Como falo em inglês: Assim, de cabeça…

Hello, there. No episódio de hoje do podcast Inglês Online, falo sobre duas expressões com a palavra head, e uma delas é parecida com o que a gente fala no Brasil: assim, de cabeça, eu só lembro desse ou daquele.

Transcrição
Hello, there. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast.

Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven't yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes.

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

So let's get started with the term a big head. I'm going to talk about the figurative meaning here.

If someone says that you have a big head, that means this person thinks you're conceited or too full of yourself.

Maybe you think you're more important than everyone else; or that you're better than everyone else!

Maybe you think you deserve special treatment because because of something you've done, or because of a personal trait, or for something you have and so on.

That's what being full of yourself means: basically, you think you're more important or better or deserve some kind of special treatment.

And that's also how you get a big head. A woman said on Twitter today "I have so many new followers. I hope I don't get a big head." She was kinda joking, of course, but what was she saying? She was saying that she hopes she doesn't become conceited. She hopes she won't become full of herself with all these new followers.

The adjective big-headed is also common. Instead of saying that someone has a big head, you will say that this person is big-headed.

For example, someone tweeted out today that "all girls deserve someone that will treat them well, but girl -  don't let it get you big-headed".

Off the top of my head... Ten people are coming.

Don't become someone with a big head. That guy doesn't want you to become big-headed.

Now let's move on to our second idiom of today: off the top of my head. This is a great one - it's so common!

One possible translation for this term is in the title of this episode - when you say "Off the top of my head", it usually means that you're going to answer a question without a lot of thought or research to back it up.

"Off the top of my head" means you're about to say what you remember first, whatever pops up in your mind at the time you're speaking.

So when would you use it? Well, if someone asks you how much you're spending on your birthday party. You don't know the exact figure but you have an idea, so you say "Off the top of my head... Around a hundred reais."

Or you could say "I can remember at least five different recipes for orange cake off the top of my head". That means that, for some reason, you're really familiar with orange cake recipes.

I mean, you can remember five of them off the top of your head!

Let's say your mother asks who's coming to your birthday party and you tell her the names of ten different people who said they were coming. Then, you say "I can't remember anyone else off the top of my head."

OK, now: how about you give me an example for "a big-head", and another one for "off the top of my head?

Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

a big head
big-headed
off the top of my head

Vocabulário

to back it up = para apoiar (a sua resposta)

Hello, there. No episódio de hoje do podcast Inglês Online, falo sobre duas expressões com a palavra head, e uma delas é parecida com o que a gente fala no Brasil: assim, de cabeça, eu só lembro desse ou daquele.

Transcrição

Hello, there. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast.

Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes.

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

So let’s get started with the term a big head. I’m going to talk about the figurative meaning here.

If someone says that you have a big head, that means this person thinks you’re conceited or too full of yourself.

Maybe you think you’re more important than everyone else; or that you’re better than everyone else!

Maybe you think you deserve special treatment because because of something you’ve done, or because of a personal trait, or for something you have and so on.

That’s what being full of yourself means: basically, you think you’re more important or better or deserve some kind of special treatment.

And that’s also how you get a big head. A woman said on Twitter today “I have so many new followers. I hope I don’t get a big head.” She was kinda joking, of course, but what was she saying? She was saying that she hopes she doesn’t become conceited. She hopes she won’t become full of herself with all these new followers.

The adjective big-headed is also common. Instead of saying that someone has a big head, you will say that this person is big-headed.

For example, someone tweeted out today that “all girls deserve someone that will treat them well, but girl –  don’t let it get you big-headed“.

Off the top of my head… Ten people are coming.

Don’t become someone with a big head. That guy doesn’t want you to become big-headed.

Now let’s move on to our second idiom of today: off the top of my head. This is a great one – it’s so common!

One possible translation for this term is in the title of this episode – when you say “Off the top of my head”, it usually means that you’re going to answer a question without a lot of thought or research to back it up.

“Off the top of my head” means you’re about to say what you remember first, whatever pops up in your mind at the time you’re speaking.

So when would you use it? Well, if someone asks you how much you’re spending on your birthday party. You don’t know the exact figure but you have an idea, so you say “Off the top of my head… Around a hundred reais.”

Or you could say “I can remember at least five different recipes for orange cake off the top of my head”. That means that, for some reason, you’re really familiar with orange cake recipes.

I mean, you can remember five of them off the top of your head!

Let’s say your mother asks who’s coming to your birthday party and you tell her the names of ten different people who said they were coming. Then, you say “I can’t remember anyone else off the top of my head.”

OK, now: how about you give me an example for “a big-head”, and another one for “off the top of my head?

Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

a big head
big-headed
off the top of my head

Vocabulário

to back it up = para apoiar (a sua resposta)