Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 60. The noun phrase today is loan
shark. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. A loan shark is someone who lends
money at excessively high rates of interest. This is usually connected with
organized crime and is illegal. Yeah. there are, there are laws about how
much you're allowed to charge for loans. And of course loan sharks, they loan at a
much higher rate than is actually legal. So it's definitely usually connected
with illegal, illegal activity or organized crime. Let's continue on. If a
borrower does not pay in a timely manner. So if he doesn't pay on time or he's
late and usually the time that he's got to pay is usually much sooner and the
rate is much higher. The loan shark may send one of his minions. All right.
Remember we sometimes covered this remember in the movie with the cute
little yellow guys those are minions. Well in real life, minions are not really,
does not really have a good meaning. It usually means somebody who works and
just follows orders usually for someone who's bad or evil
then we say a minion. So he will send one of his minions to threaten him or her
especially physically. Yeah. So and of course this is illegal too. You
know according to law. You're not allowed to physically you know attack people for
these loans. And usually they will do it you know in stages you know if you don't
pay back right away maybe they just hit you a few times. Or then maybe they may
break a finger or break two fingers or maybe even get around to breaking a leg.
You know if you continue not to pay. They, they threaten you into paying more or
trying to get you even more desperate to get the money from somebody else. To pay
them back. All right. Good. So let's continue. A loan shark could
also be referred to as a Shylock. Yes. From the character
in the Shakespeare play of The Merchant of Venice. Yeah. If you ever read that old
play. It's a very good play by Shakespeare. But there was another character you know,
way back at that time in that 1500s who lent money and also it usually was at
very very high rates too. So this is why sometimes they're also referred to as a
Shylock as well. All right. Let's go on. A shark can also refer to someone who gets
money my cheating people. Yes. Well. We do have another term called a card shark.
So a card shark is someone who usually will cheat people out of money usually
by playing cards. But they're very good at cheating and playing cards and so
this is what I mean. You know, don't never play with him. He's a card shark. So it
also has that meaning too. So again. Let's continue. Though the loan shark is
believed to get its name. All right. So this is kind of the origin of how the
name came about. Believed to get its name because they prey on the desperate. Yeah.
So usually only somebody wants to get a loan from a loan shark, is only taking it
from him because they couldn't get it from the bank. Or nobody else would give
it to them and they wanted it for some reason and they still thought it was
worth the risk of getting it. Maybe they thought something else was going to pay off
really really well and very very soon. And they they could pay back the loan
shark and it wouldn't be a problem. But it usually doesn't work out that way.
So they prey on the desperate and if they don't the loan shark will be out
for blood. You know, just like a shark is out for blood. If you don't pay back so
one way they the shark means somebody who cheats somebody and they will and
the loan shark will also be out for blood,
if you don't repay. Until they get their money plus interest. They don't just want
the the initial loan. They want that money plus the interest you're supposed
to be playing. The excessively high interest. All right. All right. And now we
just have a few examples. Example number one here. He couldn't get
a loan from a bank and he was so desperate that he went to a loan shark
to get the money. All right. Or number two. We say Jack
skipped town. Well if you skip town. He's like, you're running away. He skipped town
because he was being threatened by a loan shark for not paying back the money
which he borrowed. Okay. Well hopefully you can go far enough away
and not get found. That the loan shark never finds him. Anyway I hope you got it. I
hope it's clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.