Learn 12 Work English Expressions with BREAD

Do do do do, whoa, E, stop it!

Hi, James from www.engvid.com . E is about to - going "hi-yah!"

He's been practicing karate, it seems.

And he's breaking bread.

I don't know why he would do this, but it seems today's lesson is on business idioms

using bread.

So, let me clarify a little bit.

These idioms aren't just for business.

You can use them for other things, but I'm showing you how you can use these idioms in

a business setting.

Now, why am I doing this?

Idioms or phrases are sort of a shortcut.

What I mean is we can say long sentences about something, but sometimes by putting two or

three words together, or four, the meaning is given to someone much - much faster and

much clearer than if you gave many sentences.

So, today's lesson is to teach you how to communicate better with other people by speaking,

but also when they're communicating with you, what they're actually trying to say.

Okay?

That's why we're doing it.

Now, how we're going to do that?

We're going to look at some new vocabulary you may not know and then I'm going to give

you the idioms and tell you when a good time to use them is.

Alright?

So, let's go to the board and get started.

Shall we?

So, E, you're breaking bread all over the place.

Tsk Tsk Tsk, crazy, crazy, crazy.

Let's start with the vocabulary first, to make sure you understand the vocabulary, so

when I go through with the idioms or phrases, they'll be easy for you to understand.

So, the first one is "chaff".

Now, here's some wheat up here, okay.

Now, these little things up here and this here, it's no good.

What is wheat?

We use wheat to make bread.

Yes, we use rye and barley and other things, but a lot of times we use wheat to make bread.

And the chaff is a protective covering.

So, you can think - I've got this water here, and this plastic protects it.

That's like the chaff.

It's actually no good, just because we can't drink plastic.

But it does protect the water we want to keep.

That's what chaff is for wheat.

Dough.

Dough is when you take flour, a little bit of water, some salt.

You can use other things and you make bread.

You might have seen your mother take dough, put some flour and water together and then

roll it out and then put it in the oven to make bread.

Now, slice is usually a thin piece of something.

Specifically, when we talk about food, a slice could be a slice of an apple, where you take

a knife, you cut a piece - a thin piece of it that becomes a slice.

It's also the verb is actually "to slice" as well.

So, we slice as a verb - a piece of material can be a slice.

So, we can have a slice of apple or a slice of bread, cool?

So, that's the vocabulary we want to look at.

Now, let's go to the board and take a look at the idioms and phrases.

The first one I have it "separate the wheat from the chaff".

As I told you, the chaff is the protective coating.

It's also known as garbage or refuse.

Something you would throw away or something that's not good.

The wheat is valuable, because when we make bread, we use the wheat to make the bread.

So, when we separate the wheat from the chaff, we take the thing that is good away from the

thing that is bad.

And we want to keep the thing that is good, okay?

So, let's say you have ten people that you are looking to interview for a job, and you

might say, "Uh, they kind of look pretty good.

Why don't we give them a test, because as we give them the test, the ones that are good

will do on well on the test.

The ones who are bad won't do so well.

And we will separate the good candidates for the job from the bad ones", okay?

So, you can see how they would use that in business.

Rolling in dough.

Okay, so I told you before about dough.

It's when you take flour and water - that comes from wheat.

You mix it to make bread.

Well, before you do that, you have to roll it - and this is called a rolling pin - to

make it come flat to make the bread.

Well, rolling in dough also means to have a lot of money.

Because the word "dough" in English can be used for "money".

See, you're getting extra vocabulary.

So, if you have a lot of dough, you've got a lot of money.

If you're rolling in dough, you can imagine all of this is money and this is you.

And you're rolling in dough.

You're rich, okay?

So, first we start with the wheat, then we go to the dough before we make the bread.

But even when you have bread - oh, do you know what "bread" means as well?

This is interesting.

"Dough" means "dough" - oh sorry, "dough" means "money" and "bread" means "money".

If you hear someone say, "That costs a lot of bread".

No, they are not taking bread from the grocery store, going and giving it to someone.

It means "money".

So, "dough" means money and "bread" means money.

Please try to remember that as we go through the idioms and you'll go, "Oh my gosh, it

makes sense."

So, when we say "man does not live by bread alone".

Now, you might say, "What does that have to do with business?"

Well, a lot of people, if you're working, it's not just about the money.

For some people, it's about getting new opportunities at work to learn and to grow.

To have good social contacts, to be able to give input or give something to the company.

So, when someone says, "Man does not live by bread alone", they could be saying in business,

"Look, you pay me a lot of money, but the job is not interesting.

I'm not growing as a person.

I'm not making good contacts.

I'm not giving anything to the business, so I'm not happy.

