Some Overheards

A nice Saturday howdy to you all!

What is an overheard? Well, an overheard is something you hear when you are out walking, sitting and having coffee, sitting on the bus, etc. It is a phrase or word that someone says and you hear.

There are also overseens. These are the same as overheards, but they are found on signs, shirts, etc.

Overseens and overheards are great ways to learn new common and practical vocabulary. Remember, it may be hard to look these words/phrases up in a dictionary because they may be slang or artistic language. One website that might help is called The Urban Dictionary. 

Be careful though, it is not controlled by anyone and often has bad and insulting language. It is not for children.

Overheards

1) "They passed like two ships in the night."
- This means that two people moved past each other very closely, but did not notice each other. For example, two people are at a party, but they do not notice each other.

2) "A kerfuffle"
- This is a word that means a small conflict. Usually it becomes physical as well as verbal. However, it is not used to describe a very serious conflict. Two brothers might have a kerfuffle when there is only one cookie left and they both want it.

3) "A concoction"
- This is a mysterious or unknown mixture. Often, it describes a liquid. Example: "That concoction doesn't look safe to drink." It can also be used instead of 'make' or 'think of' with the noun 'plan'. We can 'concoct a plan'. When we do this, the plan is mysterious and maybe a little bad evil or playfully evil.


You can gather overheads and overseens too! Just go outside. Even if you are in a non-English speaking country, go to stores that have English on shirts another things. Take pictures and try to understand the phrases or correct them so they make sense. Good luck!

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If you send me pictures of English in your country, I will help correct it and post it on this blog. That sounds like fun! Please do send me pictures of weird English in your country.

Here are some examples for you. Do you know why these are funny or wrong? Send me your ideas!

A) 

B)

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If you are bored with regular vocabulary, we can fix that!

Matthew
englishispersonal@gmail.com