12 Job Idioms and phrases in English | Study English advanced level

[Music] hi there this is teacher harry and welcome back to my english lessons where i try to help you to get a better understanding of the english language so that you can communicate with your friends your colleagues perhaps even get through those first few stages of job interviews any way in which you can improve your english i'm here to help you and if there's anything you need anytime you know where to contact me please subscribe to our youtube channel and if you wish you can always listen to me on my podcast okay i'll give you the contact details at the end so what are we going to talk to you about today what's the lesson about well this is all about job idioms or you can also refer to it as idioms connected with work because the word job and work they're synonymous for each other what do you work as what's your job they mean exactly the same so we're talking about job idioms okay so as always i'm going to run down through these individual idioms one by one and i'm going to go back over them and give you some examples so that you can get a better understanding of how to use them and what exactly they mean so here we go to learn the ropes carry the can burn the candle at both ends a cushy number very british english that a cushy number hanging by a thread hanging by a thread to get the sack get the boot off the hook go with the flow a tall order up to the mark and finally rat race okay so let's go down to them one by one as i said i'll give you some examples so the first one is to learn the ropes well learn the ropes this comes from a sailing or nautical type of reference because ropes are something we use when people are sailing i don't say about when people sail on yachts and boats they have to tie up the boat in a certain way they have to pull certain ropes to get the sails to move so to learn the ropes is when you're trying to learn how to sail so we use this now in a reference to job and work so when we're learning the ropes we are learning the job for the first time so you go in perhaps for an early induction course or some type of training where they teach you what you have to to to know and then that way they hope that after a few weeks or months you will have learned the ropes and you'll know what to do on your own so somebody would have a conversation ah he'll be fine just give him a few weeks to learn the ropes and then he'll be as good as anybody else he's got a bright future here so to learn the ropes to understand what you have to do to understand the business and then when you're off on your own you can get out there and show them what you can do so to learn the ropes next is to carry the can okay carry the can a can can be a can of petrol so we have something that we put water into or petrol or something else and we fill it up and it can be quite heavy so we call it a can of petrol can of water so to carry the can okay so the can in this way is the the noun not can as a modal verb the can that you put as i said water and petrol into so when somebody has to carry the can it means that somebody has to take the blame for something that goes wrong normally it's the boss but it might not always be so if something happens in the the office something goes wrong with an order we lose a client or a customer whatever that might be somebody will say well somebody's going to have to carry the can for this mistake so who is going to take responsibility so carrying the can is taking responsibility taking the responsibility for a mistake taking the responsibility for something that's gone wrong so he or she will have to carry the can and somebody might complain ah i always have to carry the can why can't somebody else make these key decisions why can't somebody else step in instead of me well that's what you get paid for you're the boss you have to carry the can next is to burn the candle at both ends normally if you want to light a candle whether it's a candle on your birthday cake or it's a candle to to read by or candle for deca decoration you you light it with a cigarette lighter or a match lighted at the top okay so you're you're burning it at one end and the candle will generally lower okay but if we lit the candle at both ends it would burn into the middle so when we use the expression to burn the candle at both ends what it really means is somebody is working hard during the day and playing hard at night time so guy gets up at six o'clock has his breakfast goes to work gets there for eight o'clock works hard until six o'clock comes home has a bite to eat goes out on the town with his friends parties as a real party animal for several days of the week and by the end of the week he's completely exhausted and his mother or father said well what do you expect you're burning the candle at both ends meaning you're working hard but you're also playing hard so something will give something will happen either your work will start to deteriorate and that will be a problem or you'll get totally exhausted and you'll get ill so be really careful you shouldn't burn the candle at both ends go out to the weekends but keep monday to friday free so that you just focus on your job don't burn the candle at both ends okay so burning the candle at both ends playing hard partying hard okay the next expression is a real british english expression a cushy number cushy is a very very slang word to mean easy okay okay so if somebody says you're so it's a cushy number it means it's an easy number it means it's a relatively easy job okay so somebody has a cushy number who doesn't have to start work until 10 a.m and he leaves work at five o'clock or perhaps he gets a review every three months and he's getting bonuses and increases in his salary on a regular basis but doesn't seem to be doing a lot of work or perhaps he goes off on lots of interesting trips and the hotel expenses are paid by his company whatever it might be his friends say ha harry well he's a real cushy number that guy have you seen what he does or in fact what he doesn't do and he still gets paid he gets paid more than we do so he's on a cushy number it's a real cushy number meaning it's a real easy job and as i said it's very british english not something you're likely to hear in an american movie but if you're watching bbc there or some bbc productions or british made movies then you're likely to hear that reference to oh it's a cushy number next expression an idiom is hanging by a thread well a thread is a little piece of material or a little piece of something you stitch the seam on your jumper okay i haven't got one here thankfully oh i have actually i found one so this little thing here if you can see it that is a thread a little tiny little thing the blue thing here that is a thread so when something is hanging by a thread it