“Is it true that you’re going to run in tomorrow’s marathon?”
“You know that I am! I told you over a month ago that I was going to run.”
“I thought you were only joking. Do you think you’re fit enough to run a marathon?”
“Of course, I am. Can’t you see that I have my game face on?”
“Your game face on? What are you talking about?”
“The expression is usually used with athletes. The serious or determined look that an athlete has when he takes the field is called ‘game face’.”
“Some of those guys show no emotion at all. Looking at them, it’s difficult to say what they are thinking or feeling.”
“Exactly! They are difficult to read. You have no clue what is going on inside their head. Dravid had his game face on when he went out to bat.”
“But you’re not really an athlete. So, why did you ...”
“The expression can be used in everyday contexts as well. For example, when you are mentally preparing to perform a difficult task, you can ...”
“Like preparing for an exam?”
“It could be that or preparing for a job interview. The Minister had his game face on when he met the members of the press.”
“Prem always has his game face on a week before any exam. It’s scary, sometimes.”
“Prem is scary to look at even when he doesn’t have his game face on.”
“That’s true. What do you think your chances are of winning tomorrow’s race?”
“Don’t be silly. Winning is quite impossible.”
“Quite impossible? What does ‘quite’ mean in that sentence? Fairly? Rather?”
“No, no! The word ‘quite’ has several different meanings. In British English, when you say something is quite impossible, it means it’s absolutely impossible.”
“So, quite in that context means absolutely. Can I say, the reasons that some of the students gave for not doing their assignment were quite ridiculous?”
“Sounds good! Tell me, how was the movie you saw yesterday? Did you enjoy it?”
“Not really. I found it difficult to follow. The actors ...”
“Was it the American accent that you found difficult to understand? Did the ...”
“Yes, I had a hard time following the accent. Also, it had lots of expressions I’d never heard before. For example, there was this character who kept shouting ‘for crying loud’ all the time. And the funny thing was, nobody was actually crying.”
“He was probably shouting ‘for crying out loud’ and not ‘crying loud’.”
“That’s probably it. But what does ‘crying out loud’ mean?”
“When a speaker uses this expression, he makes it clear to the listener that he is angry or annoyed about something. For example, I can say, for crying out loud, stop playing that silly computer game.”
“How about this example? Why don’t you just resign, for crying out loud?”
“Sounds good. The expression has more or less the same meaning as ‘for God’s sake’, ‘for heaven’s sake’ and ‘for the love of God’.”
“For crying out loud, why do you want to take part in tomorrow’s marathon?”
“For heaven’s sake, will you stop asking the same question over and over again?”
******
“If morning joggers knew how tempting they look to morning motorists, they’d stay home.” — Rita Rudner
upendrankye@gmail.com
