British Business English Idioms About Money - Set Two

1. What will you learn in this course?: Hello and welcome to this short course on Fiverr, British business English idioms related to money. My name is Sarah. I'm a British native English speaker of English coaching teacher and also the founder of free your English, might help intermediate to advanced level speakers speak English with great confidence. This course will teach you these five idioms to be broke. Go for broke, hard cash, ready cash, to be strapped for cash. The class is perfect for you if you are an intermediate level or above. And you went to learn and use British business English idioms. Here's what we will do in the class. First of all, I will give you an example of the idiom being used in contexts. There are no, we'll ask you to think about what you think the idiom means and choose which definition you think fits from a list of options. We will look at some more examples together. And then at the end, I will give you a speaking prompt. So you can practice using the idiom. The class project will ask you to choose to either do some writing or speaking practice with the five idioms. I'll see you in class. 2. To go broke : Okay, Here's our first idiom to be broke. And here's an example of the idiom in context. They only ever had a few customers and so they went broke very quickly. Now, here we have some different options as to what the idiom might mean. Number one, to have little money. Number two, to feel tired. Number three, to spend very carefully, or four to gain money. When you come to this point with each idiom, it would be great to pause the video and just think, what do you think the idiom means? Take a guess and then check whether you got it right. So if you said that you think it means to have little money yes. You got it right. To be broke means to not have enough money. It's very informal and it collocates with to go and to be flat or dad. So we talk about to go broke, which means to enter the process of not having enough money. Or we talk about to be flat broke or to be dead broke. Now, to go broke, we would use to talk about businesses. And certainly, and we could also talk about people to be flat broke or to be dead broke. We would usually only talk about people in that context. Don't worry too much. It will become clearer once we look at some more examples. Here's a good example. Remember that this idiom is informal. So the first person says, Do you remember the amazing photographer I had at my wedding? I went to get more pictures done with her but found out she's gone broke. Oh, no. She was amazing. What a pity. She went under. The first-person wanted to use a photographer again. But that photographer is not working anymore, had business isn't functioning. She ran out of money and the business is not working anymore. She went under. So there's another idiom. The second person says What a pity she went under. If a business goes under, it stops functioning as a business because it's run out of money. So it's an extra bonus idiom for you there. Let's look at some more examples. During the pandemic, many businesses pivoted to teaching online to avoid going broke. To pivot means to change direction. So during the pandemic, a lot of businesses that were brick and mortar, and that means businesses that function with people face-to-face where you might go into a store and buy something. They became digital during the pandemic, so they pivoted to change direction and they did that to avoid going broke. So again, to go broke as a business term, but it's very informal. So you'd use it in an informal conversation. And it just, in a business sense can mean to go bankrupt. Okay, let's look at the second example. I can't come on the weekend away as I'm flat broke. Unfortunately, to be data flat broke is a personal expression of the fact that you have little disposable money. So you feel like you have no extra money. You're really struggling with money and you can't spend on anything. You need to be very careful. Now this is very informal and you would talk about your personal situation. You wouldn't use that so much. Describe the business. Okay, Here is your speaking prompt. Do you think Amazon will lead to department stores going broke? When I say department stores, I mean, the big shops like here in the UK, we used to have something called British Home Stores, which used to sell women's clothes and many other things. And you don't find them in the high streets anymore? I don't think they exist anymore. They went out to business, they went broke because there's so much competition from online retailers. So that's our first question for you to think about, and that's our first idiom. 3. Go for broke: Okay, here's our second idiom. It sounds like it is exactly the same, but let's be really careful unfocused on the one difference. We have the word for in this one and that makes a world of difference. My goodness, English can be tricky sometimes content. So number two is to go for broke. To go for broke is different. Okay, So here's the contexts. When you first launch a business, you need to go for broke, work hard, and believe in yourself. Now let's just be clear that launch a business means start. That's a word that we often use. Instead of start, a business will say launch a business. So what do you think it means? Does it mean to go bankrupt, to be very inexpensive, to spend very carefully or to try as hard as possible. Go ahead and pause the video and have a think about it. It means to try as hard as possible. So let's look at some contexts, some examples to go for broke to take a risk and put all your resources into achieving something. So it is about taking that leap, taking that risk. So it's quite informal, but we would use it in a business context to talk about going for broke with big challenges, taking a leap into something new. So here's an example. We got the go-ahead from the client that he likes our video script. Let's use our whole team to film it. The second person says, Perfect. Let's go for broke. So in this context, they're talking about using the whole team. So they're saying we've got the go ahead. We've been given a yes to move forward. Let's throw all of our resources at it and make it a big leap, big effort forward, put a 100% effort and more examples. The bakery decided to go for broke and make all their bread gluten-free. So remember that this idiom has this idea of risk in it. And if you own a bakery and you decide to focus on the gluten-free market. That's quite a niche market. It's quite a rest to focus everything on that one type of ideal customer. So they're really going for broke with that leap into serving people that want gluten-free. The second example, they can't agree on whether to go for broke. I'm pushed for the deal or to agree to reach a compromise. So in this example, to go for broke has more of the meaning of to be persistent. To really put continual effort in US English, we might say to go all out, to go for broke could be the British version. To go all out would be the US version, meaning to put in consistent 100% effort. Okay, here's your speaking prompt for the second idiom. Describe a time when you really went for broke. It could be in your personal life or your professional life. I'll see you in the next Idiom class. 