Key Terms…

An Open Letter

Open Letter: Carta Aberta

(publicada)

Pissed: Chateado↲

Try as she might: Por

mais que ela tente

↲

foam finger: dedo da

espuma

↲

The article below is full of a lot of informal

expressions which are typical of entertainment

news in America and also discusses how even

some native speakers don’t use the Present

Perfect Continuous correctly.

Miley Cyrus Hit With A NEW Open

Letter From Rocker Sufjan Stevens!

See What He’s Pissed About…

Try as she might, Miley Cyrus can’t make anyone

happy.

Not Sinead O’Connor , not the foam finger creator,

indie: (“independent”

music label)

being slammed: criticar

severamente

↲

dissed: humilhado↲

took to: foi para; recorreu

a

↲

serve it up hard: dar

insultos severos

↲

over: sobre, por causa de

choice of words: escolha

de palavras

wrong: errado (see

explanation)

↲

make mistakes: cometer

erros

misdemeanor: delito

beauty sleep?]).: período

de sono para se sentir

melhor, um belo sono

purgatorial: purgatório

(?)

↲

not quite: não exatamente↲

It kind of sucks: É um

saco.

and now not even indie rocker Sufjan Stevens

But this time she isn’t being slammed for being

prostituted out, she’s being dissed over her poor

grammar!

Sufjan took to his Tumblr page to serve it up hard to

Mileybird over her choice of words in the song

#GetItRight because she got the grammar wrong. He

wrote:

“Dear Miley. I can’t stop listening to

#GetItRight (great song, great message, great

body), but maybe you need a quick grammar

lesson. One particular line causes concern: “I

been laying in this bed all night long.” Miley,

technically speaking, you’ve been LYING, not

LAYING, an irregular verb form that should

only be used when there’s an object, i.e. “I been

laying my tired booty on this bed all night long.”

Whatever. I’m not the best lyricist, but you

know what I mean. #Get It Right The Next

Time. But don’t worry, even Faulkner messed it

up. We all make mistakes, and surely this isn’t

your worst misdemeanor. But also, Miley, did

you know the tense here is also totally wrong.

Surely you’ve heard of Present Perfect

Continuous Tense (I HAVE BEEN LYING in this

bed all night long [hopefully getting some

beauty sleep?]). It’s a weird, equivocal,

almost purgatorial tense, not quite present,

not quite past, not quite here, not quite there.

Pissed Chateado

“pissed” or “pissed off”

Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time.

I’m really pissed that you said that to me.

I have a feeling: tenho

um

sentimento/pressentimento

de que…

excitement: excitação,

emoção

sum up: resumir↲

you work it: você é

habilidosa em tirar proveito

(see explanation)

speaking: “em termos de”

(see explanation)

↲

fades into total

darkness: desaparece na

escuridão total

XXOO: Hugs and Kisses

(Beijos=X, Abraços=O)

compliment: elogio↲

the hottest cake in the

pan?!: “o panqueque mais

quente” (most popular,

brightest star at the

moment)

give a rat’s a**: se

importar

↲

getting it right: fazê-lo

direito

twerking: rebolando↲

Somewhere in between. I feel that way all the

time. It kind of sucks. But I have a feeling

your “present perfect continuous” involves a lot

more excitement than mine. Anyway, doesn’t

that also sum up your career right now?

Present. Perfect. Continuous. And Tense.

Intense? Girl, you work it like Mike Tyson .

Miley, I love you because you’re the Queen,

grammatically and anatomically speaking.

And you’re the hottest cake in the pan. Don’t

ever grow old. Live brightly before your fire

fades into total darkness. XXOO Sufjan”

Wellll, at least he paid Mileybird a nice compliment at

the end there!

Who wouldn’t want to be the hottest cake in the pan?!

And even though he’s right about her grammar mistakes,

we’re guessing the hottest cake in the pan doesn’t give a

rat’s a** about getting it right! She’s got twerking to

focus on!

Read More Here…

↱

He’s pissed?

I told you he’d be pissed.

Try as she might Por mais que ela tente

Try as I might, I can’t get Andrew to clean up after himself.

Try as she might, she couldn’t figure out how to turn the darned alarm

off.

Try as she might, she cannot get within question-shouting distance of the

Prime Minister.

As for Porter, try as she might, she could not hold back the tears.

Try as she might, though, she can’t ignore the inevitable.

foam finger dedo da espuma

↔

foam finger

being slammed criticar severamente

Sometimes, to “slam” someone means to “one-up” them in an arguement.

(ofender o advesário de forma mais severo ou engraçado do que eles tiveram te

ofendido)

Other meanings of slam…

The film has been slammed by critics.