So, yes, the money is nice, but I need more."

You can also see how that can be used for people in ordinary life, where we say, you

can have the basic necessities, which means the basic things you need like bread, water,

food.

But you need more than that to have a good life, okay?

Now, "break bread".

Notice how we had - we made the bread, we got the bread, now you're breaking bread.

Hi-yah!

That's what my man over here was doing.

What do we mean, "to break bread"?

Well, in many countries in the world, bread is what we call a staple, or an important

part of family life and families, they have bread.

In this particular case, and how we use it in business is - there are two ways.

When you say "to break bread", it means to get together and have a meal.

Share a meal together.

But it's not just eating.

It means to also, while we share this meal, have good conversation, share and connect.

Get closer together.

So, in business, clearly you want to have people break bread and meet.

There's also another meaning, and it's similar, but a little bit different and this difference

is important.

Sometimes, when you break bread with somebody, it's because you used to be enemies.

And now you're sitting down at the table and you're going to have a meal together, but

you're also saying, "With this meal, we will forget everything bad that happened before.

We will forgive this.

We will move forward as partners or friends."

So sometimes, with your enemies, you need to break bread with the enemy, which means

have that meal together and say, "Okay, whatever differences we had, we now say okay, forget

it.

We're moving forward as friends."

So, one is friends or family getting together, or colleagues or colleagues, co-workers eating

together, no problem.

The other one is when enemies say, "No more enemies, we shall now be friends."

Okay?

So, we've got "breaking bread".

So now that we've broken some bread, let's break the bread a little bit more.

And we're going to move up to number five.

We're going to go to "the greatest thing since sliced bread."

Now, if you live in the modern age, you have sliced bread, so you're like, "What's the

big deal?"

Well, a long time ago, bread was not sliced.

You always had to cut it with a knife, so you always had to have a knife to cut the

bread or to carry the bread.

Then somebody, some genius person, started slicing bread and saying, "Here, the bread

is in pieces already!"

Remember, we talked about "slice"?

And then it was easy, and they made sandwiches and carried the bread and everyone was so

happy.

It was the greatest invention ever!

So, when somebody says to you, "This is the greatest thing since sliced bread", they're

saying your idea is great.

So, here's an example you might think about.

James, what could he be possibly talking about?

Well, dododo.

Sorry, cell phone.

It's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

You can talk, take pictures, and communicate with other people.

Run a business off of it.

A good idea.

And that's what happens when you hear someone say, "This is the greatest thing since sliced

bread", they're saying the idea is a very good one.

Now that we've got this fantastic idea from number five, what does number six mean?

"Bread and butter".

Well, bread and butter are basics, because for most people in most cultures, you have

bread and then you will have butter and you put that butter on.

So, when we say this is a "bread and butter", I actually knew a guy named Ken.

Or, I still know Ken.

And he does karate.

He's a very good karate guy.

And he would say, "This is a bread and butter technique."

He meant it was a basic technique - hiyah! - but it worked, it really worked well.

So, if someone says to you - or when someone says to you, "This is my bread and butter",

it means this is where I get my basics from, this is where I am good, alright?

So, this is my bread and butter.

For when most people say, "This is my bread and butter", it's where I make my - excuse

me for a second - it's where I make my money from.

But if someone says to you "This is our bread and butter", it's the basic thing we make

our money from.

Number seven, "Know which side one's bread is buttered".

Funny, because we started with bread and butter here.

For most people, you don't put butter on both sides of the bread.

You put it on one side.

When someone says, "Know which side your bread is buttered", it means know who the people

you must be loyal to or know where you get your advantages from.

Because we all know when the butter is on one side of the bread, it tastes very good.

And the other side is dry.

So, if you have a choice between two people and one person has been very good to you in

the past and helped you a lot and is going to be beneficial in the future, that is the

person you should help or be loyal to, or know that is the side your bread is buttered

on.

They told you, it's about business, but you can also use these things for other situations

as well, just to remind you.

Number eight, from here, we talk about "somebody is toast".

And you might say, "What do you mean, 'somebody is toast'?"

Well, here's the funny thing.

You put dough in the oven.

It becomes bread, so you cook it.

But then, when you put in the toaster, you kind of burn it a little bit, but not too

much, because it goes brown and you burn it a little bit.

When we say "somebody is toast", because usually when it's done, it's complete, it's finished.

We say, and this isn't a good thing.

If you are toast, it means you're finished.

It means you've lost your job.

It means maybe you lost your relationship.

If something is toast, it's no good.

It is now ruined.

So, if your career is toast, you've got no career left.

You're out of a job.

IF your relationship is toast, your partner is leaving you, okay?

