The wonderful world of pop

I often get strange looks when I say things like “Just pop it (down) there, please” – I’m sure I don’t need to explain why. No, it wasn’t a slip of the pen – the verb “to pop” is extremely useful in colloquial English and basically means to do something quickly or for a short period of time.

Here are my top 10 ‘popping’ phrases to delight the natives and get funny looks in Germany.

• Just pop it (down) there, please. schnell etw hinstellen

• I’ll pop it in the post on my way home. schnell etw irgendwo reintun

• I’m just popping off for a bite to eat. schnell verschwinden

• Pop in/by whenever you like, we aren’t going out. kurz reinschauen

• He popped round for a cuppa and a natter. vorbeikommen

• We’ve run out of milk, just pop for a bottle of milk, will you, son? schnell (jdn/etw) holen

• There’s a strange noise outside, pop your shoes on and go look. etw schnell anziehen

• I’ll pop home and look for it. flitzen

• An idea just popped into my head. Why don’t we ……? etw in den Sinn kommen
• I’ll pop you through to Dave. (telephone) durchstellen

• Charity shops are popping up all over the place. aus dem Boden schießen

I’ll pop off then – TTFN

to get strange looks (seltsame Blicke bekommen), slip of the pen (Schreibfehler), colloquial English (umgangsprachliches Englisch), to get funny looks, (seltsame Blicke bekommen), a bite to eat (eine Kleinigkeit essen), cuppa = a cup of tea (eine Tasse Tee), natter (Schwätzen), “We’ve run out of milk” (Uns ist die Milch ausgegangen), charity shop (Second-Hand-Laden), TTFN (ta ta for now) (Tschüss)

Here’s the Video!