Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
00:08
Hello and welcome to The English
0
8800
2080
00:10
We Speak with me, Feifei...
1
10880
2160
00:13
...and me, Roy.
2
13040
1680
00:14
We may sound a little different - that's
3
14720
2400
00:17
because we are not able
4
17120
1200
00:18
to record in our normal studios
5
18320
1920
00:20
during the coronavirus outbreak.
6
20240
1840
00:22
In this programme, we have an
7
22880
1280
00:24
expression that is used to describe
8
24160
2080
00:26
the minimum number of people that are
9
26240
2320
00:28
required to run a business.
10
28560
1920
00:31
Speaking of which, there
11
31040
1600
00:32
are not many people working in
12
32640
1600
00:34
the train stations today.
13
34240
1920
00:36
No, you're right. It's because of
14
36160
2400
00:38
the strikes on the trains.
15
38560
1440
00:40
Ahh, so that's why it was hard
16
40640
2560
00:43
to get a train this morning!
17
43200
2000
00:45
The train companies decided
18
45200
1520
00:46
to run the trains on a skeleton crew!
19
46720
2400
00:49
What!? Skeletons driving the trains?!
20
49920
2960
00:53
Is this some kind of ghost story?
21
53840
2800
00:56
I think I'll walk home!
22
56640
1520
00:58
No, Roy! 'Skeleton crew' refers to the
23
58880
3600
01:02
minimum number of people
24
62480
1680
01:04
needed to run a business
25
64160
1920
01:06
or an organisation.
26
66080
1600
01:07
Ahh yes, and it's usually in times of crisis
27
67680
5520
01:13
or during an emergency,
28
73200
1520
01:15
for example the coronavirus,
29
75280
2160
01:17
that people run businesses
30
77440
1920
01:19
with a skeleton crew.
31
79360
1440
01:21
Exactly, let's listen to these examples...
32
81600
4240
01:28
Due to the financial problems of the
33
88320
1760
01:30
company, the office will be run
34
90080
1680
01:31
with a skeleton crew
35
91760
1280
01:33
for the foreseeable future.
36
93040
1440
01:36
The Covid-19 emergency means
37
96000
2000
01:38
that we will run the buses with
38
98000
1440
01:39
a skeleton crew until further notice.
39
99440
2400
01:43
A skeleton crew will be needed to keep
40
103520
2080
01:45
the park open over the winter months.
41
105600
1840
01:50
This is The English We Speak from BBC
42
110720
2480
01:53
Learning English and we're talking
43
113200
1840
01:55
about the expression
44
115040
1120
01:56
'skeleton crew', which is used to talk
45
116160
2560
01:58
about the minimum number
46
118720
1280
02:00
of people needed to run
47
120000
1520
02:01
a business or an organisation.
48
121520
1840
02:04
I love the expression 'skeleton crew'.
49
124000
3520
02:07
It makes me think of a pirate ship
50
127520
2720
02:10
run by skeletons.
51
130240
1600
02:12
We can also use the words 'skeleton staff'
52
132640
2800
02:15
with the same meaning.
53
135440
1040
02:17
Well, one good thing when there's
54
137200
2320
02:19
a skeleton staff at work is there's
55
139520
3040
02:22
no queue for the cafeteria!
56
142560
2640
02:25
Trust you to think about food!
57
145200
2320
02:28
Well, I'm just glad there aren't real
58
148080
3520
02:31
skeletons working at the BBC.
59
151600
2080
02:34
That's just in horror stories!
60
154640
1920
02:37
Exactly, you don't need worry about
61
157120
2240
02:39
skeletons walking around.
62
159360
1760
02:41
They're not real! It's vampires
63
161120
2880
02:44
you need to worry about! Ha ha ha!
64
164000
4080
02:48
What!?
65
168080
1520
02:49
Bye, Roy.
66
169600
1200
02:51
Bye, Feifei.
67
171520
15000
New videos
About this website
This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.