QUESTION:
Heitor from Brazil had this question: “I studied English a long time ago and when some people speak to me in English I usually say that, “I lost my English.” What I want to say is that my English is not as good as years ago. Is this expression correct?

ANSWER:
“I lost my English” is not what a native speaker would say, although a listener would very likely understand your meaning.  There are several ways to say that your English isn’t as good as it had been at an earlier time.  Two common ways are:

– “I don’t speak English (nearly) as well as I used to.”
– “My English isn’t (nearly) as good as it once was.”

Both of these mean that your English has deteriorated (become worse, usually over a period of time). (You can also say, “My English has deteriorated,” but it’s not commonly heard.)  Note that by adding “nearly,” you are emphasizing that your English is much worse than it used to be.

Another couple of informal ways of saying this is:
– “My English has gotten (a lot) worse.”  “Gotten” in this case means “has become,” and we use this construction mainly in informal situations and in spoken English.  This is probably the most common way of expressing this meaning.
– “I can’t speak English very well anymore.”  This implies (communicates without saying directly) that your English was very good or fairly good at one time, but it is not very good now.

If you spoke English in the past, but now can’t speak it at all, you can say:
– “I can’t speak English at all anymore.”

Thanks for the question, Heitor, and I hope you won’t be able to say this for very much longer.

~ Lucy

An article last month in the New York Times discussed American slang and how quickly it has been changing.  With the Internet, people are able to communicate instantaneously (immediately), sharing new expressions and words much faster than in the past.  As a result, teenage and adult slang (very informal language, often used by a particular group) now changes almost daily (everyday).  In fact, it changes so quickly that an expression which may be popular this week may not be popular next week.

One recent addition to American slang is to call someone “Obama” to mean that they are really, really cool (hip, popular).  So to say, “Dude, you are so Obama!” means “Friend, you are very cool!”  This usage may change depending on the president’s popularity, however – so be careful!

Here in Los Angeles, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has started a slang dictionary to try to keep track of (make a record of) the latest slang words and phrases.  Linguistics professors published UCLA Slang 6 a few months ago; the dictionary costs $10.95.  (To see a much older version from back in 1993, but one that still has many popular terms used today, look here.)  Since Los Angeles is the capital of popular entertainment in the US, a lot of slang begins here in LA and moves to other parts of the country, although the Internet may change that pattern in the future.

Here are a few other new terms the kids (young people, including young adults) are using nowadays, according to the folks (informal for people) at UCLA:

• Schwa! – Wow!  Amazing! (“schwa” is actually what we call an unstressed vowel in English)
• to destroy a test – to do very well on the test (opposite of what you might think!)
• Epic fail! – What a mistake!
• mija – my female friend (this comes from the Spanish “mi hija” (my daughter); Spanish is of course often heard here in Los Angeles)
• sisters from another mister and brothers from another mother – friends that are so close that they are like sisters or brothers

I have to say that, before reading this article, I had never heard of any of these expressions.  Then again, these are slang terms popular among college students, not 40-something adults like me (40-something is someone in their 40s; also possible are twenty-something, thirty-something, etc.).

~Jeff

QUESTION:
Lilin from China wants to know the meanings of the phrase “feel like.”

ANSWER:
The phrase “feel like” can be confusing because it has two different meanings, both of which are very commonly used.

First, “feel like” is used to mean being in the mood for something or wanting to do something.  We can ask, “Do you feel like seeing a movie tonight?” meaning “Are you in the mood to see a movie tonight?” or “Do you want to see a movie tonight?”  We use this phrase all the time in conversation to express our preferences:

• “I feel like having chicken for dinner.”
• “Do you feel like going swimming?”
• “I feel like staying home instead of going to a party tonight.”
• “I feel like telling my boss what I really think of her!”

A different way to use “feel like” is to mean that someone or something is similar to someone or something else.  When we say, “I feel like an idiot or a fool” we mean that we feel stupid, as though we are a person who is an idiot or a fool.  However, we can use it to express many different things:

• “I feel like a queen in this new dress.”
• “I feel like an idiot trying to learn to swim as an adult.”
• “On the first day in my new job, I felt like a baby taking his first steps.”
• “It’s November already, but it’s so hot, it feels like the middle of summer.”

The only way to know which meaning is being expressed is by looking at the context (the words around it).

Do you ever feel like banging your head against the wall in frustration because English feels like an impossible language to learn?  I hope not!

Thanks, Lilin, for the question, and I hope this is helpful.

~ Lucy