Halloween Costumes Sure to Scare and Some Business English Too

Have you ever heard of Snooki? I hadn't until recently when I found out that the Snooki Halloween costume is a bestseller this year. So who is Snooki? She's a character on the MTV show "Jersey Shore." She has big hair and she wears a short leopard dress.

According to a Wall Street Journal article: "Costumes based on Snooki's poofy hair...have been flying off store shelves."

Time to break for some vocabulary:

poofy hair - big hair that usually goes high up in the air before settling down again (not a compliment)

flying off the shelves - this is a great idioms that means to sell very fast. Another idiom that means the same thing is: to sell like hotcakes.

Snooki's costumes are flying off the shelves so fast, some shelves are now empty of Snooki wigs. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Retailers who are selling out of the official Pauly D Snooki wigs and other authorized wear are coming up with makeshift Jersey Halloween packages.

in a pinch, they're finding that they can put together a pretty good Snooki kit with skin bronzer, furry pink slippers, and one of last year's unsold Amy Winehouse wigs...

A return to Business English vocabulary:

makeshift - something made up to meet an urgent need; something put together quickly because it's needed

in a pinch - in a difficult situation, when no other options are available (You can hear the store owner yelling in desperation: "Oh no! We ran out of official Snooki wigs. Time to get out the old Amy Winehouse wigs...Maybe nobody will notice").

Happy Halloween! If you want to learn more business expressions, give yourself a TREAT and buy yourself a copy of the new book/audio CD "Speak Better Business English and Make More Money."

New iPHONE app for learning American English Expressions

Wow, there's a great new iPHONE app that's just been released based on the popular ESL book Speak English Like an American. The new Speak English Like an American app teaches over 300 of today's most common American English idioms and expressions. Listen to native speakers read the 25 dialogues and improve your pronunciation. Record yourself reading the dialogues and play them back.

Click here for more info on this new app.

Putting Problems Behind You

Ever face a thorny problem that you wished would just go away? By "thorny problem," I mean a difficult problem. (For more on the word thorny, including to hear a man pronounce it, click here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thorny).

These days, it seems many corporations are facing thorny problems. British Petroleum, Toyota, Hewlett-Packard, and now Johnson & Johnson (J & J). Maybe someday computers will take over the job of management and things may run a little smoother. After all, as the popular old saying goes: to err is human (to err = to make a mistake).

Let's focus now on J & J and how they're addressing their thorny problem. The following is an extract from today's Wall Street Journal article entitled J&J Chief Tends Corporate Wounds co-authored by this blog's favorite Joann Lublin and Jonathan Rockoff. After the extract, we'll discuss some key terms used in the article so you can improve your business English. Terms we'll be discussing are in bold.

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At a recent town-hall meeting, Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive William Weldon sketched out for employees his plans for fixing the manufacturing problems that have prompted a string of recalls and triggered a criminal investigation.

Now, he faces the more difficult task of executing those plans and convincing the public that J&J has put its problems behind it. His success—or failure—may be among the most important legacies he leaves the company near the end of a four-decade career there.

Mr. Weldon, 61 years old, is expected to retire late next year, though the company doesn't have a mandatory retirement age. To resolve the pressing issues, he will likely draw on a careful, low-key approach to decision-making and the support of J&J's board, in keeping with his conservative style, people familiar with the situation say.

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Okay, here we go with our business English exploration:

town-hall meeting - an informal meeting in which all employees are invited to share their views (in theory at least). This is a friendly term. It suggests a great meeting in a democratic forum. Town Hall is of course the government building in a town or city where all key administrative functions are housed.

(to) sketch out - to discuss plans; to describe something in a general way

a string of - a bunch of; one after the other

(to) trigger - to cause; to set something off (this is a powerful action verb - think of a gun - you pull the trigger to shoot it - no wonder this verb has such a sense of impact)

(to) face a difficult task - to deal with something thorny (see the discussion of "thorny" above)

(to) put one's problems behind one - a nice way of saying one is getting rid of one's problems. You want your problems BEHIND you, not with you or IN FRONT OF you! This phrase suggets that you are ready to move on, get a fresh start.

pressing issues - biggest problems (these need to be "resolved" or figured out). Resolve your pressing issues and you can move on to more important stuff - like figuring out how to make bigger profits!

low-key approach - a style one uses when one does not want to attract a lot of attention; a calm, rationale way of going about something

Discussion questions (feel free to post your comments to one of these questions on this blog):

1) Why are so many big corporations facing thorny problems these days?
2) What would you do if you were the CEO of J & J?
3) What is a legacy? How does a CEO leave a positive legacy?

