5/22 〜 5/24

実践ビジネス英語 　　　Wednesday, May 22

1) Umemura asks the H&B staff how to tell one of his superiors that he uses cliched expressions like "to be honest" and "between you and I" too often. Nissen says such phrases bother him too. And Breakstone recommends that Umemura speak to the manger if he strongly feels that such remarks sap his energy. However, she also warns that Umemura may offend the person by advising him to stop.

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Giving Feedback (1)

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2) bug: Umemura uses "bug" as a verb meaning bother, annoy, as in "It really 'bugs' me when people don't keep their promises." Or "I can't remember if I locked my front door. It's been 'bugging' me all day."

3) spare a minute: "Spare" has a number of meanings. This one is give or use something out of our resources. Imagine you need to talk to someone about a project at work. You could ask, "Could you 'spare' an hour or so this afternoon?" "Are you able to give me that time?" in other words.

4) fire away: In this case "fire" means to say rapidly and with force, so
reporters might "fire" questions at a politician.

5) And here "away" means freely without hesitation, as much as you want.
Let's say, you are having lunch with someone and their food comes first. If they hesitate to eat, you could say, "Please eat 'away.' It'll get cold."

6) between you and I ⇒ 文法的には between you and me が正しいとされている。

7) where you're coming form: "Where someone's coming from" refers to the
reasons, the experience behind their opinions or actions. I understand why you feel that way about cliched expressions, Nissen is saying. Imagine someone who decides to quit his job because it was very time-consuming and it gave him no time for his family. You could say, "I can see 'where Peter was coming from.' He missed his kids."

8) drive someone up the wall: This means to really irritate someone, and as if they want to get away from something so much, they are climbing the walls of a room to escape. You could say, "People who crack their knuckles 'drive me up the wall.'" Or "It 'drives me up the wall' when people crack their knuckles."

9) pet phrase: Like pet peeve, this is an expression where "pet" means
personal. A "pet phrase" is a phrase or term that is preferred and often
used by a certain person, group, etc. For example, there is a prominent
American politician who uses "Let me be clear" a lot. That's one of his pet phrases.

10) bite the bullet: To "bite the bullet" is to make yourself do or accept some unpleasant thing. According to my idiom dictionary, this term comes from the military. But it's not clear exactly what it refers to. One theory is that it refers to wounded soldiers biting bullets during medical treatment in the days before anesthesia. There's also a historical source that says soldiers being whipped would bite bullets so they wouldn't yell.

11) So you might say, "I'm going to have to 'bite the bullet' and invest in a new computer." Or "The government had to 'bite the bullet' and raise
taxes."

12) unsolicited advice: When we "solicit" something, we ask for it.
Charitable organizations "solicit" donations. A company might solicit
applications for an open position. But if something is "unsolicited," then it was not asked for. So a company website might say, "We do not accept 'unsolicited' resumes."

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実践ビジネス英語　　　Thursday, May 23

1) Nissen describes a senior executive he once worked with who was always
out of sorts. He says the executive came to work one day with a piece of
tissue paper on his face causing Nissen to ponder whether he should keep
quiet or point it out. Ultimately Nissen jokingly asked the executive if
he'd been fighting and pointed to his face, which caused him to realize how he looked.

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Giving Feedback (2)

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2) much less: This means and definitely not. The thing following "much less" is something of a greater degree on a higher level, a step further than what preceded it, like "I can't afford to buy a bicycle, 'much less' a car." Or "He won't even take a meeting 'much less' consider my proposal."

3) get out of the wrong side of bed: Breakstone also could have said "get up on the wrong side of bed." This refers to someone who's irritable, grouchy. According to my idiom dictionary, this expression comes from an old superstition that it was bad luck to put your left foot down first when you got out of a bed.

4) shave: One common expression using "shave" is a "close shave," which we use when something bad almost happens. The image is of the slight difference between well-shaved skin and getting cut with a razor. I once saw a woman jump onto a Shinkansen and the doors closed one second later. And I thought "That was a 'close shave.'" One second later, and she would have missed the train.

