La semana pasada os hablamos de los dog days of summer, uno de los idioms más utilizados por los medios de comunicación durante la época estival.
Para seguir con la temática veraniega tan acorde a las altas temperaturas que estamos teniendo en las últimas semanas, hoy os traemos una selección con algunas expresiones e idioms relacionados con esta estación.
¿Preparados?
A ray of sunshine
A happy person who makes others feel happy, especially in a difficult situation.
We love looking after our grandchild. He’s a ray of sunshine!
A place in the sun
A good or lucky position.
He certainly earned his place in the sun [in the company].
Under the sun
In existance; on earth.
I’ve tried everything under the sun to fix this lock, but I just can’t get it to work.
Put the heat on somebody
To try to persuade or force someone to do something.
We need to put the heat on those guys so that they finally pay their debt to us.
Feel/Face/Take the heat
To be in a difficult situation in which you have to deal with a lot of problems.
Domestic retailers are feeling the heat from foreign competitors.
Turn up the heat on somebody/something
To try to force someone or something to do something in order to get the result you want.
OPEC could turn up the heat by increasing oil prices still further.
To be in hot water
To be in or get into a difficult situation in which you are in danger of being criticized or punished.
He found himself in hot water over his comments about immigration.
Hot air
If something that someone says is hot air, it is not sincere and will have no practical results.
His promises turned out to be a lot of hot air.
Like water off a duck’s back
Criticisms of or warnings to a particular person that have no effect on that person.
I’ve told him that he’s heading for trouble, but he doesn’t listen – it’s just water off a duck’s back.
To be like a fish out of water
To feel awkward because you are in a situation that you have not experienced before or because you are very different from the people around you.
I went to an office party last night, and I really felt like a fish out of water. I have nothing in common with those people.
A drop in the ocean/bucket
A very small amount compared to the amount needed.
My letter of protest was just a drop in the ocean.
Indian summer
A period of calm, warm weather that sometimes happens in the early autumn.
I hate the cold weather, so I’m hoping for an Indian summer.
One swallow doesn’t make a summer
Used to say that because one good thing has happened, it is not therefore certain that a situation is going to improve.
A lot of things went right for us this year, but one swallow does not make a summer—we still have a long ways to go before our finances are back in order.
And last but not least…
A cold day in July
A time or event that seems unlikely or will never come to pass. It refers to the fact that the weather is usually very hot in July.
It’ll be a cold day in July before they get that new interstate built.
Hasta aquí llega nuestra breve, pero intensa colección de idioms y expresiones relacionadas con el verano. Casi todas las definiciones y ejemplos pertenecen al Cambridge Dictionary y a The Free Dictionary.
Ahora es vuestro turno de familiarizaros con ellas y de empezar a utilizarlas con frecuencia. Después de todo, si queréis tener un discurso más natural y fluido en inglés, utilizar idioms y expresiones de este tipo makes all the difference.