If you receive an email form your co-worker with some business slang words, you might keep wondering what does that word really mean. Most dictionaries don’t list slang words. These words come from the society, and you and me can make them by combining or breaking words. In today’s English lesson you will learn some commonly used Business Slang words, you would come across while interacting with the executive class and the working force. Some of these English slang words are extremely funny and some convey a lot more. In this Business English lesson with Michelle, she teaches you these business slang words in an interesting way with the help of a story. We are sure you would find this lesson interesting and learn how to use these slang words in your conversation.
Complete Lesson Transcript –
Hello everyone, are you capable of wearing several different hats like me? You know what, I’m a teacher, I’m an artist and I’m also a dancer but what connection does it have with so many hats? Does it really have a connection? Do you wanna find out? Then stay with me, in this business English lesson to learn some interesting slang words. My name is Michelle, stay tuned.
Welcome to the class, in this English lesson we are learning, some interesting business slang words but we are learning it in a more fun way coz I’m going to share with you a story, a real-life incident that happened with my best friend, Mike. so I saw Mike yesterday evening and he looked really sad and kind of worried and I asked him, what happened, are you alright? He said, yeah, I’m fine but I knew something was wrong. I said, come on, you can share it with me and then he said, yeah actually my boss is thinking of downsizing the company and he’s also looking at cutbacks at a time when we are already shorthanded and I think I’ll have to take a pay cut and I was really stunned. Just stunned but why? We’ll come to that part of the story later but first, we are going to find out, what do these terms mean? A term like downsizing. So what is this word? What kind of picture do you get when you read this word? Downsizing, does it give you a reducing picture, falling picture, where something is reducing. Yes, the same way Mike’s boss is thinking of reducing the size of the company. So let’s say if they have 300 employees working with them right now, the boss is planning to cut the number of employees or reduce the number of employees to 200 because the company is suffering certain losses because of recession but that’s not a very good idea and that’s not all. The boss is also thinking about cutbacks. What are cutbacks? So cutbacks are you know reducing the expenses. so, maybe Mike was receiving free travel, free food till now and maybe be even free snacks but then now I don’t think, he’s gonna receive that coz the boss is reducing the expenses so that he can increase the profit and you know reduce the impact of the losses that he has suffered due to recession. So downsizing is reducing the size and cutbacks are, reducing the expenses.
Let’s look at the next word. He said that the company is already shorthanded. So hands in a company are the people who are working. So the company was already having 300 employees but instead, they need about 400 employees. Instead of hiring more people, Mike’s boss is thinking of cutting down on the number of people. That’s so sad, isn’t it? And because of that, the company is already shorthanded. So they have lesser number of employees than the company requires a lesser number of employees. And the company needs more employees so they are already shorthanded. so a person, possibly a task that they need 8 people for, only 6 people are doing that task and they have to spend extra hours doing that task, which is not a great experience for the people working there. So let’s look at the next word. Pay cut. Now when they are working overtime, they are working. You know they are doing six people are doing the task which 10 people are supposed to do or 8 people are supposed to do. So they should possibly have a hike. I mean yeah practically they should but instead, they are having a pay cut. A pay cut is reducing the salary. Who likes that? You don’t like that, I’m sure nor do I. so pay cuts is reducing the salary and Mike really doesn’t like it. Like all of us my friend has to pay his taxes, his insurance bills, his electricity bills, rents, etc. so he’s really suffering right now and that’s why he was so worried when I saw him yesterday. So in response to his concern, I told him that you have been wearing, you’ve been wearing several different hats since you’ve come on board in that company and you’re such a workaholic. I don’t think they should be doing this to you. He’s the last person I thought they’d do this to, coz he has been wearing several different hats like I was wearing in the beginning of the video. Can you guess what that means? So like I said, I’m a dancer, I’m an artist and I’m also a teacher. The same way, Mike has been doing a lot of different activities in the company. He’s been working on the projects. He’s been managing the team and he’s a team leader. So he’s like the right hand for his boss. He’s been working really hard since the time he has joined. Yes, that’s what we mean by, come on board.
When you join a company that means that you’ve come on board in the company, to join a company and as I told you, wearing several different hats means to do many tasks in the same company. So obviously, already he was doing so much work. He was managing different departments and now that they are short handed and they are also cutting back and he’s you know also taking some pay cuts, Mike is surely having a bitter experience in his company. Doing different jobs, wearing several different hats.
Alright, let’s look at the next word, workaholic. So I told you that Mike, he’s such a workaholic. What do you think, this might mean? Do you like to work 18 hours a day or 16 hours a day? Then this is who you are. You’re a workaholic and do you feel restless on a Sunday when you have absolutely nothing to do? And you still wanna work? Then this is the correct word for you. A person who loves working or maybe you could say a compulsive worker. I’m not a workaholic but my friend Mike is. So he surely doesn’t deserve a pay cut. What do you think about it?
alright so after our conversation, Mike told me that he’s really tired of his rat race but he’s not so worried because he’s not the only breadwinner coz the good part is, his wife Irene has got a 9 to 5 job recently. So the word rat race means that it talks about the competitive environment in business. So, have you seen a rat race? it’s like a piece of cheese and there are such a number of rats, who are running to get that piece of cheese and the first one who gets it, wins the race and the same way in a business environment, you need to be working really hard to be you know able to impress your boss or do something good at work but he’s tired of it because he’s suffering so much at work and his boss and his experience is not that great. So he’s tired of the competitive environment at work.
And now his wife is a breadwinner. Well, that’s good news for sure. She’s winning bread for the family that means she is also making money for the family. So he’s not worried about his expenses so much coz even if he thinks of a different job and he takes a sabbatical. Maybe he wants to start working after a month or two after applying for a new job, he doesn’t have to worry coz his wife is earning money for the family but how is she earning money for the family? Coz she’s got a 9 to 5 job. Do you have a 9 to 5 job? Then you must consider yourself blessed coz in this time when the recession has hit everywhere in the world, it’s really hard to have a 9 to 5 job. So a 9 to 5 job is a permanent job and you know it’s more like a stable job when you have a stable income coming into your family so you don’t have to worry about any pay cuts or cutbacks. A permanent job.
So I’m really happy for Mike coz his wife has bagged a new job but I’m really sad for him because he’s suffering all of this. If you have had any bitter experience like that or if you are a new breadwinner, then please use all these slang words and I hope you have a great time at your work. Please come back for more business English lessons with me, Michelle, till then, you take care, bye.
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