New Business English Book Teaches Expressions You Need for Career Success

Language Success Press announces the release of Speak Better Business English and make More Money. This new book and audio CD helps non-native speakers master the expressions most often used in today's workplace. Expressions and words such as scuttlebut, golden opportunity, iron out, on the fence and 400 others are featured in this new system.

The title is written by Amy Gillett, author of the bestselling Speak English Like an American series (Speak English Like an American, More Speak English Like an American, and Speak Business English Like an American) also available from Language Success Press. Speak Better Business English and make More Money features a new set of over 400 important business expressions.

Americans don’t speak the kind of English you’ll find in textbooks or hear in most classrooms. They speak business lingo — a collection of expressions and idioms that cover marketing, finance, accounting, HR issues, strategy and other business topics. Now you can equip yourself with this powerful lingo too.

This book gets down to brass tacks so you can talk American business English with a whole new level of confidence. This book opens doors. If you seek a better job, more pay, faster promotions, and better client or customer relationships, this book is for you. Chapters include everyday conversations on topics like asking for a promotion, discussing legal issues, increasing consumer demand, and growing your business.

As Gillett explains in the book's introduction, mastery of American English can result in a bigger paycheck. Studies show that foreign-born workers in the USA who speak very good English make more money on average than those who do not — from 5 to 15 percent more.

The book comes with an audio CD featuring the voices of six native speakers. The CD will help you remember the expressions and will facilitate better American pronunciation.

Speak Better Business English and Make More Money retails for $29.95. For a limited time, the book and CD will be available for $24.95 through the Language Success Press website.

To view sample chapters of the book, click here.

Bonuses Twice a Year!

An exciting new trend is out there, according to the Wall Street Journal: companies paying bonuses semi-annually (that's twice a year). The Journal reports today that this practice is "gaining traction". That means it's become more and more popular. In an era of shrinking bonuses, surely this is something we should all encourage management to consider.

Here are two extracts from the Wall Street Journal article by Joann Lublin with the news that some industries are fattening their employees wallets twice a year, business expressions to be reviewed are in blue:

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More bosses are getting two bites at their bonus apples. A growing number of U.S. companies, mainly in the retail and high-tech industries, are replacing their annual incentive structure with bonuses earned twice a year. In addition to boosting morale at a time of salary freezes and pay cuts, semiannual bonuses help companies retain key players by dangling the carrot of two targets a year, while giving boards a chance to raise those goals quickly if economic conditions improve."

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[While many large companies, including Home Depot and Xerox have started paying bonuses two times a year, the practice has its opponents. The Wall Street Journal article includes this quote from the U.S. "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg]:

Rewarding managers for brief bursts of performance strikes certain compensation critics as a bad idea. "Earning a bonus every six months is an awful short-term vindication of worth," says Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. pay czar. People will "cut corners to get the quick fix," he warns.

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So, while some people will be getting rich off bonuses two times a year, we'll be enriching our business vocabulary! Let's review the key business vocabulary:

incentive structure - how people are paid for their work (including salary, bonuses, benefits). Given the right incentive structure, people will be more productive.

(to) boost morale - morale is the general mood in an office. Boost means to lift. So when you boost morale, you improve the mood in the office (you make workers happy!). Things that boost morale are called morale boosters. Bonuses are certainly one morale booster. A company trip to a fun location could be another.

salary freeze - when companies stop giving raises. Your pay gets stuck at a  certain level. This helps companies cut costs (but doesn't do much for morale -- see above!)

key players - the most important people in an organization. The kind of person YOU want to be. The opposite of the poor slob who gets canned (fired) at the first sign of trouble.

