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  • Do do do do, whoa, E, stop it!

  • Hi, James from www.engvid.com . E is about to - going "hi-yah!"

  • He's been practicing karate, it seems.

  • And he's breaking bread.

  • I don't know why he would do this, but it seems today's lesson is on business idioms

  • using bread.

  • So, let me clarify a little bit.

  • These idioms aren't just for business.

  • You can use them for other things, but I'm showing you how you can use these idioms in

  • a business setting.

  • Now, why am I doing this?

  • Idioms or phrases are sort of a shortcut.

  • What I mean is we can say long sentences about something, but sometimes by putting two or

  • three words together, or four, the meaning is given to someone much - much faster and

  • much clearer than if you gave many sentences.

  • So, today's lesson is to teach you how to communicate better with other people by speaking,

  • but also when they're communicating with you, what they're actually trying to say.

  • Okay?

  • That's why we're doing it.

  • Now, how we're going to do that?

  • We're going to look at some new vocabulary you may not know and then I'm going to give

  • you the idioms and tell you when a good time to use them is.

  • Alright?

  • So, let's go to the board and get started.

  • Shall we?

  • So, E, you're breaking bread all over the place.

  • Tsk Tsk Tsk, crazy, crazy, crazy.

  • Let's start with the vocabulary first, to make sure you understand the vocabulary, so

  • when I go through with the idioms or phrases, they'll be easy for you to understand.

  • So, the first one is "chaff".

  • Now, here's some wheat up here, okay.

  • Now, these little things up here and this here, it's no good.

  • What is wheat?

  • We use wheat to make bread.

  • Yes, we use rye and barley and other things, but a lot of times we use wheat to make bread.

  • And the chaff is a protective covering.

  • So, you can think - I've got this water here, and this plastic protects it.

  • That's like the chaff.

  • It's actually no good, just because we can't drink plastic.

  • But it does protect the water we want to keep.

  • That's what chaff is for wheat.

  • Dough.

  • Dough is when you take flour, a little bit of water, some salt.

  • You can use other things and you make bread.

  • You might have seen your mother take dough, put some flour and water together and then

  • roll it out and then put it in the oven to make bread.

  • Now, slice is usually a thin piece of something.

  • Specifically, when we talk about food, a slice could be a slice of an apple, where you take

  • a knife, you cut a piece - a thin piece of it that becomes a slice.

  • It's also the verb is actually "to slice" as well.

  • So, we slice as a verb - a piece of material can be a slice.

  • So, we can have a slice of apple or a slice of bread, cool?

  • So, that's the vocabulary we want to look at.

  • Now, let's go to the board and take a look at the idioms and phrases.

  • The first one I have it "separate the wheat from the chaff".

  • As I told you, the chaff is the protective coating.

  • It's also known as garbage or refuse.

  • Something you would throw away or something that's not good.

  • The wheat is valuable, because when we make bread, we use the wheat to make the bread.

  • So, when we separate the wheat from the chaff, we take the thing that is good away from the

  • thing that is bad.

  • And we want to keep the thing that is good, okay?

  • So, let's say you have ten people that you are looking to interview for a job, and you

  • might say, "Uh, they kind of look pretty good.

  • Why don't we give them a test, because as we give them the test, the ones that are good

  • will do on well on the test.

  • The ones who are bad won't do so well.

  • And we will separate the good candidates for the job from the bad ones", okay?

  • So, you can see how they would use that in business.

  • Rolling in dough.

  • Okay, so I told you before about dough.

  • It's when you take flour and water - that comes from wheat.

  • You mix it to make bread.

  • Well, before you do that, you have to roll it - and this is called a rolling pin - to

  • make it come flat to make the bread.

  • Well, rolling in dough also means to have a lot of money.

  • Because the word "dough" in English can be used for "money".

  • See, you're getting extra vocabulary.

  • So, if you have a lot of dough, you've got a lot of money.

  • If you're rolling in dough, you can imagine all of this is money and this is you.

  • And you're rolling in dough.

  • You're rich, okay?

  • So, first we start with the wheat, then we go to the dough before we make the bread.

  • But even when you have bread - oh, do you know what "bread" means as well?

