Como falo em inglês: Mais adiante, isso fará diferença

Podcast Inglês Online

Hello! No podcast Inglês Online de hoje, você me ouve falar sobre dois idioms relacionados ao que vai acontecer mais adiante… Ouça já!

Transcrição

Hello! You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Download the Inglês Online app at the Google Play Store or the Apple Store – search for “inglês online Ana”. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So, let’s say you’re walking sort of aimlessly on the streets of some American city – just picture that, in your imagination. Then, all of a sudden, you feel like having ice-cream. You don’t know if there’s an ice-cream parlour or a supermarket in the neighbourhood, so you ask a local: “Excuse me, sir? Do you know where to go for an ice-cream?”

The man replies “Oh yes, there’s a bakery just down the road – it’s a two-minute long walk. They have great ice-cream.” OK, problem solved. There’s a bakery that sells ice-cream just down the road. So, you keep going straight on, after a minute or so you’ll find it.

So, that is, of course, the most physical or literal meaning of the expression down the road. And there is, of course, a figurative meaning for down the road (I mean, why wouldn’t we have that?) and it means in the future, after something progresses a little bit, or after some time goes by.

Example: let’s say we’re hiring a new employee to work in our shop and, if we don’t check their references now (before hiring) we may have problems down the road. I mean, that person could be someone who steals. They could be a fugitive – someone on the “most wanted” list. Better check who they are now, because you never know – if we don’t we could be in for a surprise down the road.

So, if you’re someone who’s pretty used to listening to podcasts in English (and I’m winking at you if Inglês Online is one of those podcasts!) you’ve probably had no difficulty at all to understand what down the road means. That’s great. However, you’re the person I want to talk to right now. Is the term “down the road” on the tip of your tongue? Does it come to your mind when you want to express that exact idea? If it does, again – that is great. I’m guessing, though, that for most people this idiom is not on the tip of their tongue. It can and it will be – if you listen to it enough times.

And that’s why I’m going to read you another example, from a tweet by the Hoop Central

https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1024042495980662785

So, Lebron James, American star basketball player, said that he wouldn’t close the door on (meaning, he would not refuse) a possible return to Cleveland down the road. In the future… Not now, but maybe down the road. In… some time. Who knows when? Just down the road.

Here’s another very relatable example: if you never brush your teeth growing up… oh boy. You’ll most certainly have teeth problems down the road. So, you know this sentence I just said – you’ll most certainly have teeth problems down the road? Here’s another way of saying it: You’re bound to have teeth problems down the road.

It is bound to happen. That means, it will happen for sure. It’s a natural consequence of what’s going on right now. If you’re single and you sign up to an online dating site, you’re bound to meet some people. It’s bound to happen. I don’t know if you’re going to end up with one of them, but you’re bound to meet a few different people.

If you study a lot for your exams, you’re bound to do well. If you prepare poorly, you’re bound to fail. If you never, ever leave home carrying an umbrella, you’re bound to be caught in the rain eventually. Unless you live in a place where it never rains… of course. If you listen to a lot of comprehensible English regularly, you are bound to improve your fluency. It’s a law of the Universe. I’m serious! It is.

So, let me know what you think is going to happen with you down the road. See you soon!

Key expressions

• down the road
• be bound to

Vocabulary

aimlessly = sem rumo

sort of aimlessly = meio que sem rumo

ice-cream parlour = sorveteria

could be in for a surprise = poderá passar por uma surpresa desagradável, não muito boa

winking = piscando