(to) dangle the carrot - to offer as an incentive, or something that motivates. "Dangle" means to hold something in front of someone, while "carrot" is a promise of a reward. This comes from the complete phrase "carrot and the stick." The stick, of course, is something that punishes (the opposite of the carrot).

U.S. pay czar - this person works for the U.S. government and advises on salaries. When U.S. companies received government funds as part of their rescue packages, the U.S. pay czar had the authority to determine pay levels of senior executives at these companies. The U.S. government has other czars too - including an energy czar, a drug czar, and a war czar. I wonder what Nicholas and Alexander would think of all of capitalism's Czar talk!

(to) cut corners - to save effort by finding easier ways to do things (or to save costs by finding cheaper ways to do things). Generally this is not a good thing to be accused of!

(to) get the quick fix - to get a reward quickly (to do activities and take measures that will earn one the reward, but those measures may not deliver results into the future). This expression can also mean a solution that's put together quickly and only solves the problem temporarily.

This iPhone Story Has Some Great Business Idioms!

It looks like iPhones are creating lots of opportunities for small businesses. It is also creating an opportunity for us to review some great business English expressions. And speaking of using phones to learn English, has anybody out there found any useful apps (applications) for learning English through their mobile phone or smartphone? If so, please post a comment!

The following is the beginning of an article from a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Seeking Fame in Apple's Sea of Apps." Phrases to be discussed are in blue. Reminder to check out the bestselling book & audio CD set "Speak Business English Like an American" for more useful business English expressions.

Apple Inc.'s App Store has spawned a cottage industry of software developers trying to profit from games and other applications that people can download onto their iPhones.

But with more than 65,000 free and paid applications in the online store, success has hinged on an app's ability to stand out. So developers are increasingly coming up with various strategies to make a splash, employing everything from temporary discounts to guerilla marketing tactics.

cottage industry - a small-scale industry; a market in which the competitors are individual or very small companies and often operation out of their homes (hence the "cottage")

profit from - make money from

hinged on - depended on

stand out - rise above or grab more attention than the competition

make a splash - become an immediate success; make a big impact

guerilla marketing - marketing tactics that do not require much money but do require time and imagination; unconventional or unusual ways to market a product or service (often used by small companies because they cannot afford large advertising budgets)

Start-up Success - a Great Source of American English Expressions!

At least some part of the American economy is improving! Once again, we are hearing of small technology companies - or "start-ups" becoming successful. It is not quite the "dot-com boom" of the late 90's, but perhaps we'll get there. At the very least, this should inspire a few of the thousands if young Americans sitting around this summer complaining that they can't get a job (or working at something beneath them).

By the way, if you're spending part of your summer trying to do something productive - such as improving your business English sign up as a follower of this blog so that you get notice whenever there's a new posting. Feel free to post a comment too if you see an interesting business idiom or expression you'd like to discuss.

The following is from an article in the New York Times entitled "We Rent Movies, So Why Not Textbooks?" by Miguel Helft. The phrases we'll be studying are in blue.

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Success in Silicon Valley often emerges through trial and error. Willingness to buck popular trends can help, too. Just ask Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra, the co-founders of Chegg.com, a company that rents textbooks to college students.

When the two entrepreneurs started Chegg, then called CheggPost, in 2003, they envisioned a sort of Craigslist for college campuses, a network of university-based Web sites where students would buy and sell everything from used mattresses to textbooks. Like most Internet start-ups of that time, the plan was to make money from advertising.

It didn’t turn out that way. CheggPost gained some traction on a handful of campuses but didn’t take off. Still, the experience offered a few valuable lessons...

...So, in 2007, Mr. Rashid and Mr. Phumbhra went back to the drawing board and came up with the idea of renting books.
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Vocabulary:

trial and error - the process of trying something again and again until you succeed. You don't know exactly what you're doing when you get started, but you figure it out in the process.

(to) buck popular trends - to go against the trend (what everybody else is doing); to do things differently than what everybody else is doing

(to) gain traction - to become popular

(to) take off - to start selling well; to gain in popularity

(to) go back to the drawing board - to start again because the last attempt(s) failed