Want more examples on American English?  When they discuss things at a meeting, they do it the American way.

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WHERE IS THE IDEA FROM?

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FIGHTING VERBS

So the verb ‘hit’ is basically for fighting, right?  It comes with lots of actions, and when you hit you hit it with your hands or feet.

Yet in American English, (business) people use the verb ‘hit’ quite a lot:

But think about it.  What does it mean?  You hit it with your hand or what?  I mean you can hit a person, a ball or whatever.  But how did sales hit a new high?  That is, sales are not a person, not even an animal.  How is it possible for sales to hit something?

VERBS: THE AMERICAN STYLE

This is one of the ways Americans pick their choice of verbs.  They want fighting, more fighting. Actually, they do not really fight.  But they simply embed that style into the verbs they use.

When they want to say ‘reach‘ a new high, they don’t use ‘reach’.  They hit a new high.

When something bad happens to their company, they use ‘hit’ again:

                                                Our company is hit hard by the rise of cost.

HIT IT THE AMERICAN WAY

WHERE IS THE IDEA FROM?

SIMILAR POSTS 

You always want to talk to your coworkers, and you’ve got something funny, but somehow you don’t know how to say it. Your English is the problem, right? Well, not anymore!


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Yet, there is one thing you have to do. What is it? Change your concept, your way of thinking about how to learn and speak English.


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A New Concept for you:

You may have never thought of this before: American Slang, Office English, and babies are closely connected.  How closely is it?  Babies?  Yes, by babies I don’t mean your lovers.  I mean real babies, babies that suck.

Say, you have learned some new words (or terms) from a movie, but how are you going to use it in your office? Or in other words, how to blend your own English with new words learned?  Use a blender? There are, of course, lots of ways to blend them.  But an easy way is to do it with Baby Verbs.  


What are Baby Verbs? Baby Verbs are verbs like is, am, are. (If you read grammar books, they are called linking verbs.) Why are they Baby Verbs? They do nothing at all.  So why do you want it? Because they are sticky. How sticky is it? Read the following examples:

(That’s a good idea.)



Without the Baby Verb ‘is’, it is not a sentence in English. That is, it is wrong to say ‘That a good idea’.  That’s it? There is more when you know what a Baby Verb is.  Babies are not just sticky. They take a NAP (a small rest) too. In the last two posts (American Slang 1, American Slang 2), you have learned ‘N’ and ‘A’.  

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For now you move on to P, prepositions. You think the word ‘prepositions’ is boring?  Okay, let us call it At-On-In. The big thing is: after a Baby Verb (e.g. is/am/are), you can use At-On-In right away. How?  Read the following situations.

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Situation (1) At a meeting, wanting to agree with someone

‘Am + with’ means ‘I agree with you’. Easy, right?  But sometimes, ‘At-On-In‘ (prepositions) do things as a team. That is, there are teams of prepositions such as, in total disagreement about and out of (the loop).




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Situation (2)  At a meeting, wanting to disagree with someone



We are in total disagreement about the proposal (made by Mr Suck).

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And what is out of the loop?  How to use this team of  At-On-Ins? Read the following dialogue.

Situation (3) Chatting with a coworker 
(well, in a word, gossiping)



Your co-worker:
   Do you know that everyone in the office is talking about Ms. Gossipgirl’s boyfriend?

You:
   Not really.  I have been busy and out of the loop these few days.


So, what is out of the loop? It is American slang meaning the ways in which messages (including gossips, of course) travel in an office. So, when you say ‘I am out of the loop’, it means you have no idea what they are talking about.






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Want to know more about Baby Verbs





Picture sources:

http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattcameasarat/6037999486/in/set-72157627418563338//photos/skycaptaintwo/247111347/sizes/s/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829534265/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829419407/sizes/s/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gossipgirl/1934554807/sizes/s/in/photostream/

But once again, even if you learn some cool slang, you have to put it ‘into’ your English.  So, the big question is: how to do it.

