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Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod for today's lesson on English idioms related to animals.
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Like all our lessons, this one is focused on language that you can use at work and in business.
When you work like a dog, you can't waste your time learning expressions you'll never use, and when it comes to idioms, you should focus on the ones that are commonly used and widely understood, like the one I just used to work like a dog.
In fact, there's a ton of idioms in English that mention animals, especially dogs.
That's probably because so many of us keep them as pets, but we've got idioms about cats, horses, snakes, fish, cows, bears, and countless other animals, and learning these idioms can add to your language toolbox and make you sound more natural.
Besides, a well -placed idiom can add a lot of impact to a sentence.
In this lesson, we'll listen to a conversation between Dylan, Ruby, and Kyle, three colleagues in a large corporation.
They're talking about the chief investment officer position in their company.
They discuss the former person in the role, people who applied for the job, and the person who got it.
In their conversation, they use many idioms related to animals.
See if you can spot some of these, and we'll explain them later in the debrief.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
1. How does Ruby describe Greg?
The person in finance who applied for the chief investment officer job.
How does Dylan describe Brett?
The former chief investment officer.
3. What expression does Ruby use to describe the current challenging market?
So, I heard Greg over in finance also applied for that chief investment officer job.
No way! That guy's a one -trick pony.
I doubt he could handle something like that.
Well, there's more than a few eager beavers over there looking to make a name for themselves.
Like, what's his name?
Dude with the chin.
You know. Uhh, let's not open that can of worms.
What do you mean? Best not to ask.
Curiosity killed the cat and all that.
Suffice to say, Ruby has history with him.
But I get it. We should let sleeping dogs lie.
Sorry to bring it up.
That's okay. Honestly, his bark is worse than his bite.
He wants a tech solution to every one of his little problems.
Anyway, the person who did get the CIO gig seems a bit different?
In a good way. You mean compared to Brett?
Who was, how did Mark put it?
Slippery as a snake?
Not always on the up and up, let's say.
Well, Mark thinks everything's fishy.
Sorry, but he's a bit of a conspiracy nut.
Yeah, he had a cow the other day when the new bonus scheme came up.
Got all suspicious.
Went on and on about it.
I just kind of clam up when he does that.
In any case, I gotta say I'm pretty impressed with the new guy.
He's got a solid resume.
High up in Morgan Stanley, I think it was.
Quite clued in from what I've heard.
Which we need in a bear market.
A better strategy. Brett was hired in good times when getting good returns seemed easy, which is definitely not the case today.
Now, let's go through the dialogue again and look at the idioms our colleagues used in their conversation.
They begin by talking about someone they know who applied for the recently filled Chief Investment Officer position.
So, I heard Greg over in finance also applied for that Chief Investment Officer job.
No way, that guy's a one -trick pony.
I doubt he could handle something like that.
Leadership positions like a Chief Investment Officer require a broad set of skills.
This explains why Ruby is surprised that Greg applied for the position.
She describes him as a one -trick pony.
A pony with one trick clearly has limited skills.
If a person is a one -trick pony, it means he only has one real talent or limited abilities.
He might be very good at that one particular thing, but he doesn't have diverse skills.
Let's practice some more ways of using this idiom one -trick pony.
Josh is a one -trick pony.
He's got good coding skills, but nothing else.
I thought we were hiring a person with diverse skills, but he was just a one -trick pony.
As we hear next, Kyle doesn't think Greg is the only person in finance who is looking to get ahead.
Let's listen. Well, there's more than a few eager beavers over there looking to make a name for themselves.
If you're trying to make a name for yourself, you're trying to become well -known or well -respected.
And according to Kyle, lots of people in finance are trying to do this.
He calls them eager beavers.
Beavers are known as very hard -working animals, and if someone is an eager beaver, she has a lot of energy and enthusiasm.
Often we use this to describe someone who really wants to do a good job or is excited about work.
How else can we use this idiom, eager beaver?
Let's run through some more examples.
In my position, I get to work with all the eager beavers hired right out of college.
Adam is such an eager beaver.
He's the first one in every morning and the last one to leave.
When Kyle thinks about the eager beavers in finance, he's thinking about one guy or dude in particular.
Like, what's his name?
Dude with the chin, you know.
Stuart? Let's not open that can of worms.
