Happy New Year! I’m starting the new year off with a mini vocabulary lesson that may cross over into therapy (ha ha). But after making a mistake in a professional setting yesterday, I got to thinking about how we talk about our reactions to our mistakes in English.
If you’re anything like me:
· Maybe you’re hard on yourself after making a mistake, whether it’s a musical, language-related, professional or personal mistake.
· Maybe you talk about your mistakes to yourself in a different way than you talk to others.
Let’s explore some vocabulary for talking about making a mistake:
Interjections (one word says it all):
Oops!
Shoot! (Euphemism for s**t!)
Ugh!
Dang! (Euphemism for Damn!)
Other Phrases:
Sorry! (Make this one stronger by adding “so”: So sorry!)
I made a mistake.
I blew it.
I screwed that up.
I f****ed that up. (An obscenity, also called the “F” word)
I should have known that! (Sometimes this is true. At other times it is impossible to have known.)
What was I thinking?
I’m (so) embarrassed!
Questions:
· Which of these interjections or phrases do you use to talk about your mistakes in English?
· Which are new to you?
· What other words or phrases do you use for talking about mistakes?
· Do you talk about your mistakes differently to others than you do to yourself? Why/why not?
· Which of these words or phrases make it harder or easier to learn from your mistake?