  • This is interesting.

  • "Dough" means "dough" - oh sorry, "dough" means "money" and "bread" means "money".

  • If you hear someone say, "That costs a lot of bread".

  • No, they are not taking bread from the grocery store, going and giving it to someone.

  • It means "money".

  • So, "dough" means money and "bread" means money.

  • Please try to remember that as we go through the idioms and you'll go, "Oh my gosh, it

  • makes sense."

  • So, when we say "man does not live by bread alone".

  • Now, you might say, "What does that have to do with business?"

  • Well, a lot of people, if you're working, it's not just about the money.

  • For some people, it's about getting new opportunities at work to learn and to grow.

  • To have good social contacts, to be able to give input or give something to the company.

  • So, when someone says, "Man does not live by bread alone", they could be saying in business,

  • "Look, you pay me a lot of money, but the job is not interesting.

  • I'm not growing as a person.

  • I'm not making good contacts.

  • I'm not giving anything to the business, so I'm not happy.

  • So, yes, the money is nice, but I need more."

  • You can also see how that can be used for people in ordinary life, where we say, you

  • can have the basic necessities, which means the basic things you need like bread, water,

  • food.

  • But you need more than that to have a good life, okay?

  • Now, "break bread".

  • Notice how we had - we made the bread, we got the bread, now you're breaking bread.

  • Hi-yah!

  • That's what my man over here was doing.

  • What do we mean, "to break bread"?

  • Well, in many countries in the world, bread is what we call a staple, or an important

  • part of family life and families, they have bread.

  • In this particular case, and how we use it in business is - there are two ways.

  • When you say "to break bread", it means to get together and have a meal.

  • Share a meal together.

  • But it's not just eating.

  • It means to also, while we share this meal, have good conversation, share and connect.

  • Get closer together.

  • So, in business, clearly you want to have people break bread and meet.

  • There's also another meaning, and it's similar, but a little bit different and this difference

  • is important.

  • Sometimes, when you break bread with somebody, it's because you used to be enemies.

  • And now you're sitting down at the table and you're going to have a meal together, but

  • you're also saying, "With this meal, we will forget everything bad that happened before.

  • We will forgive this.

  • We will move forward as partners or friends."

  • So sometimes, with your enemies, you need to break bread with the enemy, which means

  • have that meal together and say, "Okay, whatever differences we had, we now say okay, forget

  • it.

  • We're moving forward as friends."

  • So, one is friends or family getting together, or colleagues or colleagues, co-workers eating

  • together, no problem.

  • The other one is when enemies say, "No more enemies, we shall now be friends."

  • Okay?

  • So, we've got "breaking bread".

  • So now that we've broken some bread, let's break the bread a little bit more.

  • And we're going to move up to number five.

  • We're going to go to "the greatest thing since sliced bread."

  • Now, if you live in the modern age, you have sliced bread, so you're like, "What's the

  • big deal?"

  • Well, a long time ago, bread was not sliced.

  • You always had to cut it with a knife, so you always had to have a knife to cut the

  • bread or to carry the bread.

  • Then somebody, some genius person, started slicing bread and saying, "Here, the bread

  • is in pieces already!"

  • Remember, we talked about "slice"?

  • And then it was easy, and they made sandwiches and carried the bread and everyone was so

  • happy.

  • It was the greatest invention ever!

  • So, when somebody says to you, "This is the greatest thing since sliced bread", they're

  • saying your idea is great.

  • So, here's an example you might think about.

  • James, what could he be possibly talking about?

  • Well, dododo.

  • Sorry, cell phone.

  • It's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

  • You can talk, take pictures, and communicate with other people.

  • Run a business off of it.

  • A good idea.

  • And that's what happens when you hear someone say, "This is the greatest thing since sliced

  • bread", they're saying the idea is a very good one.

  • Now that we've got this fantastic idea from number five, what does number six mean?

  • "Bread and butter".

  • Well, bread and butter are basics, because for most people in most cultures, you have

  • bread and then you will have butter and you put that butter on.

  • So, when we say this is a "bread and butter", I actually knew a guy named Ken.

  • Or, I still know Ken.

  • And he does karate.

