Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer.
Think of an adjective to complete this statement. Money can be...
What words come to mind? Helpful, stressful, rewarding, exciting, fun, dangerous?
Everyone has their own way of thinking about money, but we need some common vocabulary to
talk about it. In this lesson, we'll go over some money related expressions. I may not be
able to make you rich in terms of money, but I can help you enrich your vocabulary.
Have you ever been broke? Hopefully not. Being broke means having no money at all. It's not like
you forgot your wallet at home. If a person is broke, the person has no money anywhere.
Broke. I'm broke. I can't even afford to do anything.
What's interesting is that we have somewhat similar ways of describing extreme poverty
and extreme wealth. We might describe someone as dirt poor if they have very little in terms of
clothing, food, and housing. On the other hand, a billionaire might be described as filthy rich.
"Filthy" is another word for "dirty." No. I grew up dirt poor.
I mean sure. I went into public service. and they all stayed and got filthy rich. But of course,
being poor or rich doesn't have to be described negatively. I like the expression "financially
comfortable." Doesn't that sound nice? Financially comfortable means that you have more than
enough to meet your basic needs and enjoy some comforts, if not all kinds of fabulous luxuries.
"Filthy rich" describes wealth to the point where one's lifestyle may seem
obscene by others. "Obscene" is similar to offensive," so filthy rich is excessive,
like having a golden toilet or having a different car for every day of the year.
There are some very colorful expressions, like "living high on the hog" or "being poor as a
church mouse." But honestly, I don't hear people using these expressions very often,
so let me share some vocabulary that I do hear in everyday English.
"Super rich" and "crazy rich" imply great wealth but without any negative judgment, in my opinion.
Oh, I'll be rich. I'll be...I'll be super rich.
Rachel, these people aren't just rich. Okay? They're crazy rich. Look.
We can also say that someone is fabulously rich or living a life of luxury, and those
aren't negative expressions either. However, it could sound like you envy those people.
We can also talk about being well-off, and there are degrees:
being extremely well-off, fairly well-off, quite well-off, pretty well-off.
I want to note that there are some positive associations with wealthy people,
especially those who are generous. Some use their money for philanthropic causes. They're known
for their philanthropy. Do you know any famous philanthropists? You can tell me in the comments.
Let's review those three words. "Philanthropist" is the person.
"Philanthropy" is what they do, and they engage in philanthropic activities.
Sometimes we may dream about vast wealth, but most of us just want to earn enough to make
a living. We want to earn enough to pay the bills. We don't want to worry about where our
next meal is coming from. When you live from paycheck to paycheck, you have just enough
to survive. In other words, you have just enough to get by, just enough to scrape by.
All these expressions help us describe living on a tight budget. Money is tight. The opposite
would be someone having money to spare. Money is tight, meaning there's not much.
Live from paycheck to paycheck.
Not know where one's next meal is coming from.
Scrape by, get by...these are similar expressions.
Is money that tight?
Money's tight, huh? Living paycheck to paycheck, barely hanging on.
I'm barely scraping by. I'll add one more: make ends meet.
If you worry about making ends meet, you worry about paying all your bills, settling your debts,
and having enough money for your basic needs. I was struggling to make ends meet.
Took the night job to make ends meet.
While it would be nice to make the big bucks, most of us understand that we don't need great
wealth in order to be happy. Right? "Big bucks" refers to a lot of money. A buck is a dollar.
Got to make those big bucks.
That's where the
big bucks are. If you have a friend with a great job and an awesome salary, you might say, "She's
doing very well. I'm happy for her." Or, "He's done well for himself. He's worked really hard. Do
you know anyone like that? Let's review. Ready for a quiz? One. What's the opposite of filthy rich?
Dirt poor.
Two. If a person has no money at all they are...
broke.
Three. Being financially comfortable is closer in meaning to...
being well-off.
Four. What's another adverb for "extremely" as in "extremely rich"?
Some common choices are: super, crazy, fabulously.
Five. If you are a philanthropist, you live from paycheck to paycheck. True or false?
False.
Six. If someone barely has enough money to survive, they are doing what?
Scraping by.
Seven. A person who is scraping by may not know where their next WHAT is coming from?
Where their next meal is coming from.
Eight. If you're enjoying great financial success at work, you're making the big WHAT?
The big bucks.
Nine. What's the opposite of "money is tight"?
Have money to spare.
Ten. A bonus challenge. Find one academic word for "rich" and one academic word for "poor."
A synonym for "rich" is affluent. A synonym for poor is "impoverished."
Here's my wish for all of you. I wish you enough money to feel secure and to pursue your dreams.
We don't have to be filthy rich to do that, just financially comfortable.
I think what many people aspire to have is financial security
and financial independence. That's the feeling that everything is okay now, and everything
will be okay in the future. You have enough for today's needs and enough for tomorrow's.
Let me offer a recommendation. Do you know who Ken Honda is? He's a very popular Japanese author.
He teaches millions about happy money. He gives interesting insights in Japanese and in English
about personal wealth and happiness. If the topic interests you, you can find his work on YouTube.
And now a tip. If you want to practice using some of the vocabulary from this lesson,
why don't you tell me about someone you know and their financial situation? Or
you can tell me about your wish for your financial future. Tell me in the comments.
That's all for now. Please remember to like and share the video if you found the lesson useful. As
always, thanks for watching and happy studies! Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,
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