/