  • He's a very good karate guy.

  • And he would say, "This is a bread and butter technique."

  • He meant it was a basic technique - hiyah! - but it worked, it really worked well.

  • So, if someone says to you - or when someone says to you, "This is my bread and butter",

  • it means this is where I get my basics from, this is where I am good, alright?

  • So, this is my bread and butter.

  • For when most people say, "This is my bread and butter", it's where I make my - excuse

  • me for a second - it's where I make my money from.

  • But if someone says to you "This is our bread and butter", it's the basic thing we make

  • our money from.

  • Number seven, "Know which side one's bread is buttered".

  • Funny, because we started with bread and butter here.

  • For most people, you don't put butter on both sides of the bread.

  • You put it on one side.

  • When someone says, "Know which side your bread is buttered", it means know who the people

  • you must be loyal to or know where you get your advantages from.

  • Because we all know when the butter is on one side of the bread, it tastes very good.

  • And the other side is dry.

  • So, if you have a choice between two people and one person has been very good to you in

  • the past and helped you a lot and is going to be beneficial in the future, that is the

  • person you should help or be loyal to, or know that is the side your bread is buttered

  • on.

  • They told you, it's about business, but you can also use these things for other situations

  • as well, just to remind you.

  • Number eight, from here, we talk about "somebody is toast".

  • And you might say, "What do you mean, 'somebody is toast'?"

  • Well, here's the funny thing.

  • You put dough in the oven.

  • It becomes bread, so you cook it.

  • But then, when you put in the toaster, you kind of burn it a little bit, but not too

  • much, because it goes brown and you burn it a little bit.

  • When we say "somebody is toast", because usually when it's done, it's complete, it's finished.

  • We say, and this isn't a good thing.

  • If you are toast, it means you're finished.

  • It means you've lost your job.

  • It means maybe you lost your relationship.

  • If something is toast, it's no good.

  • It is now ruined.

  • So, if your career is toast, you've got no career left.

  • You're out of a job.

  • IF your relationship is toast, your partner is leaving you, okay?

  • So, "toast" in business, you go, "The competition will be toast with our new invention, which

  • is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

  • They're going to be gone after this comes out."

  • Now, it's not exactly the opposite, but you could kind of see the opposite is with "bread

  • winner".

  • The bread winner is a person who brings home the most money in a family, okay?

  • So, if you're the bread winner, you make more than the other person, which means two people

  • can be working, but one person might make $100,000 and the other person $20,000, the

  • bread winner is the person making $100,000.

  • So, if you're the bread winner in your family, you might be the only one working and you're

  • bringing all the money for the family.

  • Because if you remember rightly, I said that bread is usually very important for most families

  • throughout the world, or around the world.

  • So, if you're the bread winner, you're the one with the money to bring the bread in,

  • okay?

  • So, we've covered all nine idioms or phrases I wanted you to look at.

  • Separate the wheat from the chaff - take what is good from what is bad.

  • Be rolling in dough - make money.

  • And remember, "dough" means "money".

  • Man does not live by bread alone - we could say "woman" doesn't as well today.

  • This is the old way of saying it, and it means you need more in life than just the basics.

  • In this case, it could be money or it could just be, you know, the basic necessities of

  • life.

  • We're saying it here as in money.

  • So, if you're in business, we need more than bread.

  • We need more than to just get the money.

  • Maybe we need recognition, we need fame.

  • To break bread is to have a meeting in which you will exchange and come closer connection.

  • Or you will end an old feud or fight with an enemy.

  • Next, we move up to - the greatest thing since sliced bread.

  • The greatest invention, alright?

  • Or a new idea that will be amazing.

  • Moving onto - bread and butter which means the basics.

  • And it could be the basics of skill or the basic thing that brings you money.

  • This is our bread and butter.

  • We make our money from these two things, or this thing we're working on.

  • Know which side your bread is buttered on.

  • Know who is your friend or has helped you.

  • Who you must be loyal to, very important.

  • Somebody is toast.

  • You don't want to be toast.

  • It means something is ruined, destroyed, or it is the end of it.

  • And then finally - well, I can't say you're the bread winner because you watch this video,

  • but to be the bread winner means to make the most money in a family.

