Okay, let me ask you something. Have there been any fireworks in your
house or your office? Have you had any plans that have gone up in
smoke? You haven't been grilled by your spouse or partner, have you?
I hope not. This podcast English Lesson and Dialogue is all about summer festival
idioms that you can use in the business scene. Let's study together. Welcome
to another Happy English podcast coming to you from New York City. And here's
your English teacher, Michael. All right, thank you John, and thanks
everyone. It's Michael here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode six seventy three, Summer festival
idioms in Business English. Yesterday was Independence Day here in the USA, which
is a holiday with lots of fireworks, and it got me thinking of some
related idioms. Today. Let's have a look at six idioms that have a
connection to summer festivals which you can use in daily conversation and even in the
office. Now, listen to a conversation between two office workers. This is
a bit slower than natural speed. You can hear the conversation again at regular
speed. At the end of this lesson, Hey, Jen, what was
the deal with all the fireworks going on in the office this morning? Oh?
Hi, Tom, Remember when Jack did his social media presentation and he
told the boss that if we tried doing that, sales would skyrocket. Yeah,
he was totally hot dogging it for like a week after that meeting,
right. Well, the truth is, it seems like his plans for big
sales went up in smoke. I had a feeling that was going to happen.
So the boss was grilling him pretty bad. Eh. Oh, yeah,
the boss was totally raking him over the coals for that. Poor Jack.
When will he ever learn? Oh my, Jack is always getting in
trouble in the office. Let's check out these idioms. First of all,
we have fireworks in the conversation. Tom asked Jen what the deal was with
all the fireworks in the office. You know, when you see fireworks in
the sky, they are bright and explosive. Well, with that image,
we use fireworks to mean an outburst of anger or a strong emotional reaction.
Here are some examples. There were a lot of fireworks in the meeting when
the boss started criticizing Kim for her poor sales results last month. You should
have seen the fireworks when Bobby told his parents he was going to quit his
job and become an artist. There were a lot of fireworks between the two
political candidates during the debate. Next is skyrocket. Jack told the boss that
his plan would help sales skyrocket. When something skyrockets, it rapidly increases or
goes up very quickly, just like a rocket shooting into the sky. For
example, after the successful marketing campaign, sales of the new products skyrocketed,
exceeding all expectations. The price of housing in the city has skyrocketed over the
past few years, making it difficult for new home buyers. The company's stock
value skyrocketed after they announced the merger. The next one is hot dogging.
It seems like Jack was hot dogging after his presentation. When someone is hot
dogging, it means they are showing off or boasting, usually because they want
to get attention or admiration. Here are some examples. Sam totally annoyed her
coworkers by constantly hot dogging about her perfect sales record. The basketball player was
criticized for hot dogging on the court instead of playing as part of the team.
Those young guys spent the whole week weekend hot dogging while driving around in
their fast cars. The fourth idiom is to go up in smoke. Jenny
said that Jack's plan for big sales went up in smoke. If something goes
up in smoke, it fails or disappears unexpectedly, often after a lot of
effort has been put into it. For example, our plans for a weekend
getaway went up in smoke when our car broke down on the way. The
company's expansion plan went up in smoke due to a lack of support from investors.
Debbie's dreams of becoming an actress went up in smoke when she failed the
audition. Next, we have grill. Someone Tom mentioned that the boss was
grilling Jack. A grill is a place outside where you can cook food,
and a grill usually has a lot of hot energy. Well, we use
that same image when we talk about grilling a person. That means that you
are intensely questioning or interrogating someone, often to obtain information or to clarify a
situation. Here are some other examples. The detective grilled the suspect for an
hour about the robbery, trying to get to the truth. During the press
conference, the journalists grilled the politician about his controversial statements. My parents grilled
me when I came home after midnight. And speaking of outdoor cooking, one
kind of grill is heated with coal. Jen mentioned that the boss was raking
Jack over the coals. When you rake someone over the coals, it means
that you severely reprimand or scold them, usually for their mistakes or poor behavior.
Here are some examples. Because his marketing plan was a failure. The
boss raked Jack over the coals. The teacher raked her students over the coals
for not studying enough for the mid term exam. Eddie's parents raked him over
the coals when they found out he had taken their car without permission. Now
listen to the conversation again at natural speed while listening for the idioms from this
lesson. Hey, Jen, what was the deal with all the fireworks going
on in the office this morning? Oh? Hi, Tom? Remember when
Jack did his social media presentation and he told the boss that if we tried
doing that, sales would skyrocket. Yeah, he was totally hot dogging it
for like a week after that meeting. Right. Well, the truth is,
it seems like his plans for big sales went up in smoke. I
had a feeling that was going to happen. So the boss was grilling him
pretty bad. Eh oh, yeah, the boss was totally raking him over
the coals for that. Poor Jack, When will he ever learn? Keep
in mind, the best way to remember this and any vocabulary is to take
the word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true for you or
true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Well, I'm sorry
to say this, but we need to wrap things up. Please don't rake
me over the coals. By the way, if you'd like to get more
practice using your English, why don't you join my podcast Learner's study group.
There you can make new friends, join me for live group coaching every week.
Plus get the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy English podcast
in the past and in the future, and each episode has exercises where you
can practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me. To learn
more or to see some of the example sentences from this lesson, just visit
my Happy English dot com and choose podcast lesson six seventy three. Remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here
to help you. On your journey. This podcast is brought to you by
Happy English. Please visit my Happy english dot com. Show your support for
happy English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy, Happy English.