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This is the BBC. This podcast is supported by advertising outside the UK. This is a download from BBC Learning English to find out more. Visit our website. Six minutes away from BBC Learning English dot com. Hello and welcome to Six Minute Vocabulary. I'm Neal. And I'm Catherine. And our topic today is business jargon, that's words and phrases you hear mostly in the world of business. So, Neal, are you ready for some blue sky thinking?

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Blue sky thinking, huh? That's an expression often heard in the workplace.

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It means being creative coming up with new original ideas.

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Exactly. And in this program, we've got lots more business phrases for you. We'll explain what they mean and when to use them.

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But first, listen to Sophie talking to her marketing team.

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And here's a question to think about while you listen. What does Sophie ask Joe to do? Good. It seems we're all reading from the same page we need to reach the upscale customers. So can we think out of the box and come up with something quite different? We have to push the envelope if we want to succeed in the market.

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Now, if we take the helicopter view, we can see that we've affected lower costs, we've targeted low hanging fruit and got rid of several distributors going forward. Now, Joe, can he action advertising? Is everyone clear now?

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Lots of business jargon that we usually don't use so many at one time, do we know it can sound a bit much if he use all of them, though?

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These are things that you probably will hear in a business context.

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Most definitely. So back to our question. We asked you, what does Sophi ask Joe to do?

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And the answer is she asks him to action advertising.

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That's right. She wants him to deal with advertising. So if you use the noun action as a verb. More on that later.

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But first, let's look at some jargon. She used to talk about having new ideas.

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Here's a clip.

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So can we think out of the box and come up with something quite different? We have to push the envelope if we want to succeed in the market.

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So Sophie wants her team to come up with a new and exciting idea, and she uses the expression, think out of the box, which means be creative, don't feel limited to the same old ideas.

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And she tells them to push the envelope, which means go further than before and do things that might be new or risky.

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Yeah, that's similar to the expression we had earlier. Blue sky thinking, which means being creative coming up with new and original ideas, even if they're not very practical or realistic. So, Neal, are you a blue sky thinker?

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Oh, yes, of course.

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I'm incredibly creative. You know, I do, yes.

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Sophie, Sophie also said everyone was reading from the same page. Now, this expression means they all had similar ideas and agreed with each other.

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Here's another clip. Now, if we take the helicopter view, we can see that we've affected lower costs, we've targeted low hanging fruit and got rid of several distributors. Some interesting phrases there, and you can guess their meaning if you actually picture what the words mean, for example, take the helicopter view. Exactly.

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Now picture yourself up in the sky in a helicopter and you're looking down at the ground and you can see a lot more from up there. Then you can see when you're down on the ground. So this expression means looking at the whole situation and not just one or two details.

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Sophie also said that they lowered costs by targeting low hanging fruit. Low hanging fruit means the easiest or most obvious things in reality, on a fruit tree, the fruit that hangs low down is easier to pick.

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So there's a link between this idea and the idiomatic meaning of the phrase in a business situation.

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Good. Now, Sophie used to nouns as verbs effect and action. She said we've affected lower costs and to effect means to achieve something. She also asked Joe to action advertising this means she wants him to deal with the advertising and Noun's used as verbs like this sound very strong. They give the speakers ideas greater force.

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So we use the word upscale to describe customers. Upscale, describes people with money or things that are high quality.

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I often think we could do with some upscale coffee in our office.

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That's a good idea. Six minutes away from the BBC and it's time for a quiz.

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Number one, if I want you to be creative and original, would I tell you to push the envelope or B, target low hanging fruit?

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And the answer is A, push the envelope.

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Well done. If you got that right, number two, if I want you to look at the wider picture and not concentrate on detail, would I tell you to a think out of the box or B, take the helicopter view and its B, take the helicopter view. Good.

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And finally, if I want you to do something, would I ask you to, A, action it or B, effect it? And the answer is a action.

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Well done if you got those right. And before we go, here's a top tip for learning vocabulary. When you learn new words, make a picture in your head of the meaning. And when you hear or see the word again, you can think of a picture.

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There's more about this at BBC Learning English dot com. Join us again for more six minute vocabulary by.

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Six minutes, macaca. From the BBC.