  • Okay?

  • Cool.

  • So, we've got the nine idioms, I've gone over them.

  • You have the vocabulary.

  • I'm going to give you a second or two to check or maybe go through the video again.

  • And when we come back, we'll have a little quiz, your bonus, of course, your homework.

  • Okay, so we're back.

  • Let's go to the board and take the quiz.

  • Now, if you've understood everything I taught you, you're going to get perfect 4/4.

  • And if not, you can always go back and re-watch the video from the beginning and try again,

  • just to make sure you understand.

  • So, the first question we're going to do on the quiz is - okay, the first thing you're

  • going to answer is the following: There are a lot of people who have applied for this

  • job, but this test will let us know the good employees from the bad ones.

  • What is the answer?

  • Is it number one or number two?

  • Yes.

  • It's number one.

  • "This test will let us separate the wheat from the chaff", because remember, "chaff"

  • is the garbage that we throw away from the wheat, and the wheat is valuable thing.

  • The wheat represents the good and the chaff represents the bad employees, okay?

  • Next: Sally, you have a tough decision to make - decision to make, about who to hire.

  • So, it's best to remember who has helped you a lot.

  • Will it be number one or number two?

  • So, we go here.

  • It's actually number one.

  • "So, it's best to know which side your bread is buttered."

  • Remember, we said the side with the butter is the most delicious side.

  • It's also the one that is going to give us the most advantage and the person we must

  • be most loyal to.

  • What about number three: John has been fighting with me for two years now.

  • I thin kit's time to meet and move past the situation.

  • What is the answer on that one?

  • Is it, "break bread" or "somebody is toast"?

  • What do you think?

  • Okay.

  • You're correct if you said "break bread".

  • "I think it's time to break bread".

  • Although I didn't say "have a meal".

  • Remember, we said "breaking bread" can be two adversaries or enemies coming together

  • to forgive each other and move into the future more as friends or allies.

  • The final one, number four.

  • This one has two, to make you think about it a little bit: Anna is the main earner in

  • her family.

  • Earner means "to make money."

  • If she gets the new position, they will be rich.

  • Because there is two parts, you'll see there is an A and a B. So, let's look at A-main

  • earner.

  • What would be the best thing to replace "main earner" with?

  • "The bread winner".

  • If you remember, we said bread winner before is the person who makes the most money.

  • And yes, it's possible for one person to make $20,000 and another to make $100,000, but

  • the $100,000 would be the main earner, because if they lose their job, it will affect the

  • people the most.

  • And the second part of this is - well, "rich", do we replace it with "rolling in dough" or

  • "break bread"?

  • Yes.

  • Do you remember when we said "dough" means "money"?

  • And "rolling in dough" means to have a lot of money?

  • So, the answer here would be, "They will be rolling in dough."

  • So, the whole sentence is, "Anna is the bread winner in her family.

  • If she gets this new position, they will be rolling in dough."

  • And if you got 4/4, good on you!

  • And now, let's do the bonus.

  • These are actually rather interesting, because I'm going to give you the first two are, you

  • might say, really serious business type English.

  • And the second two are more - hmm, kind of bar English, which you - we call it "gossip",

  • you might say gossip, or talk to co-workers.

  • Now, the first one, "Let them eat cake" was actually a sentence supposedly said by Marie

  • Antoinette, and she was married Louis XIV, I believe.

  • He was King of France.

  • When she said, "Let them eat cake", it's because she had heard the poor people in her country

  • could not afford bread.

  • And then she said, "Let them eat cake".

  • The actual quite is "brioche".

  • Brioche is an egg bread, so it's actually bread made of egg, but it's much more expensive.

  • So, in other words, she was saying to the poor people, "You can't afford the regular

  • bread?

  • Buy more expensive bread!"

  • Of course, the people didn't like that, and a few years later, her and Louis were executed.

  • So, what does that have to do with business?

  • Sometimes, employees think the bosses are like, "Let them eat bread!"

  • And it generally means that they are unknowing or they don't care about the environment that

  • the lower people are living in or how they live.

  • They have no idea or they actually don't care.

