How’s it going? No episódio de hoje, eu falo sobre como dizer em inglês duas expressõezinhas nossas do dia a dia: “Oi, sumido” e “Vê se aparece”.

Transcrição

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So today I’m gonna talk about a couple of expressions with the word stranger. What does stranger mean?

Hi, stranger!

Well, a stranger is basically someone you’ve never met. This person’s not a friend nor an acquaintance.

So when someone says to you “Hi, stranger!” – are they calling you a stranger?

Not really. “Hi, stranger” is a facetious way of saying “Hi, I haven’t seen you in a while”. “We’ve met before, I know you, but you’ve been out of touch (maybe).”

Here’s an example: let’s say you have this friend who works at a computer shop. You haven’t seen her in a couple of months.

And then one day, out of the blue, your computer crashes. You try to revive it but nothing works.

So you decide to take your computer to the shop – I mean, it’s not like you have a choice.

You don’t know how to fix your computer and you’ve got a lot of work to do, so.

Anyway, you get to the shop and there’s your friend – the one you haven’t seen or spoken to in a couple of months.

As soon as she sees you, she says “Oh hello, stranger! How are you doing?”

Every time you see a friend or anyone you’re close to after a period of absence you can say “Hello, stranger.” That’s it!

And our second idiom of today also has the word stranger in it and it’s something people say when you’re saying your goodbyes: Don’t be a stranger.

That means, don’t disappear. Keep in touch. Make contact. Give me a call or come by for a visit some time.

That’s pretty much what we mean in Brazil when we say “Vê se aparece” or “Não some”.

By the way, that reminds me of the last couple of times someone said “Não some” to me.

It’s funny how people who say that are frequently the ones that are kinda lousy at keeping in touch – have you noticed?

I used to be a bit lousy at keeping in touch, so I understand!… It’s kinda funny, though, how sometimes we try to keep in touch with someone and they’re always too busy to meet up…

And when it finally happens, they’re the ones who say “Don’t be a stranger!”

Anyway, let’s wrap up with one more term – listen to this: John is no stranger to blind dates. What does that mean?

John is no stranger to blind dates. That means John is familiar with blind dates. He’s been on a few blind dates.

He has gone on dates with women he had never met before. He’s done it. He is no stranger to blind dates.

One more example: my friend Mary decided to organise her wedding entirely on her own. She is going to plan every single detail of her wedding.

I’m not worried for her – Mary is no stranger to party planning.

She has a lot of experience planning all kinds of parties, actually. She worked at an event planning business for ten years! She’s no stranger to party planning.

So, you – the one who’s listening to me right now: do you say things like “Hey, stranger” or “Don’t be a stranger”?

Are you good at keeping in touch with friends? Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key terms

Don’t be a stranger
Hey, stranger
be no stranger to

Vocabulário

acquaintance = conhecido

facetious = de brincadeira

revive it (the computer) = reavivar (aqui, usado de maneira figurada)

lousy at keeping in touch = não mantém contato (são ruins nisso)