The vote proved to be a slam dunk for our side with a 24 to 5 win.

(something that is sure to happen or be successful )

↱

↱

↱

I think the case for George’s claim looks pretty good, but it’s not a slam-

dunk (não garantido).

One inning later, he cranked his grand slam off minor-league pitcher Scott

Dunn.

Uma entrada depois, ele bateu um “grande slam” do lançador (do

“minor-league”) Scott Dunn.

grand slam: bater um “home run” quando já tem os “bases loaded” (ou

seja, com os outros 3 bases ocupados com outros jogadores do seu time,

resultando em 4 pontos no placar)

He slammed the door right in my face. ↔

Ele bateu a porta bem na minha cara.

fechar bruscamente ↔

slam shut

↔

slam dunk

dissed humilhado

“diss” is short for “disrespect” and has a meaning similar to “slam”

↔

dissed

Agora eu nunca zuaria minha própria mãe só pra ganhar reconhecimento

↔

Now I would never diss my own mama just to get recognition.

Às vezes me sinto como um marginal, mas me sinto apenas como um idiota

em um bar sendo desprezado por todas as garotas. ↔

I feel like a thug sometimes but I feel like just a dork at a bar getting

↱

dissed by all them girls.

took to foi para; recorreu a

A highly disciplined athlete throughout his youth, he took to (se engajou

em, se dedicou) his cage-fighting training with characteristic

determination.

Hence why he took to his blog (usou, ou recorreu ao blog dele) and

decided to really let the public know the state of today’s music industry.

…eventually he took to doing it nearly all the time

…com o passar do tempo, ele pegou o hábito de fazé-lo o tempo todo

serve it up hard dar insultos severos

↔

“Pegue um guardanapo amigo, você acabou de ser humiliado”

wrong errado (see explanation)

to “get something wrong” is to do something incorrectly, “get it right” is the

opposite of this

purgatorial purgatório (?)

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/lay-versus-lie

If you see something lying on the ground, it is just resting there; if you see something

laying on the ground, it must be doing something else, such as laying eggs.

↱

↱

↱

↱

You lie down on the sofa to watch TV and spend the entire evening lying there; you do

not lay down on the sofa to watch TV and spend the entire evening laying there.

When you go to Bermuda for your vacation, you spend your time lying (not laying) on

the beach (unless, of course, you are engaged in sexual activity and are, in the

vernacular, laying someone on the beach).

Once you lay (put or place) a book on the desk, it is lying (reclining, resting) there, not

laying there.

not quite não exatamente

↔

not quite

sum up resumir

Isso resume tudo. ↔

That about sums it up.

Basicamente foi isso! ↔

That pretty much sums it up!

speaking “em termos de” (see explanation)

Generally speaking…

Em linhas gerais…

por assim dizer· de certa maneira ↔

in a manner of speaking

De um modo mais geral… ↔

More generally speaking…

compliment elogio

to pay a complement = dar um elógio

give a rat’s a** se importar

↱

↱

↱

↱

↱

to give a rat’s ass = se importar

(usually used in the negative, “I don’t give a rat’s ass”)

↔

rat (rato) + ass (burro ou bunda)

↔

(a funny way of saying you like somebody)

twerking rebolando

Audio NotesPissed ↔ Chateado

Being pissed off about something is to be in a bad mood because of something, to be

upset by something, to be irritated because of or due to something.

being slammed ↔ criticar severamente

Normally, “slam” refers to a quick movement, usually resulting in a “slam” sound, a

“boom”. For example, I can slam a piece of paper on the table with a lot of force, as

though it were a basketball being slammed into the basket. Or, I can “slam”

somebody on the ground by throwing their entire body with much force to the

ground. However, in the article, slam is a slang term which means to insult.

↱

serve it up hard ↔ dar insultos severos

In the sport of tennis, to “serve” is to start playing by hitting the ball to the other

player, who then hits the ball back. In recent years, this back-and-forth action is used

to describe people insulting each other: one person serves a insult (diss, or slam), and

the other person tries to insult them even more severely (to “one-up” them). When

someone “got served”, it means that they were insulted severely, and perhaps didn’t

have anything to say in return.

purgatorial ↔ purgatório (?)

To “l-a-y” something it to put or place something. I can also mean “to lay (botar)” an

egg. But when something or someone is at rest, we say it is “l-y-i-n-g”.

you work it ↔ você é habilidosa em tirar proveito (see explanation)

To “work it” is to work really hard on something while making use of everything you

have to accomplish your goal, to get everything you can out of it, to capitalize on and

take advantage of something.