  • So, some people will say it in a sarcastic way, as in our employers think they are royalty,

  • like Louis XIV or Marie Antoinette, and they don't care about us or understand our situation.

  • Similarly, "bread and circuses".

  • This was actually from the Roman Empire.

  • When the Roman Empire changed from just Rome, what happened was - the problem was there

  • were a lot of problems in the empire.

  • And what the politicians at that time did to hide it from the people, they gave out

  • free food - called, you know, bread, and circuses, great entertainment.

  • And they did that to distract the people from all the problems that were actually happening

  • in the empire.

  • So, somebody at work says, "This is just bread and circuses", they're really trying to tell

  • you that the big management or the higher management are trying to distract you from

  • the real problems so you are entertained and happy, but you're not really getting what

  • you really need and you don't really know what's going on.

  • Now, "pinch a loaf".

  • A loaf, we talked about loaf of bread, right?

  • Okay, so, this is not something you would say to your boss or superior, and maybe you

  • wouldn't say it to somebody of the opposite sex, meaning if you're a man, you wouldn't

  • say it to a woman, or a woman wouldn't say it to a man.

  • But, to "pinch a loaf" means to go to the toilet, and it's to do a number two.

  • That's right, a poo-poo.

  • So, if you ever - if someone walks up to you and goes, "Hey Bob, can you watch the desk

  • for a second?

  • I've got to pinch a loaf."

  • They're not going to get some bread and go "pinchie, pinchie, pinchie".

  • They're going to go to the toilet and go poo.

  • I won't explain why it's called that.

  • I'll let you use your imagination, okay?

  • Now, the second one is "a bun in the oven".

  • This is if you were talking about a female coworker.

  • What do I - why am I saying this?

  • Because a bun in the oven - a loaf of bread is big, okay?

  • You get many slices.

  • A bun is a small piece of bread, it's for one person.

  • So, it's like a slice for one person.

  • When a woman has a bun in the oven, you put a bun in the oven like bread, and the bun

  • gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

  • In this case, a woman is pregnant.

  • Because you have a bun in the oven and as the heat goes over nine months, the bun will

  • grow and become a baby.

  • So, when you're gossiping at work, that means talking about each other, you might say, "Hey,

  • she's got a bun in the oven."

  • You're saying she is pregnant.

  • So, I hope you enjoyed the bonuses.

  • You got a little bit of a history lesson here and a little bit of a - hmm, how shall we

  • say?

  • Not politically correct information, but people will say these things, so you should understand

  • them.

  • And I'd like us to go now to our homework.

  • Because, once again, if you don't practice, you can't improve.

  • So today, you will get 1000 points for every one of these you get correct.

  • If you're on YouTube and people actually give it a thumbs up, you can get 1000 points for

  • every one that they give you a thumbs up.

  • And if you're on www.engvid.com or anywhere else, you get 1000 points.

  • Congratulations.

  • Now, this one is a special one, which I'll get to in a second.

  • First sentence you want to fix is: The woman is very rich.

  • What could you say instead of saying "very rich"?

  • You have an idiom for that one.

  • The second one: I'm broke.

  • Broke means I have no money.

  • It doesn't mean I'm broke.

  • It means I have no money.

  • So, if someone says to you, "I'm broke", cashless, no credit.

  • "I'm broke.

  • I don't have any money on me."

  • I gave you two words earlier on that said both of these words refer to money.

  • Can you remember what they are?

  • Hope you can, you can put it in the comments.

  • So, if someone uses either one of these words, they can get 1000 points.

  • And finally, "It's been awhile since we had dinner together."

  • What idiom or phrase could you use instead of "had dinner"?

  • Now everybody, there's 3000, or maybe 4000 points available.

  • Or unlimited if you're on YouTube.

  • Do your homework and I will check it over.

  • So anyway, time for me to get going.

  • Hope you enjoyed this video.

  • Once again, thank you very much because you make this all possible.

  • Check out the quiz, the actual quiz on www.engvid.com , where you'll find more of my videos and

  • other fantastic teachers you can learn from, alright?

  • Time for me to break bread with some friends.

  • You have a good one.

Do do do do, whoa, E, stop it!

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