It probably won’t come as any surprise when I say that English is a funny language. Here are 5 funny phrases, which I want to share with you today. Before reading the examples and explanations, maybe you wanna have a go at figuring out what the phrases mean yourself first. An easy one to get us started:
1. Fire away!
2. to go swimmingly
3. to go pear-shaped
4. to pooh-pooh sth
5. double-dutch
Now for an example:
1. Ok, thanks for waiting, I’ve now got a pen. Fire away!
2. Everything was going swimmingly and then it all went pear-shaped!
3. That Mike, he just pooh-poohed everything. What’s he f**king up to?
4. I just don’t get what he’s on about, it’s all double Dutch to me.
Answers
1. Used to tell sb to begin to speak e.g. give you info. (on the phone) or ask a question (in a presentation)
2. Without any problems or difficulties.
3. Things go wrong.
4. to say that a suggestion, an idea, etc. is not true or not worth thinking about.
5. speech or writing that is impossible to understand, and that seems to be nonsense.
probably (Wahrscheinlich), to have a go at sth (Es doch mal versuchen), to figure sth out (etw rauskriegen), “What’s he f**king up to?” (Was hat er verdammt nochmal vor), “What he’s on about?” (was will er sagen), Fire away! (Schieß los!), to go swimmingly, (Wie geschmiert laufen), to go pear-shaped (schiefgehen), to pooh-pooh sth (etw als unbeachtlich behandeln), double-dutch (Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof)