I’m a strong advocate of the idea that less is more. It’s true for so many things in life including language. Never use two words where you can do with one – that’s an approach I wholeheartedly support. And nowhere else does it find its expression so fully as in exclamations!
An exclamation is a sound, word or short sentence that is charged with emotion. For this reason we use them whenever we need to communicate our feelings in a quick and expressive way.
Exclamations have to be short as emotions often catch us completely unawares and our first reaction is usually immediate and spontaneous.

Let’s have a look at some of such expressions which Britons use a lot in their daily conversation.
Surprise, surprise!
You might have heard this one before as it’s found its way – both translated and untranslated – into Russian.
We use it in two ways:
1) with a great deal of irony or even sarcasm depending on the situation, to say that you expected something to happen or to be true (the actual meaning in this case is ‘unsurprisingly’)
As the number of covid cases surged, the government went back on its word and surprise, surprise reintroduced the restrictions.
2) when suddenly appearing in front of someone who wasn’t expecting to see you
Surprise, surprise! I’m back!
Continue reading “Exclamations, or Less is more”