English Experts

Aprenda Inglês assistindo filmes

Oi pessoal, hoje eu apresento a vocês a Karin. Ela é Guatemalteca e apesar de ter o Espanhol como idioma principal, fala Inglês como poucos. Já faz um bom tempo que eu a convidei para participar do English Experts, hoje para minha surpresa ela mandou a sua primeira contribuição, um texto bem interessante onde ela fala sobre como é possível aprender Inglês estudando através de Filmes. Confira abaixo.

Hi friends! I believe that watching movies in English is one of the best ways to learn vocabulary and improve your listening skills if you don’t live in an English-speaking country. So, I will be writing regularly about new idioms, phrases or expressions from movies or TV series.

Today, I would like to start with “to have a twenty on something”. This is a phrase used a lot in “24” a famous TV series where Jack Bauer works for the fictional Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) as they try to safeguard the nation from terrorist threats.

The expression “to have a twenty on something” belongs to the “ten-codes”, properly known as “ten signals”, which are code words used to represent common phrases in voice communication, particularly in radio transmissions. “Twenty” is the short form for 10-20 (ten-twenty), which refers to the location of something or someone.

For example, in Episode 9 of Season 1, agent Hays says “I have a twenty on Bauer” meaning “I’m looking at Bauer right now”. In the previous episode, another agent says “I got a possible twenty on Bauer” meaning “I think I’m looking (or ‘I think I just saw him’) at Bauer”.

Another example, in Episode 13 of Season 2, Jack says “Unit three will await my command as soon as I’ve got a twenty on the bomb.” He means, unit three should wait for his orders, which he will give as soon as he finds the bomb.
http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/24/season2/24-213.htm

Now, let’s look at some other examples in other sources….

“Do you have a ‘twenty’ on this?” she asked referring to the location of the crime as they hurried down the hall.
Mourning Dove by Aimée and David Thurlo
http://www.aimeeanddavidthurlo.com/dove.htm

- “Do you have a twenty a shooter?”
- “Negative. The roof is bare.”
The Team by Bluejay
http://www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~david/derya/storys6/story8071.htm

“I’ve got a twenty on the FOB (father of the bride).”
The wedding planner
http://www.filmquipsonline.com/weddingplanner.html

For more information on the ten-codes, check this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-code

Karin,
From Guatemala

Gostou da dica? Então divulgue para os amigos!

Receba mais dicas de inglês como esta por E-mail, Twitter, RSS feed, Orkut ou Facebook. Bons estudos!

Autora: Karin é Guatemalteca e trabalha como analista de sistemas em seu país. Participa de diversos grupos no Yahoo onde discute sobre o idioma inglês. Colabora periodicamente com o English Experts. Outros textos da autora.