Once upon a time, I was at a party when my friend came up to me (approached me).
‘Pinche David, este güey siempre es tan negativo.’ (He’s Mexican).
‘I ask him how he is doing and he always tells me “not too bad.”’
‘I ask him about his job, he says “not too bad.”’
‘I ask him about his flat, he says “not too bad.”’
‘Always so negative!’
I started laughing.
‘Not too bad means good!’ I said.
He was confused.
‘In English if we say something is “not too bad”, then really we are saying that it’s quite good. Like “bastante bien.”’
🤯 Mind blown.
It must be something to do with British culture but it’s often more common to say something in the negative. For example we might say:
‘It’s not too far’ rather than ‘it’s quite close.’
‘It’s not too difficult’ rather than ‘it’s quite easy.’
‘It’s not too expensive’ rather than ‘it’s affordable.’
So if your boss ever says ‘that’s not too bad an idea’, don’t stress.
Really, they think you’re quite clever!
‘I’m not too bad mate. Yourself?’
This week’s 3 tips:
SOMETHING TO AVOID 🫣
🤦🏻♀️ ‘Can I make a question?’
No, you can’t. What you want to say is:
✅ ‘Can I ask a question?’
You always need to ask a question, never make.
I wanted to ask the speaker a question.
Make sure to ask questions in your interview!
SOMETHING TO SOUND CONFIDENT 🧐
👔 Business jargon explained
‘Game changer’
Something new that changes the existing situation in a significant way.
Chat GPT has been a complete game changer for us! It has allowed us to double our output.
SOMETHING TO WATCH 👀
For those of you interested in starting a business:
For those of you interested in happiness:
For those of you interested in sustainability:
Keep learning,
The Crystal Clear English Team
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