Monday, July 12, 2010

This and That

Zhivago is a wonderful movie with many plots, sub-plots, and subjective human reactions that intrigue us and make us think long after the movie is over. For example, I am intrigued with Zhivao's brother--hard, directed tool of the establishment, yet there is a sympathetic and caring note in him that extends beyond the hardness of the system. How deep does that kindness run, one wonders and who would it encompass? More on this later.

Today my mind was considering some of the more modern expressions that young Americans use. With your classes starting, I know you will have a lot of young people who might be interested.

I can think of two:

1. "She's a really nice person." Not!! The not completely negates the preceding sentence.
2. Everything is 'cool' man. Trans: Everything is great, friend.

1 comment:

Alireza Taghdarreh said...

Thanks so much, Sue for the explanation on those two expressions. I needed them very much. I had heard that "Not!" expression from Billy Christal in one of his shows and was so curious to find out what he was doing with the word using it like that. And this "man" erpression, is it something mostly American?

T

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