Como falo em inglês: Justo você dizendo isso!

Podcast Inglês Online

Hi, there! How have you been?

Veja/ouça no episódio de hoje um idiom super especial: of all people! No Brasil, expressamos essa ideia dizendo Justo você vem me dizer que não posso fazer tal coisa – e também pode valer para Olha quem fala! Ouça o episódio para entender o que eu quero dizer – se é que você já não conhece essa expressãozinha….

Quem é que não tem um exemplo de situação onde poderia ter dito algo assim? Pois é, é comum em qualquer língua. Enjoy.

Transcrição

Hello, how are you? Did you have a good end of 2019? How’s it going so far? Have you rested? Did you go traveling? Anyway, the Inglês Online podcast is back and this is our first episode of 2020.

I’m very happy to be back and for our first episode this year, I have chosen a really great expression. Really nice idiom, and if you read the title of this episode you know which idiom I’m talking about – and you know that in Portuguese that expression will change, depending on who we’re talking about. I know that some people don’t like it when I speak Portuguese in these episodes, but sometimes I just think that it’s helpful and this is one of those times.

For example, in Portuguese we say: justo você or justo ela, justo a Maria. In English, the corresponding expression is always the same – it doesn’t change. In English we can say: of all people, of all people. Let me give you an example: let’s say you go shopping with a friend… Let’s say your friend’s name is Tom. You and Tom go shopping and… Let’s say you’re a girl. You’re shopping for clothes. Let’s say you have to buy a dress and you go to the shopping mall… and Tom is really patient. You go to shop after shop after shop and you try on a load of dresses.

Every single time, you go into a shop and you have a look at their selection of dresses, and you pick out the ones that you like and then, obviously, you talk to the shop clerk, or the shop attendant, and you ask that person Can I have these dresses in my size?

And when you get the dresses, you go into the fitting room and you try them on. You have your shoulder bag with you, you have your wallet in your shoulder bag… obviously! Because when you finally settle on a dress you will have to pay for it – when you buy it.

You and Tom have been looking at dresses for a couple of hours now and you finally find a dress that you love. You have just tried it on… It looks great on you… You asked Tom’s opinion and he complimented you – he said: Oh, you look great. Good! You’re happy.

When you go pay for the dress, however, you look in your bag and you can’t find the wallet. You realize that you must have left your wallet in one of the fitting rooms. Now you have to go back. You and Tom go back to all the shops to look for your wallet and Tom… is kind of giving you an earful. He’s saying How can you let this happen? You have to be mindful of your wallet. Your wallet has all your documents – it has all your credit cards! You always have to know where your wallet is, you have to keep checking your bag for your wallet. You have to make sure that your wallet is always in your bag!!

And you look at Tom and you say, Tom… Really? Of all people, you’re giving me a hard time, because I lost my wallet, really? I mean, you’ve been friends with Tom for a while, you know that he keeps misplacing his keys – and sometimes he loses his keys! In the past year alone you’ve heard Tom say he misplaced his keys at least five times. He eventually found the keys but before he found them, he would always give you a call and say: Oh… you don’t know what happened, I misplaced my keys – I can’t find them! I hope I haven’t lost them.

I mean, of all people… Of all people Tom is now giving you a hard time because you can’t find your wallet and you probably left it at one of the shops. You cannot believe it. You look at him and… Tom, seriously, of all people – of all people you are giving me a hard time.

Basically, that’s it! I mean, when you use this expression – of all people – that’s exactly what you’re saying. Of everyone that could give me a hard time, you are the one who’s giving me a hard time…? You should not be giving me a hard time, you should not be saying anything because you have done the exact same thing.

Of all people, you are telling me that? You are scolding me? No, no, no, no, no. I can think of several situations where I could have said that. Can you think of something, and can you leave your example in the comments? I would love to hear or, actually, read your example in the comments. Please think of the last time that you felt like saying that to someone – or maybe that you actually said that to someone: Of all people, you are telling me that I shouldn’t have done this?

All right! Talk to you soon. Bye!

Key expressions

• of all people

Vocabulary

try on = experimentar ou provar

a load of = um monte

pick out = escolher

shop clerk = Atendente, Funcionário da loja

fitting room = provador

settle on something = resolver, decidir ou concordar sobre algo

he complimented you = ele elogiou você

giving you an earful = te dando um sermão

misplace something = colocar algo em um lugar diferente do lugar onde você geralmente coloca (por exemplo – porque você se distraiu. Não significa necessariamente que você perdeu aquilo)

give someone a hard time = pegar no pé de alguém, repreender

You are scolding me…? = Você está me dando uma bronca…?