Name: English Tutor Nick P Proverbs (160) Kill the Goose That Lays the Golden Egg
Uploaded: 2019-10-13T15:48:10.000Z
Duration: 3 min 53 s
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Hi  this is Tutor Nick P and  this is proverbs 160. The proverb today is to

Adverbs of manner

kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.  Sometimes you can actually hear it is

Adverbs of degree

just to kill the goose that laid the golden egg too. So you can either hear

egg as singular or plural. All right. Let's continue here. Let's look at the note. If

someone kills the goose that lays the golden eggs,  he or she ruins or destroys

something that is profitable or brings wealth,  often by doing something stupid

or by being too greedy. It is often used as a warning. Like don't kill the goose

that lays the golden egg. Sometimes we actually say it that way. Kind of as a

warning to someone thinking that they might be doing something that could

really harm or damage their business or their wealth. Okay. Let's continue. The

origin of this proverb comes directly from an Aesop fable called "The goose that

laid the golden egg. According to the story, the  farmer got a goose that laid one

golden egg every day. The farmer became impatient with only one golden egg. Yeah.

I know think you'd he would be satisfied with a golden egg.  Hey that's great. Every day one golden

egg. Well,  your wealth could grow pretty quick like that way. But anyway and

eventually he became overwhelmed with greed. So this is where he made his big

mistake. He decided to kill the goose,  believing that there would be a treasure

trove of eggs inside the goose. He didn't want to wait. After killing the goose he

only found the usual internal organs of a goose. So he ended up destroying a good

thing that he had. He had a goose that really laid a golden egg supposedly. The

moral of the story is don't be stupid or too greedy by destroying your own wealth

or something that's bringing you in you know,  wealth or a  fortune. Okay. Let's take a

look at a couple of examples here.  That company used to sell its items for

reasonable prices. However over the past few years they have raised their prices

five times. If they continue to do this they are going to kill the goose that

laid the golden eggs. That's one of the ways that we may say it,  especially if we

think a company is doing something stupid that could ruin their real core

or the main part of their business,  especially when they got a good business

already.  They've already been successful. All

right. Let's look at the second one here.  When Apple forced Steve Jobs out of the

company over a power struggle with the CEO,  they nearly killed the goose that

laid the golden eggs. They continued to go down. Yeah. So when he was gone for

several years the company got worse and worse their  stock went down and down and

down. And we're on the verge of bankruptcy when they hired him back. And

to save the company basically.  He turned around. It  was very close,  they nearly killed the

goose that laid the golden egg. They were very close to doing that. That's what we

mean. So when companies do that. When they do stupid things or I don't know. These

days a lot of companies sometimes they're doing things for political

reasons that end up hurting their bottom line  too. There's a number of examples of

that. And some people might say that some of them may be you know if they continue

along that line,  they may kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

Anyway,  I hope you got it . I hope it was clear.  I hope it was informative. Thank you for