Ruby understands immediately that Kyle is talking about a guy named Stuart.
But she very quickly makes it clear she doesn't want to talk about him.
She does this by saying she doesn't want to open that can of worms.
To most people, a can of worms isn't a very pleasant idea.
And that's exactly what we call topics or issues that we think are unpleasant.
So if someone starts talking about a challenging topic, you can say you don't want to open a can of worms.
Let's practice this idiom with a short dialogue.
Returning to the dialogue, we can hear that Dylan doesn't understand the background of the issue with Ruby and Stuart.
What do you mean? Best not to ask.
Curiosity killed the cat and all that.
Dylan wants to understand why talking about Stuart is opening a can of worms.
But Kyle isn't very willing.
He tells Dylan not to ask, explaining that Curiosity killed the cat.
Cats are curious animals, and sometimes they get into trouble for being too curious.
So, when we want to tell someone not to ask too many questions about something, we say Curiosity killed the cat.
Let's try some more examples of telling people not to ask too many questions using this idiom.
You know what they say, Curiosity killed the cat, so I wouldn't ask any more questions about this if I was you.
Curiosity killed the cat, so just stick to your job and don't worry about other people too much.
Now let's hear Kyle explain a bit more and reinforce the idea that he doesn't think they should talk about Stuart.
Suffice to say, Ruby has history with him.
But I get it. We should let sleeping dogs lie.
Sorry to bring it up.
Kyle is very vague in his explanation.
He says very simply that Ruby has history with Stuart.
That's just a way to say very generally that someone has a past relationship with another person.
That often means either a romantic relationship or a negative work relationship.
But after this simple explanation, Kyle uses another idiom that is a bit like opening a can of worms.
He apologizes and says they should let sleeping dogs lie.
Sleeping dogs are peaceful or stable.
Waking a dog up might create problems.
So to let sleeping dogs lie means to not talk about or get involved in a potentially bad situation.
Let's try some more ways of asking someone to let sleeping dogs lie.
Please just let sleeping dogs lie and avoid asking Richard about his problems.
I know you're curious about what happened, but it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.
Although Kyle feels sorry for opening a can of worms, Ruby doesn't actually feel too bad discussing Stuart.
Let's listen. It's okay.
Honestly, his bark is worse than his bite.
He wants a tech solution to every one of his little problems.
As you've probably noticed, a lot of animal idioms are focused on dogs.
In this case, Ruby is talking about Stuart's bark being worse than his bite.
You've probably met dogs before that bark a lot but are really not very dangerous.
They sound scary, but they're actually not.
This is exactly how we describe someone who sounds tougher or scarier than they really are.
What are some other ways we can use this idiom?
His bark is worse than his bite.
Let's try some more examples.
You don't need to be afraid of Wayne.
His bark is much worse than his bite.
Sally's bark is worse than her bite, so don't take what she says too seriously.
Until now, the group has been talking about the eager beavers in finance, but Ruby wants to steer the conversation to the person who actually got the Chief Investment Officer gig or job.
Anyway, the person who did get the CIO gig seems a bit different in a good way.
You mean compared to Brett, who was, how did Mark put it, slippery as a snake?
Not always on the up and up, let's say.
In discussing the new CIO, Dylan compares him to the former one, named Brett.
He says that another coworker described Brett as slippery as a snake.
Snakes have negative associations in English.
They are seen as untrustworthy, manipulative, or dishonest.
In fact, you can simply call someone a snake, and people will understand what you mean.
Calling someone slippery as a snake emphasizes that the person is difficult to catch.
This idiom tells people that it might be hard to notice or prove that the person has bad intentions.
Let's practice this expression, slippery as a snake, with a short dialogue.
Norm has asked me to work with him on a project.
Well, he's slippery as a snake, so be careful.
Remember, Dylan says that it was their coworker, Mark, who described Brett as a snake.
But Kyle isn't so sure that Mark is a good source of information.
Well, Mark thinks everything's fishy.
Sorry, but he's a bit of a conspiracy nut.
According to Kyle, Mark is very suspicious.
That's why he calls him a conspiracy nut or someone who believes there's a secret plan behind everything that happens.
And he says Mark believes everything is fishy.
We also say that something smells fishy.
If you want to buy fish to eat, then you have to make sure you're getting fresh fish.
