Things Americans say

I went to medical school in the Caribbean, but did manage to meet many Americans there (the majority of students were American). Over the years, I have picked up certain idioms and expressions from my American friends, which I shall now humorously share.

"Oh my God...Are you kidding me? Oh my God."

The above is an expression of utter disbelief, when something that was thought would never occur...would have just occurred. It is commonly followed by "No way" or the less abbreviated "Ya right, no way!", often exclaimed by a third party made privy to the aforementioned statistically improbable occurrence.

"Oh yeah ? You/he/she/they wanna go THERE with me?"

The above is a rhetorical question intended as a lead-in to a statement of decision or reaction, often made based on the realization of the disapproving directly or indirectly confrontational actions or speech of another. The user often follows up with a statement committing to a certain reaction, or may indicate a future reaction in anticipation of the others' action/speech or, in the case of immediate situations (eg. internet video game play scenarios) may follow the aforementioned rhetorical question with an immediate action visible to all recipients of the question.

"He/She/It/This/They/_____ is/was/are UNREAL"

This is a statement describing disbelief regarding the nature of a certain situation. In comparison to the first statement (Oh my God etc), this statement is often made when the speaker has preceded this with the incredulous fact to which the "Unreal" comment refers. In contrast, the "Oh my God" statement is usually made as a response to a different speaker, who is citing an incredulous act or fact.

Let's review with a sample conversation:

Larry: "Then ABC said 'Oh yeah? She wants to go THERE with me?' it was unreal."

Curly: "Oh my God, are you kidding ?!?! Oh my God."


"And then I got in his face!"

This is often said when delivering a verbal first-person narrative describing a confrontation of sorts with otherwise unsavory characters. All my European readers I am sorry for the American spellings, the program I am using makes the red squiggles if I don't eat the "u" in "savor" and I am at present too tired and lazy to change it. I am becoming more American every day. Anyway where was I, yeah so this is usually in the first person, but all pronouns are interchangeable here depending on who is actually narrating the account of the confrontation.

"It's a done deal, bro!"

This statement of gross (and often unwarranted) affirmation is meant to imply that a situation has stabilized, has lost volatility that would otherwise require additional action, and is usually meant to convey stabilization in a manner that favors both the speaker and the receiver. The pronoun in this phrase does not commonly change, but the tense may change to past, but much less commonly to future.

Let's go back to our sample conversation:

Larry: "Then ABC said 'Oh yeah? She wants to go THERE with me?' it was unreal."

Curly: "Oh my God, are you kidding ?!?! Oh my God."

Mo: "Ya guy, and then she got in her face!"

"Larry: "Oh my god, you shoulda been there, bro, it was a done deal!"

Curly: "Ha-HAAAA" (Nobody says "LoL" in real life, everybody has their own stupid laughs, use your respective imaginations to plug in the laughter of someone at whom you constantly poke fun)

Step 3 on Wednesday and Thursday. If I have time tomorrow to write, possibly to try and relax before the exam, then I'll hopefully have something more fascinating and moving to discuss. Likely not, though.


PS: zdras dun tei my Russian friends! No, that's it, that's all the Russian I know and even that is quite questionable. It's likely just one of you racking up all the 6 views, but hey I'd like to hear from you nonetheless. Comment on something, say what's up, or just stay tuned. Just thought I'd say hi. I get all excited when a new country lights up on my page view map.