[Vocabulary] My mother!

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atabitaraf

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We have a really fun teacher this term.
Whenever he's shocked OR angry about someone OR something, he says, 'My mother?!'
For example when we don't have enough time at the end of the class and I say, 'Please make a free topic now' he says, 'Free topic my mother?' and we all laugh loud!
Is 'My mother!' an English state for stating your being shocked?
Thanks,
 

emsr2d2

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We have a really fun teacher this term.
Whenever he's shocked OR angry about someone OR something, he says, 'My mother?!'
For example when we don't have enough time at the end of the class and I say, 'Please make a free topic now' he says, 'Free topic my mother?' and we all laugh loud!
Is 'My mother!' an English state for stating your being shocked?
Thanks,

I have never heard that in my life. The Spanish say "Mia madre!" as an exclamation of surprise, which translates into English as "my mother". However, they are referring to the Virgin Mary so it's a bit like English people saying "My god!" in surprise.

Is your teacher a native English speaker?
 

atabitaraf

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No, but he used to live in the US for 14 years plus some other years in England and Europe. However as I told you he has a sense of humor.
 

emsr2d2

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No, but he used to live in the US for 14 years plus some other years in England and Europe. However as I told you he has a sense of humor.

Well, he might have a sense of humour but he seems to be teaching you all an exclamation which is not used in English (or at least, it's certainly not used in the UK). He should make that clear.
 

MikeNewYork

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No, but he used to live in the US for 14 years plus some other years in England and Europe. However as I told you he has a sense of humor.

There is also an Italian expression of surprise "Mamma Mia", that is used in the US. Perhaps your teacher heard "Mia Madre" or "Mamma Mia" and thought the expression needed to be translated for use in English. In fact, however, "My Mother" is not used as an expression of surprise in English.
 

Barb_D

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There was a Katharine Hepburn line "Oh my sainted aunt!" and I was thinking about that when I first read this thread.

Once I tried to go a week using expressions like that and "Oh my stars and garters!" instead of "No kidding!" or "My God!" I had moderate success.
 

5jj

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Ye gods and little fishes!
 

emsr2d2

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