means it's about to break off yeah okay because this thread here isn't very strong and if i pull it it will break okay so when something is hanging by a thread it means it's a it's likely to to break so if your job is hanging by a thread it might mean you're on a little bit of thin ice where you know you're probably had a warning from your boss if you don't improve your work i'm going to have to to fire you or we're going to have to let you go or if you don't improve your work we'll have to move you to another department and you'll lose all your your benefits okay so your future or their future in that company is hanging by a thread okay now it could also be relating to an account you're trying to get a big account and the decision is hanging by a thread you're not sure whether you've done enough to attract the customer you're not sure whether you've done enough to make it attractive enough for them to to come to your company so it's all hanging by a thread it could go either way yeah so 50 50 it might come our way it might not it's hanging by a thread so hanging by a thread some really little small thing that that connects you and if it breaks well that's it that's the end of the story hanging by your thread the next two i'm going to take together to get the sack and to get the boot okay so these are both references to losing your job and again they're very informal ways to refer to it okay so the more formal ways are lose your job or to be made redundant okay so they are much more formal ways but when we talk about getting the sac or getting the boot it means that the job is gone okay so if the company has to downsize because things are not going so well then somebody is going to get the sack or somebody's going to get the boot or if your performance hasn't been up to scratch you haven't done as well as they thought you would or you you don't meet the requirements anymore well then yes you could get the sack or get the boot okay so when you hear references to getting the sac it's not good news yeah so oh we had a terrible time last year you know those accounts that we lost somebody's going to have to pay for that somebody will get the sack i hope it's not me that gets the boot i can't afford to do without my job i've got a wife and family to support so i hope it's nobody but at worst i hope it's not me okay so to get the sack to get the boot to lose the job you can also refer to getting fired which is another way to to say it so you know often people get fired and people get fired all the time whether it's because of something they've done or because of just downsizing as we referred to before but they're all references to job losses get fired get the sack get the boot and even you can even give somebody the elbow which is another way to refer to it the elbow is the pointed part of your arm and when you give somebody the elbow you push them out the way or you you push them out of the company okay so oh i got the elbow last week i'm going to have to look for another job ah i didn't like it anyway but it's never nice when it happens so get the elbow get the sack get the boot or get fired the next job that you may have is add off the hook to be off the hook the hook is a thing that you might put behind the door to put your coat on or it might be the hook that you have in the kitchen to hang your your mug or your cups on okay so it's a hook and you put it on there so when you're off the hook it means that you're no longer attached to it okay so if there's a problem in in work and they're looking around to see what happened they're investigating the files they're looking at the emails who took the call who was the last one in touch with the client so in some way they're trying to find out who is responsible for whatever happened and they check your emails and they they check everything and say well look you're off the hook meaning it's not your responsibility so when you're off the hook you're no longer responsible for something okay now you can be on the hook for something so the boss comes around and he's looking for somebody to work overtime on thursday friday and probably saturday and say oh god here we go again i only did it last month why is it always me and then on the thursday morning the bus the boss comes to you said oh good news you're off the hook for this weekend i've got somebody else to do it so i don't need you on on thursday friday saturday thanks a lot but we'll get you again when we when we need to do it okay so you were initially on the hook because they they had identified you as the person to do the work and then the boss comes and tells you well i found somebody else so don't worry you're off the hook meaning you're free to do what you want so when you're off the hook you're free just think of it if you will go fishing okay and so when you put your fishing rod into the water and if the fish takes the bait it's on the hook and you've got it and then you bring it in and you catch the fish okay but if the fish gets the food and escapes he's off the hook okay he's gone so you can't catch him okay so if you compare that to the example i've given then you should be able to understand the expression off the hook next idiom is to go with the flow this is a very popular expression at the moment to go with the flow now the flow is the way the airstream is going or the way the water in the river is is is going okay so you don't want to swim against the the flow of the water in the river because it's very tiring but when you go with the flow it makes it much much easier okay so when somebody from a job point of view tells you just to go with the flow it means just accept the way things are life will be a lot easier so if you're always arguing with the boss why me why do i have to do this why is it always me then you're always fighting and you know everybody gets a perhaps a bad impression of you and it makes life a little bit difficult but if you just go with the flow and the boss says well you know can you work a little late at night i sure no problem at least you get paid for it and would you mind staying for a little bit longer during your lunches or can you change your lunch hour just go with the flow go with what the boss wants it will make life a lot easier okay or if the customer is looking for something to be changed there's no point arguing with them because the customer is always right okay so if we go with the flow accept what the customer says okay i'll check it out i'll come back to you and make sure it doesn't happen again all the nice soft words go with the flow so that the customer feels at ease so when we go with the flow life becomes a whole lot easier okay so it's the same in any part of life whether it's in family life in school life but here when we're talking about work to go with the flow is to do what other people do okay