Today I'm going to talk to you about some useful business expressions that you need to know.
Hey everyone, my name is Wes. This is Interactive English,
which is where you want to be to practice and improve your English skills.
And today I have a business English lesson for you because we are going to talk
about some common and useful expressions that you will hear or that you can use
in the work environment.
But you can also use some of these expressions in a variety of other contexts as
well, which I will explain throughout the lesson. So let,
let's just get down to business.
And the first expression that I want to talk to you about is let's get down to
business. And this just means that that you want to start something,
you are ready to begin. And often you're,
you're being serious when you say this.
So you might be talking about a meeting or a negotiation and you could say,
you know, let, let's get down to business. Let's begin this thing.
Let's get down to business.
Why don't you tell me why you think you deserve a raise?
Gentlemen, let's get down to business. We've got a lot of work to do.
The next expression is to be on the up and up and it's often used with that verb
to be and you may hear somebody ask the question is everything on the up and up?
And when somebody asks this, they are asking if, if everything is honest,
sincere, is it legitimate?
You can use this when describing something like a contract and you might want to
know, you know, is this, is this on the up and up, is this honest,
is it sincere or even if you're describing a person,
you could ask if he is on the up and up or is she on the up and up?
Is this person sincere? Are they honest? Can they be trusted?
And I hope that you know that I am on the up and up when I tell you that I want
you to practice and improve your English skills. And if you believe me,
if you believe that I'm honest, please go ahead. Hit that LIKE button.
Steven, you're a trustworthy young man. Is your cousin on the up and up?
Basically I look at the financial books.
Make sure everything's on the up and up.
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to improve your English skills. The next expression that I have for you? Well,
it's actually a question and that is what's the game plan?
And when somebody asks, what's the game plan? It's just asking, well,
what is the strategy moving forward? What is our plan of action?
And you can use this in sports, business politics,
anytime where you need to have a strategy. You might ask somebody,
you know, okay, what's the game plan?
Would somebody please let me know what the game plan is. We have it handled.
What's the strategy? What's the game plan? Don't tell me you're flying blind.
Awfully hot in that court room, wasn't it? What's the game plan, Kevin?
Unfortunately, doctor for both of us, you're the last man.
we have. What's the game plan doc?
What is your game plan for improving your English skills?
Let me know in the comments. Then we have the expression, my hands are tied.
And the expression means pretty much the way it sounds. You know,
if somebody whose hands are tied, it means that they are not free to act
in the way that they would want to because there's some rule or maybe some law
that prevents them from doing so. For example, in a business setting,
you may want your colleague or even your boss to do something for you,
but they can't because they have to follow the rules. And they may tell you,
you know, look, I, I'd love to help you out, but I can't, my hands are tied.
This can be used in many other situations as well. Even in your daily life,
if your friend wants you to do something,
perhaps your friend wants to go out and party,
but you have a young baby at home like me. And I would just have to say, look,
I'd love to go out with you, but I just can't. I have other responsibilities.
My hands are tied.
I'm not free to act as I would want to go into you behind my back.
You can't reward her for that. My hands are tied.
I'd love to help you out, Benny. But Garvy is going to be in there to check on her soon. My hands are tied. My hands are tied.
He's just a kid chasing a goofy dream. I'm sorry, my hands are tied.
I'm to leave with no reference. After working here for 10 years. I'm afraid my hands are tied.
Then we have a great expression, which I think is very common in business,
especially when you're speaking informally about getting a job and that is to
get your in the door and if somebody says, you know,
I'm just trying to get my foot in the door,
that just means that they want to achieve success in the first stage of some
process or the initial stage. And if we're talking about business,
often I think it's used when somebody wants to be a part of a business or they
want to be a part of a company and they say, you know,
I just want to get my foot in the door. I just want to get an interview.
If there is a job available.
Sometimes it's tough to get an interview for that job and you might say,
you know, I just want to get my foot in the door.
I'm trying to get my foot in the door so that I can be considered for this job.
It'll likely be an internship.
No pay.
You get your foot in the door.
So you can't perform without me. And you can't get your foot in the door with us.
I have an idea. Why don't I introduce you around?
You know you can kind of get your foot in the door and meet potential clientele.