5) soak up: In this case "soak up" means to take in through suction or
absorption. It can also be metaphorical. People "soak up" the sunshine on a
nice day, or "soak up" culture on a trip to Europe.

6) defuse a tricky situation: Literally speaking "defuse" means to remove
the fuse from an explosive device. So you might hear the police "defuse" the bomb at a crime scene. Nissen, of course, is speaking metaphorically. He means make a certain situation less tense, hostile, dangerous. A newspaper article might say, "Diplomats are meeting in an attempt to 'defuse' the regional crises."

7) duel: Here "duel" is a noun, and Nissen means a formal combat, in which two men would)fight with swords or guns, could also be a verb, "The two men arranged to 'duel' at dawn." Of course, nowadays it's a lot more common to use this in a sense of competition vying for something. Not always but it very often refers to two fighting things, such as "Company A and Company B have been 'dueling' over market share for 20 years."

8) cavalier: Breakstone is making a pun here. As a noun, "cavalier" can mean a gentleman trained in fighting and horseback riding, the kind of person who would have fought duels in days gone by. It can also mean a nonchalant, carefree attitude like Nissen displayed, or an offhand careless attitude. So if I criticize someone, I say, "Mark is very 'cavalier' about deadlines." Then I mean he doesn't take them seriously. He is careless about meeting
them.

9) verge on: To "verge on" something is to come close to it, approach it, as in "Her attitude 'verged on' rude." It can also be a noun. "An employee can be on the 'verge' of quitting." "A species can be on the 'verge' of extinction."

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実践ビジネス英語　　　Friday, May 24

1) Nissen says the senior executive thanked him for telling him about the
tissue and loudly admonished three other staff who had not said anything.
Umemura asks if anything in his speech bothers the H&B staff, to which
Breakstone says he uses "you guys" too much in formal settings. She adds
that she used to say "Now, obviously" too often and was told by Pearson that
one of her staff was upset about it.

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Giving Feedback (3)

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2) profusely: Abundantly, liberally, in others words. You can also say
things like, "I was sweating 'profusely' in the heart." Or "She was bleeding 'profusely' and had to go to the hospital.

3) storm into: This is to enter some place angrily. "She 'stormed into' her boss's office and demanded to know why she was being transferred," for example.

4) You can also "storm out of" somewhere, which is to leave angrily. I once "stormed out of" a beauty parlor because the hairdresser kept taking phone calls when she was supposed to be doing my hair.

5) give someone a piece of one's mind: This is to angrily tell someone that you disapprove of something they've done. You might say, "Tom was late again today, so I 'gave him a piece of my mind.' I told him it was disrespectful to everyone."

6) Another way to say this is "tell someone off," as in "Karen finally 'told Jim off' for his cavalier attitude toward deadlines.

7) honesty pays off: Umemura is using "pay off" to mean some investment or action yields a benefit, as in "All his exercising 'paid off.' He is in great shape now." Or "Her research really 'paid off.' The presentation was very interesting."

8) at the risk of: We use a number of different expressions after "at the
risk of." All of them meaning I'm going to do or say something although
there is the danger that X will occur as a result. "So, 'at the risk of'
offending him, I'm going to tell him about his bad breath," for example.

9) big shot: An important influential person. "He is a 'big shot' in the
world of finance," for example.

10) It can also be an adjective, in which case there is a hyphen between the two words. "She is a 'big-shot' executive." Or "He is a 'big-shot'
financier."

11) call someone out: This is often used to mean criticize someone for some behavior or quality to say, "Hey, you are doing this and you shouldn't." "He 'called her out' for being careless with data," for example. Or "She 'called him out' for repeatedly forgetting appointments."

12) be like the pot calling the kettle black: When the "pot calls the kettle black," this means someone criticizes someone else for a fault that they have themselves. You could also shorten it to "call the kettle black." "I can't criticize anyone for having a sweet tooth," for example. That would "be calling the kettle black."

【原稿チェック： Hiroko, Hiromi, Cecile】
【ディクテーション： Sanae】