Informal expressions for daily usage

We come across plenty of ‘communicative English' lessons regularly -- our textbooks include a few, and if you pick up a book about spoken English, you will find it usually includes such lessons. 

Typically, these lessons tell you how to behave -- and what language to use --in specific situations, such as post offices and banks, or job interviews. While these lessons are valuable, they mostly focus on dealing with stock situations, and little on handling situations that are perhaps a little unusual.

But there are a few handy expressions for these circumstances. The most versatile expression is a colloquial form of question that is useful for seeking explanations: ‘what gives?' Let's consider some examples to begin with. If you are waiting at your usual bus stop, and after a long wait have realised that none of the buses are stopping at your stop, you can wonder, ‘none of the buses are stopping here..what gives?'

Or if your usual quiet restaurant is unexpectedly packed with people, you can ask the owner: ‘quite a big crowd in here today; what gives?' In such situations, you are reacting to something unusual, and seeking an explanation by asking the question ‘what gives?' In terms of tone, this question is neutral. 

In most cases, it simply amounts to asking for an explanation, without a specific implication of anger or complaint. The question can also be directed at people, and not just general situations. For instance, you can ask your friend: ‘you look worried and tense today, what gives?'

In case you are wondering, the use of ‘give' here is not all that unusual. Apart from the standard meaning, ‘give' can also mean ‘to break down', or ‘to yield to pressure'. For example, you can say: ‘the small table gave (broke down or collapsed) when I sat on it.'

This sense of ‘give' becomes a part of the casual question ‘what gives?'

Another expression you can use is: ‘what is it with...' If you have a friend who has the habit of constantly checking his mobile phone, you can ask: ‘what is with you and the cell phone?'. As you can tell from the example, this question often has a tone of annoyance in it.

Unlike the question ‘what gives' which is used to seek an explanation, this one conveys the message that you know what is going on and are not happy with it. You can use this question for people as well as situations. For example, you can say: ‘what's with this new arrangement of books in the library? I can't find books the way I used to, any more!'

As usual, both the expressions are informal, and can be extremely useful in your daily interactions.

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NILESH JAHAGIRDAR