Hello, all. Hoje eu falo e dou vários exemplos sobre alguns idioms comuníssimos do inglês que usam a palavra GUT.


Transcrição
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Have you ever heard the word GUT? If you're in the habit of watching American TV shows and movies, I'm pretty sure you have. Gut means belly, or even 'intestines'. Look at the picture: that's a guy with a big gut. By the way, people call that a beer gut, or a beer belly. A beer gut is usually the result of habitual beer drinking. I searched Twitter for people using this idiom and found this: "I'm either pregnant or I have a beer gut." Well, I hope she has figured that one out by now. Then, this guy complained that... "Every day at the gym so far someone I know has commented about my beer gut." Geez. Anyway, beer isn't the only cause of a beer gut, that much I know...

So let's move on to a very interesting idiom: gut feeling. That does not mean having a sick stomach, or having a bad feeling associated with your stomach. A gut feeling is an intuitive feeling. It's something you know, and sometimes you can't explain why you know it or where it came from. Some people call it intuition, some call it instinct, and other people call it divine guidance.

Whatever you call it, when you have a gut feeling about something... I, personally, would recommend that you listen to it. I don't know about you, but when I have a gut feeling about something, it's usually right. And, honestly, sometimes I regret not listening to it. I think there have been times when... I felt pressured to take a particular course of action that was the opposite of what my gut was telling me. I can tell you that I always regret going against my gut, or not listening to my gut. OK, so, as you can see, we can just use the word "gut" - listen to your gut, listen to what your gut says, go with your gut. When people say something like that - go with your gut, they're saying "If you've got a gut feeling about this, trust it." What's your gut feeling about this, or that? Deep down, in your gut, what do you think will happen?

So I totally agree when someone says "when in doubt, go with your gut". Do what feels right. This is a very common phrase: go with your gut. If someone tells you they were faced with a difficult situation and didn't really know what to do but then decided to go with their gut... Perhaps they ended up making a decision that was not what everyone expected, but it felt right because they went with their gut. They had a gut feeling about it and they listened to it.

Now, can you guess what a gut reaction is? This is another great term with the word gut. Your gut reaction is your immediate, instinctive reaction to something. Before you have time to think, before you're influenced by other people's reactions... A gut reaction is your true, genuine reaction. If someone says "What is your gut reaction to this? Please give me your gut reaction", that means they wanna know your immediate thoughts on something, before you have time to choose your words. Just give me your gut reaction. No sugarcoating. Don't mince your words. I want your gut reaction.

So I am sure everyone has plenty of experience with following or not following their gut. I wanna hear your stories. Did you follow your gut in this particular occasion? Did you not follow your gut? How did it turn out? Talk to you next time!

Key terms

beer gut / beer belly
gut, gut feeling
go with your gut, listen to your gut
gut reaction

 

Glossário