Podcast: I should have seen it coming

Podcast Inglês Online

Hello! No podcast de hoje você vai me ouvir falar sobre dois idioms pra lá de comuns (of course :-). Você também vai me ouvir usar a estrutura ‘should have done’ várias vezes – are you ready? Enjoy.

Transcrição

Hello! You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Download the Inglês Online app at the Google Play Store or the Apple Store – search for “inglês online Ana”. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So, here’s our first idiom of today – before revealing what it is, think about this: you know when something unpleasant happens and, after the fact, you look back at everything that led up to that thing happening… You think of, you know, the people involved, what they said, and then you have that feeling of, I should have predicted that this was going to be the outcome!

Maybe you had a feeling. For a fraction of a second, a thought crossed your mind that was something like “This is a bit off”. This doesn’t sound right. Can I be sure about this situation, can I be sure about this person? But then you brushed it off, you quickly dismissed it. And now, looking back at this unpleasant outcome, you think “I should have seen it coming”.

So, when you say ‘I should have seen it coming’, you’re saying that you should have predicted it, basically. You should have known! Can you relate to what I’m saying? I’m sure you can. I mean, I can think, off the top of my head, of a handful of situations I’ve been through where I had that feeling that something was off, you know, before something happened… that I didn’t want to happen.

In all of them, after the fact, I thought “I should have seen it coming.” How did I not see it coming? I don’t know. When you want something to happen, or when you’re short on time, or when you don’t want to confront something, you kinda brush these feelings off very quickly, don’t you?

So, here’s something else you can say when you realise you could have sort of predicted what was going to happen: in hindsight, I should have spoken to this person first, done this or done that instead, or I should have eaten a hot dog instead of chili beans before that roller coaster ride! Anyway, that’s what ‘in hindsight’ means.

So, of course, it’s much easier to realise your mistakes after the fact. It’s much easier to look back, knowing what you know now, and analyse what went wrong, isn’t it? Let me give you a few more examples to help get ‘in hindsight’ into your head!

• In hindsight, I should have done a little bit more research before buying a new car. I followed my neighbour’s advice blindly and now I have a car that won’t start.
• In hindsight, I should have picked the other candidate to work with us. He didn’t have as much experience, but his attitude was a whole lot better than our current colleague’s attitude. I should have known this person was going to be a handful.
• In hindsight, I should have studied a bit harder for this exam. I had a feeling I had not prepared enough.

What is your example? What happened to you recently that made you think “I should have seen it coming” or “In hindsight, I should have done this or that”? See you soon!

Mais sobre I should have seen it coming

Key expressions

• should have seen it coming
• in hindsight

Vocabulary

after the fact = depois do acontecido

you brushed it off = você não deu importância àquilo

off the top of my head = assim de imediato (geralmente usado em conjunto com expressões do tipo “think of something”, “give an example”, etc)

something was off = tinha alguma coisa estranha, que não combinava

to be short on time = estar com pouco ou sem tempo

roller coaster = montanha russa

be a handful = ser alguém difícil de lidar, alguém que dá trabalho