Then we have belly up. Now this is not well,
it's not a very good expression because you're talking about a business and
organization or an institution that just no longer exist.
They have gone bankrupt. They have spent too much money.
They've gone out of business and you'd say, well, there, they've gone belly up.
They no longer exist. It's no longer around. The business has gone belly up.
You need to check out that stretch of Liberty Street.
The stores went belly up. Lumpies the one left.
Some bank has gone belly up.
The boss has made it abundantly clear
that he would love nothing more than to the whole project go belly up.
90% of all new restaurants go belly up within a year.
You know what doesn't go belly up? Food trucks.
The next expression is to get the short end of the stick.
And if somebody says that that they are getting the short end of the stick,
then it just means that they are getting unfair or unfavorable treatment.
So in business you might be comparing yourself with your colleagues and you
could think, well, you know, I'm getting the short end of the stick.
I'm not being treated the same way others are treated. It's a little unfair.
So I'm getting the short end of the stick. You can also use this expression, uh,
outside of a business context. You know at home or even among your friends,
if you feel you're getting unfavorable treatment compared to others,
you could say you're getting the short end of the stick or if you feel you're
getting unfair treatment compared to the treatment,
you should be getting that you should be getting treated better, but you're not.
You're getting the short end of the stick.
That guy orders me around too much.
Yeah, you're getting the short end of the stick all right.
You don't think we want to be there for him? Of course we do.
So once again, Jackson gets the short end of the stick.
Alison gets the short end of the attention stick around here. In what way?
Then we have an expression.
Well it's also not a another expression that any business would want to hear and
that is in the red. And if you say that a business or a company is in the red,
it just means that they have spent more money than they have in their account.
Often times in that case,
they would owe the bank money and you would say that the business is in the red.
Well, she's got $10 in here and it cost me, $900 for six weeks,
a unicycle lessons. So we're a little in the red right now.
Too bad we're not making any profit. Between the repairs,
the gas and that we are still in the red.
Another great expression is under the table and when you say that something is
under the table,
it just means that it's done secretly such as making a payment.
Often times, I think it's used in that context that you are employing somebody,
but you know it's,
it may not be legal and you're not paying them through the company.
Perhaps you're giving them cash.
You would say that you are paying them under the table,
or if you're the person getting paid, then you would say, well, you know,
I'm getting paid under the table. I'm not technically an employee,
but I'm still working. I'm getting paid, but it's under the table. It's secret.
This is something that, again, I think it is illegal in most countries,
but it's pretty common.
Perhaps there is some legal requirement that prohibits people from being able to work
So a company may hire some people and just pay them under the table.
It happens.
It's undocumented labor from Canada.
They think that maybe over the years have hired some of these guys,
paid them cash under the table.
But you haven't been getting paid?
I'm used to getting paid under the table.
How much does he make? How much do they paying him? Believe they're paying him cash into the table, sir.
You're going to work for us. Okay, but could you pay me under the table?
So I want to tell you one more expression.
I was actually going to end the lesson,
but I don't want to give you the short end of the stick.
I want to teach you another expression.
This is just for you because I want to help you practice and improve your
English skills. And, and truly I'm, I'm trying to be on the up and up and,
and the expression that I have for you is there's no I in team and this is often
just a statement that somebody would say there is no I in team.
And what it means is that teamwork is a group thing that it's not about working
individually. You have to work with your teammates.
And when they say there's no I and team, they're talking about the spelling,
the letter. I if you want to spell the word team, T E a M.
well there is no letter I but I also refers to the subject pronoun talking about
yourself, the individual eye.
So if you're working with other teammates in a group and somebody is being
selfish, you could tell that person there's no I in team.
I think this expression is used regularly when talking about sports.
If you're playing sports on a team,
but also in business because it's quite common that you would work with a group
of individuals. So if somebody is being selfish, just tell them, you know,
Hey there's no ion team.
You'd better not be working on our project because we're a team. Leonard.
There is no I in team. How do you feel
about losing a medal for your teammates? There's no I in team by team,
I don't mean you. I always say there's no I in team,
so I hope you can go out and get some use out of these business expressions and
if you learn something new, let me know by hitting that like button down below.
Thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you next time.