just follow them if they take their lunch and and only have 30 minutes or 40 minutes then perhaps you need to do that as well if they're not late in the mornings then that's what you should do as well so you go with the flow you follow other people and then life becomes a lot easier okay go with the flow our next idiom is a tall order tall being the height yeah so when something is a tall order it means you're not quite sure whether it's true or whether it's achievable okay so if somebody comes and asks you for what you think is the impossible and he said well that's that's a tall order how am i supposed to do it in that time so you know the boss again might say well look we've got a a deadline to complete this order by wednesday of next week and you know today is already friday so you know saturday and sunday are out so really you're gonna have to get the work done on monday and tuesday so we can guarantee to get it out the door and get it delivered to the the client by close the business on on wednesday and you look at your colleagues and they look at you and think well it's going to take us forever to do that i mean that's a real tall order i mean you know so many pallets so many boxes i mean do we even have that in stock something that's probably not achievable okay it's a bit like trying to climb mount everest it's a real tall order because you look at it and think well how many people actually achieve that so a tall order from a work perspective is something that is a little bit further away than you thought a little bit out of your grasp and something that's not quite achievable perhaps you'll do it but it's a tall order and next we have the expression up to the mark and somebody might ask the question is he or is she really up to the mark and a mark can be literally a pencil line or a mark can be the barrier you've set or the the bar that you've set to measure people against what is the performance of that individual or those individuals yeah are they really up to the mark means can they come up to our expectations okay so asking the question is he or is she up to the mark are they up to the standards that we have set are these the right people for the job so often the reason why people have to go through a probationary period so they have a period of three months or six months or whatever the probationary period happens to be where they join the company and within that period of probation the boss can decide well no they're not up to the mark they're not going to make the cut you know let's just cut our losses here and we'll find somebody else or alternatively hopefully and you prove to be up to the mark up to the job that you've you've been hired to do then once you get through to the end of the probationary period your job becomes permanent and then it's much more difficult for employers to give you the boot or to give you the sack yeah okay so to be up to the mark is to make sure that you go either up to it or beyond it to show the bosses that you can achieve what they want you can get to that level you do have the skill levels to to do the work so to be up to the mark i'm really up to the mark yeah so they they asked me lots of questions they asked me how to do this i was able to answer them they asked me how i would solve that problem i was able to to answer them so yeah i think i am up to the mark okay and finally in this particular idiom about jobs we're talking about the rat race and this is a very very well used idiom and i think many and most people that would be watching and listening will have heard of the the rat race so the rat race literally is rats put in a tube and they're encouraged with a bit of smell of food a little bit of food to run through the tube and people bet money to see which rat is going to to win first yeah okay and rats keep running and running and running but we refer to the rat race as this eternal push to try and get better and better and faster and faster so when we're talking to our friends oh we're all in this this rat race means we're all running and running we're just running to keep up yeah so it's like on a treadmill it goes round and round and round and if you stop you're gonna fall off okay so when you're in the rat race you have to you have to keep running even if you don't want to okay so the whole issue about technology is making our lives move faster we've got our mobile phones we've got our laptops we've got our whatsapp we have every application you could possibly think of and what does it do of course makes our life a little bit easier in terms of contacting people but people know where you are all the time as your bosses know your colleagues know so you're forever in this rat race i have to do better i have to get promoted i have to get a salary increase i have to take the boss's job i have to find another job and so on and so forth so when you're part of the rat race you don't really notice it when you step out or off and you look at everybody else going 100 miles an hour then you really look at this and think it really is a rat race and it's it's not so enjoyable okay so the rat race is what we're in our daily slog of getting up at five or six in the morning dragging ourselves to the office getting through that working day waiting and praying and hoping for the the weekend to come around very very quickly and then yeah it all starts again on sunday evening okay so we are all part of the rat race or we have all been part of the rat race at some time in our lives and it's one of those eternal treadmills going round and round and round so welcome to the rat race okay well that's the the idioms about jobs i hope you've enjoyed them i hope my examples explain exactly what we're talking about as i said before make sure that you uh subscribe to our channel and you'll always get to listen to me on the podcast and if you want to contact me well you can do so on www.englishlessonviaskype.com really really happy to hear from you really happy for you to give me some suggestions that i can include where you're having some problems and it'll help you help your friends and help all the people out there okay well this is teacher harry and join me again soon

Channel: Learn English with Harry

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Keywords: learn english, job idioms, job idioms and phrases, talking about jobs in english, talking about jobs, english job idioms, learn English with Harry, speak better english, speak better english with harry, speak better english podcast, idioms connected with work, idioms connected with jobs, job related idioms, study english advanced level, english lesson, work related idioms, rat race idioms, rat race idiom example, cushy number meaning, off the hook meaning

Id: gWO0qsDGdLc

Length: 21min 19sec (1279 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 27 2021