4. Hard cash: Our third idiom, hard cash. Thankfully, when the rubbers entered the store, there was very little hard cash in the tail for them to take. The toe is the British word for the cash register, like the little box where the cashier stores some money when money is exchanged at the store. So when the rubbers came, there was very little hard cash in the telephone them to take. So what is hard cash mean? Stolen money, missing money, money as coins and notes. Unkind money. What do you think? If you said money as coins and notes? Yes, you got it right. So hard cash is money in the form of coins or notes, not credit or debit cards, or online transfers of money. Or it can also mean that you are emphasizing the dye is money that you have. Money that is available to spend immediately. Money you have in your hand. Like, hey, I've got it now. So we're either emphasizing number one, that hey, this is physical money, like something I've got in my hand. Or it is about emphasizing that, hey, I'm ready to go with this. It's available now. Okay. Week sometimes talk about it being cold cash, like this idea of it being available now like the pressure that Yes, I've got it now. Let's go, let's go. Something a little bit cold in that. So we could say hard cash, or we sometimes use cold cash to mean that second one that it's available now and I want to buy it now. Let's look at some examples for this. This is quite an informal idiom as well. You might hear people using this informal workplace situations. So here's an example. First question says, How did you get all that material for such an amazing price? The second person, I offered hard cash at the estate sale and they couldn't refuse. An estate sale is when somebody has often when someone's passed away and they're all of their belongings, their estate in their house will be sold all at once. And sometimes if you arrive into a situation like that and you say, I'd like to take all of this and I've got hard cash. I've got money immediately to pay than sometimes that's a better negotiation. So we talked about using hard cash when perhaps it's a big purchase and the person selling expect that there's going to be a bank transfer or some other form. And you say, Nice, I've got the money physically with neat. Let's finish this. Let's get it done. I've got hard cash. So you're pushing you're pushing to get the deal done. So this person offered hard cash and signed the deal for her. Okay, some more examples. Perhaps they might sell the car at a cheaper price, but probably only for hard cash. So again, that's that idea of a quick or full payment. So when you're describing the situation where you want the deal to go through quickly. And this is usually for things that would be sold person to person, like a car or a piece of furniture or something like that. Okay. Then then the second example, for all he talked about service. I had a feeling that for him it was all about the hard cash. So in this example, the person saying, you know what? He speaks about serving others and doing good things a lot. But really I think he's mostly motivated by money, by the hard cash. So in this instance, when we say someone is only interested in hard cash, we're saying they are too focused on money. Okay, here's your speaking prompt for this third idiom. Have you ever negotiate a better deal by offering to pay in hard cash? 5. Ready cash: Idiom number for ready cash. Many businesses sometimes struggle with cashflow and having enough ready cash for any surprise purchases that may be needed. Cash flow is the amount of money that is coming in and out of a business. The money really that is available. In this example, it says, many businesses sometimes struggled with cashflow and having enough ready cash. So what do you think that means? One, organized money to available money, three stolen money or for extra money. What do you think? You said available money? Yeah. Steady cash is money that is available to be spent immediately, usually in the form of coins and notes. It is almost exactly the same as hard cash, but without the connotation of pressure. It's sometimes can refer to money in the bank ready to be used electronically. Here's an example. Do you think we should buy the online training course for each employee? Yes. Let's go for it. We have the ready cash in the training budget. In this example, the person replying is just acknowledging that yes, the money is available. It's quite an informal idiom, but it would be used in a business context. And it's just saying, yes, it's available versus with hard cash. You are pressurizing the person to recognize that you've got the money there and they should close the sale, close the deal. Whether some more examples, their relationship ended because each felt the other was just using them as a source of ready cash. So there is a sense that you can use this idiom to mean that someone is taking advantage. So a source of ready cash, someone who's being used just for their money. A second example, I noticed Apple were having a sale, and I happen to have some ready cash, so I got a great discount. Again, just that idea of available money, it's there. Okay, here's your speaking prompt for this idiom. How much ready cash do you like to have with you when you go on holiday? 6. Strapped for cash : Here we are, our last idiom to be strapped for cash. I saw Apple were having a sale, but I was strapped for cash so I missed out. What do you think it means to spend a lot of money to decide something, to be temporarily broke or to find money. Yes, it means to be temporarily broke. It means to be temporarily with poor cashflow. It is in normal, so mostly it would be used in informal situations or between friends are very close co-workers. But it could be used in a business situation, but would most likely be used more formal form of an adjective as in cash strapped. That's a much more formal usage, so that's useful to know. Okay, An example. Would you like to go out for dinner soon? I love to read. We just booked our holiday. So we're penny pinching right now as we are a bit strapped for cash. Go to Set number one of my British business English idioms about money course and insert number one, you can find the definition of penny pinching if you're interested. But I bet you can guess what it means from the context here. It means that you are budgeting carefully. Another example, the cash-strapped hotel industry is receiving government help during the pandemic. This is a much more formal structure. That's probably how you would use it in a formal business situation, is to say cash-strapped in the adjective form. Okay, one more example. I wish I wasn't so strapped. Otherwise, I would come out for dinner. Okay, this is incredibly British to say that you are strapped instead of strapped for cash. You would not say that in the US, it sounds very strange to someone used to speaking US English, American English. They would not say probably wouldn't use strapped for cash. But they would understand what that means. But if you say you're strapped, they might not understand. So just nice to know that that's used very commonly in the UK, but if you're using it with people outside of the UK, you would need to use the full idiom, strapped for cash. Okay, here's your speaking prompt for this idiom. Do you think cash-strapped schools should be able to accept private funding? So what it's asking is, if the school is having difficulty with having enough funds, should they be allowed to accept sponsorships and donations from outside sources like organizations or even companies. I would love to see your speaking practice shared in the project section. Please go ahead and do that. It'll be such a pleasure to see how you're doing with these speaking prompts. As always, please contact me if you have any questions or you'd like anything to be clarified. Thank you so much for joining me to go through these five idioms. I hope to see you in another course. Take care.