the time of my life: 11 fascinating pop culture examples

@richyrocksenglish the phrase “the time of my life” (and variations) in music, movies, series, etc. visit richyrocks.com for more info/examples #fyp #english #vocabulary #englishcoach #englishteacher #englishlesson #englishclass #englishpractice #ingles #vocabularioeningles #thetimeofmylife ♬ Time of Our Lives – Pitbull & Ne-Yo

 

pitbull & ne-yo‘s huge 2010s hit,  time of our lives, is a treasure trove (valuable collection) of vocabulary for english learners. the most obvious valuable vocab is the title and the variation in the first  line of the chorus that says i want the time of my life . the phrase the time of my life means  have a lot of fun, a great time.  it’s an expressinon that is extremely common in popular music and can be heard all the time in movies, series and the media in general.

the idea of the time of our lives video is that though they are famous and wealthy(richtoday, both pitbull and ne-yo lived through tough times (hard, difficult) when they were everyday guys who didn’t have money. despite their lack of funds (not having money) in the past, they still wanted to have a good time; in fact, they wanted even more than that. they wanted to have the best moments of their lives.

fun english practice :) richyrocks english on youtube

the possessive pronun our in time of our lives can be changed for any of the other possessive pronouns (my,your, his, her, its or their)

the super bowl,  the nfl’s championship game, has grown into a national celebration that aims (tries) to include folks (people) who don’t care about the game. one of the attractions for non-football fans are the high-budget commercials that run during timeouts.  during super bowl lii, the most popular ad might have been this spot (ad) for the nfl itself featuring  eli manning and odell beckham jr. (both members of the ny giants at the time) rehearsing (practicing) a touchdown celebration.

beckham, who caught a touchdown in last year’s super bowl for the victorious l.a. rams and manning, who was mvp of super bowls xlii and xlvi are imitating the most recognized scene from the 1987 movie dirty dancing.

Dirty_dancing        patrick swayze catching jennifer gray in dirty dancing--vocabulario en inglés--time of your life
gif of patrick swayze jumping off the stage at the end of dirty dancing--vocabulario en inglés--time of your life
dancing their asses off and having the time of their lives

johnny (patrick swayze) & baby (jennifer grey) dance together to i’ve had the time of my life (also the soundtrack to the nfl commercial). the track expresses a “never before emotion” that the couple is sharing.

the black eyed peas brought the song to a new generation by sampling it in their 2011 hit the time (dirty bit).  it was included as part of their halftime performance at super bowl xlv

upsahl‘s track time of my life is a direct, dark and ironic application of the idea.  the chorus says

so how come all the worst days are in the time of my life? (time of my life, time of my life)
yeah baby it’s my birthday but I still wanna die, time of my life, time of my life

🥺

in stark contrast to upsahl’s angst (anxiety, anguish) is the excitement that sergio dipp radiated at the start of vance joseph‘s first game as an nfl head coach in 2017.

and in contrast to dipp’s excitement at the beginning of a moment, good riddance (the time of your life) by green day is often used to make people feel nostalgic at the end of a moment–for example this montage (collection of video clips) that appears near the end of the beloved series seinfeld.

good riddance is an expression to use when u are happy that something has finished or gone.  it is related to the useful phrasal verb get rid of (eliminate).

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the title of george strait‘s country hit she let herself go gives the idea that it is a song about a woman who apparently lives somewhere in texas and lets herself go (doesn’t pay enough attention to her appearance) after her man leaves her. in reality, the woman in the song seems to be saying good riddance to the man and letting herself  (giving herself permission) to do things she couldn’t do during their relationship. for example a really cool blind date (date with a person you’ve never met before). listen at 1:55 for

[she] let herself go on her first blind datehad the time of her life with some friends at the lake

abbot and costello were the most famous comedy duo in the u.s. during the middle years of the 20th century.  their highest rated movie on imdb.com is the time of their lives.

randy newman‘s the time of your life, the soundtrack for the closing credits of the pixar movie a bug’s life, recommends living life to its fullest (fully enjoy life).

and like green day’s good riddance for seinfeld fans,  paul anka‘s the times of your life made viewers wistful (nostalgic, sad) at the end of the acclaimed (admired) series mad men as the background music for this montage. IMPORTANT–notice that the title of this track is times of your life  (plural). the difference is that times of your life refers to memories NOT necessarily the best moments.

[the tiktok at the top of the post contains vocabaulary examples of random, the past modals should’ve and could’ve, worthy, obscure, cinematic and still]

which one of these time of your life vids is your favorite?  share your opinion under leave a reply


 

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