Gone to the Dogs!

This typical English slang phrase means to become ruined.

idiomatic phrase informal. : to become ruined: to change to a much worse condition.

Sample Sentence:

Our favourite restaurant has gone to the dogs lately. No wonder some establishment figures think the country is going to the dogs.

Gone to the Dogs!

NOTE: Business English etc.
can be found below the translation exercises.

 

Translate the Text: Übersetzen:

Susann, Faten, Rico, Heike, Simone and Frank.

PLURALS:

The, the, the, or the?!

When you talk about Plural nouns, the word for the will always be die.

der Mann

die Männer

die Frau

die Frauen

das Kind

die Kinder

Many, many plurals.

In German, there are many ways to make something plural. You’ll get used to the patterns as you practice! Here are a few of these patterns:

add ‑e

die Schweine

the pigs

add ‑er

die Eier

the eggs

add ‑en

die Frauen

the women​

add umlaut

die Vögel

the birds

It’s useful to memorize the plural form together with new vocabulary words (just like you do for gender)!

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Word of the day: Wort des Tages:

Hoodwink (synonyms = Deceive (Täuschen), Trick, Dupe, Delude, Con (Con-man, Con-artist), Fool) Take in, “to pull the wool over somebody’s eyes“.

 

Phrase of the day: Satz des Tages:

“You’re not fit to be in authority until you learn to come under authority.”

 

Idiom of the day: Redewendung des Tages:

 “Go to the dogs

For example,That house has not been painted or decorated for 30 years, the windows have not been cleaned and the garden is overgrown, it’s reallygone to the dogs!

 

British (B.E.) / American (A.E.) Vocabulary:

Britisches Englisch / Amerikanisches Englisch Wortschatz:

Car (B.E.)

Auto or automobile (A.E.).

NOTE: In English, we still refer to either the Car Industry or the Automobile industry. Automobile is an old English word, which we mostly do not use, but in American Englsih there still use Automobile or just Auto for short.

 

Special Grammar tip of the week:

Spezieller Grammatik-Tipp der Woche:

Remember the problem of German grammar with HE / SHE in a previous blog? Well, here is a tip that will help you even more. If it can breathe, move (walkabout/fly/swim), can have babies, has sexual organs, then it is a HE / SHE. If it cannot do or have any of these things it is IT!

 

Pronunciation tip: Aussprachetipp:

Recipe (Rezept for a cake or meal) is pronounced Rez ipy. NOTE: This English word can only be pronounced properly when you have an English Native speaker tell you how to do it and there are many other examples of English words that you will not know the correct English pronunciation unless you hear from an English Native speaker.

 

 

False Friends: Falsche Freunde:

Spenden (German) – does NOT mean to spend, but to give, to donate, to contribute, or to administer.

 

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The Boombox

Decades before Apple introduced the iPod in the early 2000s, companies like General Electric, Marantz, Panasonic, and Sony produced a device known as the boombox. These transistorized portable music players delivered sound through their large speakers and an amplifier. First introduced in the 1970s, the boombox quickly became a symbol of urban society in the United States, particularly African American and Hispanic youth in large metropolitan areas like New York and Los Angeles. The boombox also became associated with hip-hop culture and played a key role in the rise of hip-hop music.

NOTE: I would call this a “Ghetto Blaster.”

 

Wit, Wit, Wit

Witz, Witz, Witz

“Excuse me guard, where is the big Mona Lisa?” Quote by Dave Barry.

 

Slang word of the day: Slangwort des Tages:

Booze – means alcohol.

A booze-up =to have a booze-upmeans to drink a lot of alcohol or to have a party.

 

Cockney rhyming slang: Cockney Reimender Slang:

Trouble and strife” = “wife”.

 

Quote of the week: Zitat der Woche:

Use the difficulty Sir Michael Caine means in an acting situation you can improvise and even if things go wrong, then you can turn it on its head for good.

 

Special days of the year: Besondere Tage im Jahr:

Valentine’s Day: Valentinstag: We just had Valentine’s Day which was the 14th of February. This is a special day in most, if not all English native-speaking countries. The history of Valentine’s Day—and the story of its patron saint—is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman traditions. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Flowers are usually given to your spouse, wife, or girlfriend. A romantic meal in a restaurant and possibly a present is given. Unfortunately, this day has been overtaken by rank commercialism!

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