Business English SLANG IDIOMS ABBREVIATIONS Business English Course Lesson 7
hello everyone and welcome back to
english with lucy in this lesson we’re
going to talk about slang abbreviations
and idioms I don’t recommend that you
use these in your CV cover letter or
interview but it’s important that you
understand them and are prepared to use
them if the company culture seems modern
and relaxed today I’m going to show you
ten slang
email abbreviations ten financial
abbreviations and then six marketing
abbreviations after that we’ll discuss
ten business idioms let’s begin with ten
slang email abbreviations number one tbh
or lbh these mean to be honest or let’s
be honest to be honest let’s be honest
let’s be honest the website is in need
of an overhaul
number two NBD no big deal no big deal
he can’t come to the meeting but it’s no
big deal
number three V this just means very I’m
very interested in this business
opportunity
number four is deaf which means
definitely he’s definitely not attending
the meeting
number-5 NSFW or sfw these mean not safe
for work not safe for work or safe for
work safe for work for example this
attachment is not safe for work open it
when you are out of the office
number six fYI for your information for
your information now this one we do
actually say in real life as fYI you
hardly hear anyone saying for your
information an example fYI I overheard
that Claire is getting a promotion
number seven is OMW on my way on my way
for example my train was late this
morning but I’m on my way
number eight Oh this means out of office
out of office for example I’m going to
be out of office all of next week
number nine LMK let me know let me know
let me know if you’ll be able to make it
to the office party
number 10 is BRB be right back
be right back I have to shoot off
somewhere I’ll be right back
in this part of the lesson I’m going to
discuss with you 10 financial
abbreviations
these aren’t slang as such so you can
use them in more formal emails number
one is fi fo first then first out first
then first out this has to do with
inventory it’s basically saying that
when something is bought first it’s used
first number two
LIFO this means last in first out this
is the opposite of the previous where
the last item bought is the first item
used number three ROI return on
investment return on investment your
return on investment is the calculation
of how much money the company is making
compared to how much money it’s spending
number four q1 this means the first
quarter you can also have q2 q3 and q4
each financial year is typically divided
into four quarters number five YTD or
MTD these mean year to date or month to
date for example the year-to-date return
on the stock is 8% number six one of my
favorites actually is called TL DR this
means too long didn’t read if somebody
sends you a really long email and you
don’t have time to read it you can say
TL DR TL DR it was too long I didn’t
read it send me something shorter number
seven is ETA the estimated time of
arrival for example what’s the ETA on
that report number eight is zod meaning
end of day for example I need that on my
desk by end of day tomorrow
number nine is FTE meaning full-time
employee for example Lucy is a full-time
employee and number ten our last
financial abbreviation is PTO meaning
paid time off for example please submit
your PTO requests by Monday now in this
part of the lesson I’m going to talk to
you about ten marketing related
abbreviations like the financial
abbreviations these are slightly more
formal and you can use them in emails
number one b2b b2b this means
business-to-business number two B to C B
to C this means business to customer
number three is SEO SEO this means
search engine optimization this means
creating and structuring the content of
your website so that it’s more likely to
show up high in search results when
certain keywords and phrases are
searched for number four C are
conversion rate conversion rate the
percentage of people that convert into
paying customers
number five CPC or cost per click this
is your acquisition cost from a paid
online advertising channel it’s how much
it costs to get somebody to click on
your ad number six
CTA this means a call to action this is
the part at the end usually at the end
of a blog post email or sales page that
tells you to do something for example
subscribe to English with Lucy that’s a
really good CTA in this part of the
lesson I’m going to talk to you about 10
business idioms these are slang
expressions that you might hear in the
workplace or read in emails let’s get
started number one at the 11th hour this
means at the last minute for example
he’s submitted the file at the 11th hour
number two is to get the ball rolling
this means to start or to get started
for example let’s get the ball rolling
on this project number three is to think
outside the box this means to think
differently for example I really think
we need to think outside the box for
this campaign number four to touch base
this means to speak for example I’m
going to touch base with the regional
manager and see where he’s at number
five is to circle back which means to
meet again
for example tomorrow I’m going to circle
back and see how she’s getting on number
six is to have a lot on one’s plate this
means to be very very busy for example
don’t talk to him about that just yet
he’s got a lot on his plate
number seven is an elephant in the room
this is a difficult subject for example
let’s address the elephant in the room
and discuss the redundancies number
eight is a no-brainer
this means a logical solution for
example the merger is a no-brainer our
budget will increase tenfold number nine
is to get back to
the drawing board this means to start
again for example he doesn’t like the
drafts so we need to get back to the
drawing board and the last business
idiom is number 10 to reach out this
means to contact someone for example I’m
going to reach out to the marketing
department and devise a plan now I’m
going to test you on what you’ve learned
from this lesson I’m going to show you
an abbreviation I’ll give you some time
to think about what it means and then
I’ll show you the answer let’s get
started number 1 what does this mean the
answer is no big deal no big deal number
2 what does this one mean the answer is
the estimated time of arrival and how
about this one these mean year to date
or month to date number 4 what does this
one mean this means a call to action
number 5 what do you think about this
one this means business to business
number six what does this one mean this
means out of office out of office number
seven
PTO meaning paid time off number eight
what does this mean these mean not safe
for work or safe for work
number nine what do you think about this
one fYI for your information for your
information and number ten what does
this one mean
viii this just means very that was the
quiz how did you do make sure you share
your scores in the comment section down
below if you missed any feel free to
skip back and watch again that’s it for
this lesson I hope you enjoyed it and I
hope you learnt something and don’t
forget to connect with me on all of my
social media I’ve got my facebook I’ve
got my Instagram and I’ve got my Twitter
and I shall see you soon for another
lesson
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