So, "toast" in business, you go, "The competition will be toast with our new invention, which

is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

They're going to be gone after this comes out."

Now, it's not exactly the opposite, but you could kind of see the opposite is with "bread

winner".

The bread winner is a person who brings home the most money in a family, okay?

So, if you're the bread winner, you make more than the other person, which means two people

can be working, but one person might make $100,000 and the other person $20,000, the

bread winner is the person making $100,000.

So, if you're the bread winner in your family, you might be the only one working and you're

bringing all the money for the family.

Because if you remember rightly, I said that bread is usually very important for most families

throughout the world, or around the world.

So, if you're the bread winner, you're the one with the money to bring the bread in,

okay?

So, we've covered all nine idioms or phrases I wanted you to look at.

Separate the wheat from the chaff - take what is good from what is bad.

Be rolling in dough - make money.

And remember, "dough" means "money".

Man does not live by bread alone - we could say "woman" doesn't as well today.

This is the old way of saying it, and it means you need more in life than just the basics.

In this case, it could be money or it could just be, you know, the basic necessities of

life.

We're saying it here as in money.

So, if you're in business, we need more than bread.

We need more than to just get the money.

Maybe we need recognition, we need fame.

To break bread is to have a meeting in which you will exchange and come closer connection.

Or you will end an old feud or fight with an enemy.

Next, we move up to - the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The greatest invention, alright?

Or a new idea that will be amazing.

Moving onto - bread and butter which means the basics.

And it could be the basics of skill or the basic thing that brings you money.

This is our bread and butter.

We make our money from these two things, or this thing we're working on.

Know which side your bread is buttered on.

Know who is your friend or has helped you.

Who you must be loyal to, very important.

Somebody is toast.

You don't want to be toast.

It means something is ruined, destroyed, or it is the end of it.

And then finally - well, I can't say you're the bread winner because you watch this video,

but to be the bread winner means to make the most money in a family.

Okay?

Cool.

So, we've got the nine idioms, I've gone over them.

You have the vocabulary.

I'm going to give you a second or two to check or maybe go through the video again.

And when we come back, we'll have a little quiz, your bonus, of course, your homework.

Okay, so we're back.

Let's go to the board and take the quiz.

Now, if you've understood everything I taught you, you're going to get perfect 4/4.

And if not, you can always go back and re-watch the video from the beginning and try again,

just to make sure you understand.

So, the first question we're going to do on the quiz is - okay, the first thing you're

going to answer is the following: There are a lot of people who have applied for this

job, but this test will let us know the good employees from the bad ones.

What is the answer?

Is it number one or number two?

Yes.

It's number one.

"This test will let us separate the wheat from the chaff", because remember, "chaff"

is the garbage that we throw away from the wheat, and the wheat is valuable thing.

The wheat represents the good and the chaff represents the bad employees, okay?

Next: Sally, you have a tough decision to make - decision to make, about who to hire.

So, it's best to remember who has helped you a lot.

Will it be number one or number two?

So, we go here.

It's actually number one.

"So, it's best to know which side your bread is buttered."

Remember, we said the side with the butter is the most delicious side.

It's also the one that is going to give us the most advantage and the person we must

be most loyal to.

What about number three: John has been fighting with me for two years now.

I thin kit's time to meet and move past the situation.

What is the answer on that one?

Is it, "break bread" or "somebody is toast"?

What do you think?

Okay.

You're correct if you said "break bread".

"I think it's time to break bread".

Although I didn't say "have a meal".

Remember, we said "breaking bread" can be two adversaries or enemies coming together

to forgive each other and move into the future more as friends or allies.

The final one, number four.

This one has two, to make you think about it a little bit: Anna is the main earner in

her family.

Earner means "to make money."

If she gets the new position, they will be rich.

Because there is two parts, you'll see there is an A and a B. So, let's look at A-main

earner.

What would be the best thing to replace "main earner" with?

"The bread winner".

If you remember, we said bread winner before is the person who makes the most money.

And yes, it's possible for one person to make $20,000 and another to make $100,000, but

the $100,000 would be the main earner, because if they lose their job, it will affect the

people the most.

And the second part of this is - well, "rich", do we replace it with "rolling in dough" or

"break bread"?

Yes.

Do you remember when we said "dough" means "money"?

And "rolling in dough" means to have a lot of money?

So, the answer here would be, "They will be rolling in dough."

So, the whole sentence is, "Anna is the bread winner in her family.

If she gets this new position, they will be rolling in dough."

And if you got 4/4, good on you!

And now, let's do the bonus.

These are actually rather interesting, because I'm going to give you the first two are, you

might say, really serious business type English.

