Common American Phrases in Everyday Contexts (66 page)

Great
!
That is wonderful!; I am pleased to hear it.
J
ANE
: I'm getting a new job. B
ILL
: Great!
M
ARY
: I'm done now. S
ALLY
: Great! We can leave right away.

Great Scott
!
an exclamation of shock or surprise.
“Great Scott! You bought a truck!” shrieked Mary.
F
RED
: The water heater just exploded! B
ILL
: Great Scott! What do we do now? F
RED
: Looks like cold showers for a while.

Greetings
.
Hello.
S
ALLY
: Greetings, my friend. B
OB
: Hello, Sally
.
M
ARY
: Hi, Tom. T
OM
: Greetings, Mary. How are things? M
ARY
: Just great, thanks. What about you? T
OM
: I'm cool.

Greetings and felicitations
!
AND
Greetings and salutations
!
Hello and good wishes. (A bit stilted.)
“Greetings and felicitations! Welcome to our talent show!” said the master of ceremonies
.
B
ILL
: Greetings and salutations, Bob! B
OB
: Come off it, Bill. Can't you just say “Hi” or something?

Greetings and salutations
!
Go to Greetings and felicitations!

Guess what
!
a way of starting a conversation; a way of forcing someone into a conversation.
A
LICE
: Guess what! B
OB
: I don't know. What? A
LICE
: I'm going to Europe this summer. B
OB
: That's very nice
.
J
OHN
: Guess what! J
ANE
: What? J
OHN
: Mary is going to have a baby. J
ANE
: Oh, that's great!

Had a nice time
.
Go to (I) had a nice time.

Had it on the tip of my tongue
.
Go to (I) had it on the tip of my tongue.

Hand it over
.
Give it to me. (Informal.)
It's mine. Hand it over!
Come on. Give me the box of jewels. Hand it over!