Advanced everyday english: Advanced vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms and expressions - Collins Steven 2011
Lesson One Outgoing
Chapter One
i. (Sociable, open and friendly, not shy—not to be confused with “outgoings”, which means personal or business expenses such as rent and domestic bills)
Examples:
✵ Job Advertisement:
Outgoing Sales Assistant required. Must be on the ball and capable of taking on hectic work schedule.
✵ In the long run, you’ll pick up more clients if you adopt a more outgoing attitude.
✵ The place needed doing up, but it wasn’t that which put us off going for it : the outgoings were outrageous.
ii. (Used to describe someone who is about to retire from a high position, e.g. president, chairman)
Example:
✵ Virtually the whole town turned out to see off the outgoing president; they weren’t particularly looking forward to meeting the new one.
iii. (A collection of mail which is to be sent, rather than “incoming”, which has just been received)
Example:
✵ I’m sorry to be bossy, but letters which are to go off should be put in the ’outgoing’ tray.
Off the record (Unofficially, “Don’t tell anybody I said this, but...”, not to be made pubIic—note the opposite “on record”, which means official, a publicly known fact)
Examples:
• Mortgage Consultant:
You could wind up paying higher interest.
Off the record, I reckon you’d be better off going to your own bank rather than one of my clients.
✵ Before we get things under way, I must stress that anything that comes up during this meeting must be kept strictly off the record.
✵ Interviewer to Prime Minister:
I’m not trying to catch you out, but you are on record as saying that inflation would plummet once we had recovered from the slump.
To go by
i. (To rely on/ judge something by what one has heard, seen or read
—often used in the negativ?—note also “to go by the book”, which means to stick to the rules)
Examples:
✵ You can’t go by what he comes out with; you need to seek a specialist who caters for experienced professionals.
✵ I never go by the tabloid press; mind you, this latest scandal is quite an eye-opener. The outgoing mayor had clearly been up to something.
✵ We do try to go by the book in this company, but, off the record, the odd rule gets broken from time to time.
ii. (To pass—used for time only)
Examples:
✵ As time goes by, I feel we’re drifting apart.
✵ Five years went by without me hearing from him, and then out of the blue, he turned up at the house.
To baffle (To confuse, puzzle)
Examples:
✵ Computers really baffle me; I’m not cut out for the modern age at all.
✵ I was baffled by her behaviour. What do you think came over her?
Hardship (A state or period of suffering caused by a lack of money, a sacrifice— generally experienced when having to give up something pleasant)
Examples:
✵ We had to put up with far worse hardships when we were children, so don’t make out you’re hard-done by.
✵ I could do without biscuits quite happily, but cutting out chocolate would definitely be a hardship.
To be in one’s element (To feel comfortable in a certain situation, to enjoy doing something because it is exactly right and suitable for that person)
Examples:
✵ As an outgoing person, I’m in my element when I have to make a speech off the top of my head in front of a crowd of people.
✵ She dropped out of her business course and has now taken up a fine arts degree. She’s really in her element now.
“Computers really baffle me; I’m not cut out for the modern age at all.”
(see page 2)
To brush up (To improve one’s knowledge on a particular subject, to revise)
Examples:
✵ I thought I could get by in Spanish, but as it turned out,
I needed to do quite a bit of brushing up.
✵ You’d better brush up on your general knowledge before putting yourself down for the college quiz.
Touchy (Over-sensitive, easily upset or annoyed. A subject which is likely to upset someone)
Examples:
✵ Just because I had a go at you last night, there’s no need to be so touchy.
✵ A: Jane’s very touchy, but her sister is quite thick-skinned.
B: Oh, I wouldn’t go along with that at all.
It’s the other way around!
✵ It’s a very touchy subject; I wouldn’t bring it up if I were you.
Cliche (An expression, viewpoint or idea which has been used so many times that it has become boring and has lost its effect—this is a French word which, like many others, has come into everyday English usage)
Examples:
✵ It’s unheard of for the manager of a football team not to come out with the same old cliches.
✵ I know it’s a cliche, but what you get out of this life depends on what you put into it.
To lay out
i. (To present something in a clear way, to arrange things so that they can be easily seen)
Examples:
✵ It’s imperative that we lay out our main proposals in the booklet, otherwise the message might not come across.
✵ If you lay everything out on the table, it will be easier to sort out what papers are worth keeping.
ii. (To design, plan a building, town, etc—note the noun “layout”, which is the way in which something is designed or arranged)
Examples:
✵ The garden is clearly laid out in my mind. The only drawback is that I know I’ll never get round to doing anything about it.
✵ In her latest job they’ve asked her to take on the responsibility of laying out the new town centre. She will be in her element.
✵ The lack of light can be put down to the poor layout of the building.
✵ I’m not keen on the layout of the follow-up brochure; it’s bound to baffle many of our customers.
iii. (To pay for something/spend a lot of money reluctantly-see “to fork/shell out”, Practical Everyday English page 168) Colloquial
Examples:
✵ Wife to husband:
If your car has got so much going for it, why have we had to lay out £1,000 before it’s even got through its first six months?
✵ Your brother is always making out that he’s had a life of hardship, but quite frankly, I’m fed up with having to lay out for him.