business_spotlight_2014_no_02__

(Grace) #1
anniversary [)ÄnI(v§:sEri] Jubiläum
charm: work like a ~ [tSA:m] hervorragend klappen
debut [(deIbju:] [wg. Aussprache]
idiom [(IdiEm] Redewendung
inappropriate [InE(prEUpriEt] unpassend, ungeeignet
malapropism [(mÄlEprQp)IzEm] Malapropismus, Verballhornung
nice work if you can get it das würde ich auch gern machen
[)naIs )w§:k If ju kEn (get It] ifml.
PM (prime minister) [)pi: (em] Premierminister(in)
release (a song or a film) [ri(li:s] (ein Lied oder einen Film) herausbringen
repository [ri(pQzItEri] Aufbewahrungsort; hier: Quelle
suppository [sE(pQzItEri] Suppositorium, Zäpfchen

48 http://www.business-spotlight.de

H


ow do you define “work”? Mark
Twain, American author and hu-
morist, wrote that “work is a ne-
cessary evil to be avoided”. For millions
of young people in the eurozone, work
is a necessary evil that is hard to find.
“Hard” and “work”: these two words
are also found in the first lines of one
of my favourite songs by The Beatles,
and the title of their debutfilm: A Hard
Day’s Night. The song opens with the
words, “It’s been a hard day’s night /
And I’ve been working like a dog”. The
idiom“work like a dog” means “work
really hard”.

Es gibt Arbeiten, die erledigt man mit links, andere sind Schwerstarbeit. Was
es sonst noch mit den englischen Begriffen zum Thema „Arbeit“ und „arbeiten“
auf sich hat, erfahren Sie von DEBORAHCAPRAS.

Works like a charm
Releasedin 1964, the song and the
film celebrate their 50th anniversary
this year, and they still work like a
charm. This year is also the 50th an-
niversary of The Beatles’ first tour and
live TV performances in the US. They
appeared three times on the most pop-

ular Sunday night show on American TV
at the time: The Ed Sullivan Show.
Nice work if you can get it.
A kind of malapropism by Ringo
Starr, The Beatles’ drummer, was the
inspiration for the film and song title.
After the band had worked all day and
into the night, Ringo said, “It’s been a

Nice work if you can get it


LANGUAGE WISE WORDS

medium

The Beatles: they worked hard

“One of my favourite
songs opens with:
‘It’s been a hard day’s
night / And I’ve been
working like a dog’”

A CLOSER LOOK
A malapropismis a word that you use wrongly
in the place of another word, often one that
sounds similar. It comes from the French mal à
propos, which means “inappropriate”, and was
first used in Richard Sheridan’s 1775 play The
Rivals. A character who often misused words
was called “Mrs Malaprop”. Australian PMTo n y
Abbott used one recently when he said, “No one
is the suppositoryof all wisdom”. He probably
meant “repository”.

Corbis

48-49 Wise words 2_14DD 14.01.14 13:48 Seite 48

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