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1. where's that from
it's native and natural.
eg, Bougie, where's that from, do you know ?
2. what's the background about that ?
a little bit formal, like takling about histories and other topics, when the time that came about ?
If you hear something for the first time, you probably not even gotta know this, you just gonna let it go. but if you have heard an idiom or a phrase a few times, that's when you may be like ok that's clearly something that part of their language, I'm curious about the background, it's a great way to say that : i feel like i have heard that , do you know what the background is ?
3. do you know the origin ?
the most formal of the three.
speaking to coworkers or someone i try to keep my language more formal .
eg, that's a fun idiom, do you know the origin of that?
i have heard that idiom "a blessing in the sky", do you know the origin ?
a blessing in the sky means something that seens like a bad thing, maybe you didn't get some opportunities but it's actually optimally最佳地 最适宜地 a good thing, you can generally see that high sight.
eg, it turn out to be a blessing in the sky.
( something we expected have negative results, not be great, then turn out to be good.)
Role Play:
i just heard that katie say"skroot", it's like hold up right ? do you know the origin of that ?
yes, it surpose to mimic the sound of...某种鸟类
oh ok that make sense.
so someone hear something interesting they say "skroot" to express surprise and maybe get them to stop or repead what they said.
awsome, thanks, I'm always getting my wires cross with new slang.
that's a fun idiom by the way, " getting your wires cross", what's the background of that , do you know?
no actually , but let's look it up查阅, it looks like a region native in the 19 century and refers to accidentally 意外地connecting the wrong telephone or telegraph lines 电报线.
actually it's really interesting, i like that expression and that makes total sense.