For example, you heard of ‘cool’ all the time, right?  

1. But what does it mean?

2. How to use ‘cool’ in a cool way?

3. Is there a way for you to use ‘cool’ to show that you are ‘cooler’ than your coworkers?

If you want to get the answers, read the following dialogue:

You:  I’m afraid I have to leave now. Your coworkers: It’s okay.  It’s cool.

So what does the ‘cool’ mean?  Not hot?  Very good? No, no, no.  In American slang, you can use ‘cool’ to mean you agree with somebody.  Want another example?

Your boss:  Do you think the proposal is good? You: It’s cool, Boss.  I think we can make it.

Yes, even when you know what it means, you’re still not comfortable with using it?  Why?  Are you scared that you may not use it correctly? Well, you may go back to NAP once again. Or you can just take a nap (a short rest) to speak American slang at your office. 

How? At the last post, you have learned the ‘N’ way.  Now you move on to the ‘A’ way.  Not on your own, but with ‘cool’.

B1. A Cool Way to Learn: the ‘A’ Way

You can use ‘cool’ the A way as cool is an adjective. And is Mickey Mouse cool? Well, it depends. But in American Office English, it is absolutely NOT cool.   Why?  Read the following example:



Making a complaint:

I think your company sucks.  It is so Mickey Mouse.

What does she mean? A Mickey Mouse company is business that is poorly organized. (Well, sorry about that, Mickey Mouse, I didn’t mean to hurt your feeling.  But this is American slang.)

American slang is cool, right?  If you can use it in your office, you are even cooler.  However, there is a question for you: How do you know you use cool slang correctly?


Correctly?  Am I kidding?  No.  When you use slang, there is grammar to follow too.  What do I mean?  Read the following example:

Somehow you have to put ‘the hell’ in the correct position, right?  If you say: What is that, the hell?    We’ll get lost.  Even worse, some of your coworkers may laugh at you.  (So, believe it or not, speaking slang at office is about grammar too.) It is not cool being laughed at by others, right?  

So the question is: How to speak cool slang coolly? Before you know how to do it, read the following cool American slang that can be used at office:

1. a slave driver
2. a hit
3. Mickey Mouse (as an adjective)
4. on spec
             5. out of the loop

You will know what they mean very soon. But the bigger question is: When you learn some cool slang, how are you going to make it your own English?

That is, you watch movies and learn slang and check out the meanings, but you may not be sure how to use it.  By ‘use it’, I mean use it correctly so that you will be cool and your coworkers will admire you, not laugh at you.

As you may have already read my another post, you may just take a NAP (a small rest). Yes, ‘take a NAP’ to speak cool English at your office.  


How? If you may remember, N stands for nouns, A for adjectives, and P for prepositions. So now, you can go back to the five slang and group them into N, A, or P.




USING SLANG at office: THE N WAY

The first two ones, a slave driver and a hit, are nouns. So, you may use the first one (a slave driver) to complain about your boss.  How to do it?  Read the following dialogue.


1. A slave driver: A dialogue

Your friend: What is your boss like?
      

You: He is a slave driver.
Your friend: What?

You: He is such a slave driver that he makes us work day and night.

In other words, you work as a slave and your boss just keeps pushing you. A piece of cake, right?  


But you can add a twist to this ‘N’ way (He is a slave driver). What is it? Just move the noun (a slave driver) to the beginning (of the sentence).

What does it (the sentence) mean? It means he is really really really a slave driver. (You can add more ‘really’ if you like.)

2. A hit: upon finishing presenting your proposal, your coworker says to you:

What does it mean? I guess you have heard of hit songs and hit rates, right?  So a hit means something that is successful, something that is loved by others. So, if your proposal is a hit, it is a very good one.  

Slang 3

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Picture source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatleydude/5132954852/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifementalhealthpics/8385422957/sizes/s/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829440395/in/photostream