Good fish smells fresh, mild, and a little bit sweet.
If it smells fishy or sour, then it's probably bad.
So if something is fishy or smells fishy, it can't be trusted, as you can hear in the following examples.
This deal seems good on the surface, but something feels fishy about it to me.
There's something fishy about this applicant, so let's check her references.
Now let's hear Ruby describe her recent experience with Mark.
Yeah, he had a cow the other day when the new bonus scheme came up.
Got all suspicious.
Went on and on about it.
Apparently Mark talked at length, or went on and on, about something he thought was suspicious.
In fact, he was very upset, which Ruby describes by saying he had a cow.
This idiom may not be too obvious.
It comes from a time when cow was used as slang to refer to anger or rage.
Supposedly cows can be large and moody animals, and these days, to have a cow means to get very upset or angry.
Let's practice some more ways of using this idiom, to have a cow.
Wow, Chuck really had a cow when I told him I couldn't finish the report on time.
Please don't have a cow, but I can't help you on this project anymore.
Next, Ruby describes how she responds when Mark has a cow or acts suspicious.
I just kind of clam up when he does that.
A clam is a type of shellfish in the ocean.
When clams sense danger, they close their shells.
And for this reason, we use the idiom to clam up, to describe a situation when we can't speak.
Actually, it doesn't really have to be a dangerous situation.
It could be a situation where you're nervous, like meeting new people or speaking in public.
Regardless, if you clam up, then you have trouble speaking.
Let's run through some other examples of clamming up.
I'd like to be a good public speaker, but I clam up whenever I have to do it.
I really clammed up in my interview when I was asked about my weaknesses.
As with many informal conversations, our colleagues keep getting sidetracked by different issues.
But now Kyle wants to bring it back to the new CIO, who he thinks is smart or clued in.
In any case, I gotta say I'm pretty impressed with the new guy.
He's got a solid resume, high up in Morgan Stanley, I think it was.
Quite clued in from what I've heard.
Which we need in a bear market.
A better strategy. Brett was hired in good times when getting good returns seemed easy, which is definitely not the case today.
Kyle has described some of the reasons he is impressed with their new CIO.
He's got good experience, and he's clued in, or smart.
In response, Ruby emphasizes how important these qualities are in a bear market.
The term bear, along with the term bull, are very common in describing the stock market.
These expressions are related to how these two animals attack.
A bull attacks by pushing up with his horns.
So in a bull market, stocks are going up.
But a bear attacks by swiping its claws down.
So in a bear market, stocks are going down.
Let's run through some more ways of talking about a bear market.
With this bear market, it's really hard to make any money on my investments.
Everyone's looking forward to the end of this bear market, and a return to the good times.
So as Ruby says, in a bear market, it's very important to have strategic leadership.
And it's clear that the group doesn't feel they had good leadership in the past.
They used a variety of idioms to talk about not just the new leader and the past leader, but other people they work with as well.
Now let's practice some of the idioms from this lesson.
In a moment, you'll hear a series of sentences.
Each sentence will be followed by a beep.
After the beep, you need to restate or rephrase the sentence using one of the idioms we learned today.
When you listen to the sentence, think about which idea can be replaced by one of the idioms.
For example, if you hear, You can say, We'll go well in this bear market.
After each response, we'll provide the correct answer.
Ready? Let's give it a go.
Sometimes when I'm talking to our CEO, I just become unable to speak.
Answer Sometimes when I'm talking to our CEO, I just clam up.
I'm sorry, but this proposed deal seems very suspicious to me.
Answer I'm sorry, but this proposed deal seems very fishy to me.
Instead of causing problems, just don't talk about that bad situation.
Answer Instead of causing problems, just let sleeping dogs lie.
Answer It's fun working with James because he's such an energetic person.
Answer It's fun working with James because he's such an eager beaver.
Answer I know Martin sounds angry, but he's not as unpleasant as he seems.
I know Martin sounds angry, but his bark is worse than his bite.
We've reached the end of this lesson, the first in our two -part series on idioms related to animals.
We've covered lots of great expressions for talking about people, behavior and challenging topics.
We'll hear lots more in our next lesson as the group continues discussing their new Chief Investment Officer and his strategy.
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Thanks for listening and see you again soon.
