Blogger Widgets Blogger Widgets ¡Mira que luna......! Look at that moon....! Resources for learning English: Business Jargon: To occur on his watch.

!Mira que luna! Look at that moon! Resources for learning English

!Mira que luna! Look at that moon! Resources for learning English
Fernando Olivera: El rapto.- TEXT FROM THE NOVEL The goldfinch by Donna Tartt (...) One night we were in San Antonio, and I was having a bit of a melt-down, wanting my own room, you know, my dog, my own bed, and Daddy lifted me up on the fairgrounds and told me to look at the moon. When "you feel homesick", he said, just look up. Because the moon is the same wherever you go". So after he died, and I had to go to Aunt Bess -I mean, even now, in the city, when I see a full moon, it's like he's telling me not to look back or feel sad about things, that home is wherever I am. She kissed me on the nose. Or where you are, puppy. The center of my earth is you". The goldfinch Donna Tartt 4441 English edition

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Business Jargon: To occur on his watch.

QUIT WHILE YOU’RE AHEAD
Origin:  Probably comes from gambling strategy
Usage:  Informal/formal, spoken or written English. Can be used in general situations
 Idiomatic Meaning:  To stop doing something while one is still successful and before something bad happens 
 Literal Meaning: (In the case of this cartoon) Stop creating the monster before the head, which is already alive, is connected to the rest of the body
 Why is this funny?  There is a homophone at work here. homophones are words which sound alike but are spelled different. Actually this is a case where the first homophone, “ahead” is one  word and the other one, “a head” is actually two words which when pronounced quickly sound like one word. “Ahead” means in front, leading, winning. “A head” is the part of the body on top of the shoulders, including the skull, the brains eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc. The scientists are about to create a monster by attaching the living head to the rest of the body.  But the head looks crazy and angry, so the scientists are reconsidering the attachment. One of them looks at the head and tells it they are going to stop or quit while they are still successful, and while it is still only ahead. 
Sample Sentence:  I’ve won a lot of money playing cards, so I’m going to quit while I’m ahead

Definition:
Something happens (usually bad) while a person is in charge.
Example Dialogue:
A: I hear that we lost our most important customer.
B: Yeah, it occurred on Joe’s watch. He should have paid more attention.
A: That’s really bad for Joe considering it was his responsibility.
Listen and Practice:
SOURCE: http://www.openenglishworld.com/business-jargon/business-jargon-to-occur-on-his-watch.html IMAGE SOURCE: http://rollsoffthetongue.tumblr.com/

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