And the second two are more - hmm, kind of bar English, which you - we call it "gossip",

you might say gossip, or talk to co-workers.

Now, the first one, "Let them eat cake" was actually a sentence supposedly said by Marie

Antoinette, and she was married Louis XIV, I believe.

He was King of France.

When she said, "Let them eat cake", it's because she had heard the poor people in her country

could not afford bread.

And then she said, "Let them eat cake".

The actual quite is "brioche".

Brioche is an egg bread, so it's actually bread made of egg, but it's much more expensive.

So, in other words, she was saying to the poor people, "You can't afford the regular

bread?

Buy more expensive bread!"

Of course, the people didn't like that, and a few years later, her and Louis were executed.

So, what does that have to do with business?

Sometimes, employees think the bosses are like, "Let them eat bread!"

And it generally means that they are unknowing or they don't care about the environment that

the lower people are living in or how they live.

They have no idea or they actually don't care.

So, some people will say it in a sarcastic way, as in our employers think they are royalty,

like Louis XIV or Marie Antoinette, and they don't care about us or understand our situation.

Similarly, "bread and circuses".

This was actually from the Roman Empire.

When the Roman Empire changed from just Rome, what happened was - the problem was there

were a lot of problems in the empire.

And what the politicians at that time did to hide it from the people, they gave out

free food - called, you know, bread, and circuses, great entertainment.

And they did that to distract the people from all the problems that were actually happening

in the empire.

So, somebody at work says, "This is just bread and circuses", they're really trying to tell

you that the big management or the higher management are trying to distract you from

the real problems so you are entertained and happy, but you're not really getting what

you really need and you don't really know what's going on.

Now, "pinch a loaf".

A loaf, we talked about loaf of bread, right?

Okay, so, this is not something you would say to your boss or superior, and maybe you

wouldn't say it to somebody of the opposite sex, meaning if you're a man, you wouldn't

say it to a woman, or a woman wouldn't say it to a man.

But, to "pinch a loaf" means to go to the toilet, and it's to do a number two.

That's right, a poo-poo.

So, if you ever - if someone walks up to you and goes, "Hey Bob, can you watch the desk

for a second?

I've got to pinch a loaf."

They're not going to get some bread and go "pinchie, pinchie, pinchie".

They're going to go to the toilet and go poo.

I won't explain why it's called that.

I'll let you use your imagination, okay?

Now, the second one is "a bun in the oven".

This is if you were talking about a female coworker.

What do I - why am I saying this?

Because a bun in the oven - a loaf of bread is big, okay?

You get many slices.

A bun is a small piece of bread, it's for one person.

So, it's like a slice for one person.

When a woman has a bun in the oven, you put a bun in the oven like bread, and the bun

gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

In this case, a woman is pregnant.

Because you have a bun in the oven and as the heat goes over nine months, the bun will

grow and become a baby.

So, when you're gossiping at work, that means talking about each other, you might say, "Hey,

she's got a bun in the oven."

You're saying she is pregnant.

So, I hope you enjoyed the bonuses.

You got a little bit of a history lesson here and a little bit of a - hmm, how shall we

say?

Not politically correct information, but people will say these things, so you should understand

them.

And I'd like us to go now to our homework.

Because, once again, if you don't practice, you can't improve.

So today, you will get 1000 points for every one of these you get correct.

If you're on YouTube and people actually give it a thumbs up, you can get 1000 points for

every one that they give you a thumbs up.

And if you're on www.engvid.com or anywhere else, you get 1000 points.

Congratulations.

Now, this one is a special one, which I'll get to in a second.

First sentence you want to fix is: The woman is very rich.

What could you say instead of saying "very rich"?

You have an idiom for that one.

The second one: I'm broke.

Broke means I have no money.

It doesn't mean I'm broke.

It means I have no money.

So, if someone says to you, "I'm broke", cashless, no credit.

"I'm broke.

I don't have any money on me."

I gave you two words earlier on that said both of these words refer to money.

Can you remember what they are?

Hope you can, you can put it in the comments.

So, if someone uses either one of these words, they can get 1000 points.

And finally, "It's been awhile since we had dinner together."

What idiom or phrase could you use instead of "had dinner"?

Now everybody, there's 3000, or maybe 4000 points available.

Or unlimited if you're on YouTube.

Do your homework and I will check it over.

So anyway, time for me to get going.

Hope you enjoyed this video.

Once again, thank you very much because you make this all possible.

Check out the quiz, the actual quiz on www.engvid.com , where you'll find more of my videos and

other fantastic teachers you can learn from, alright?

Time for me to break bread with some friends.

You have a good one.