Tip 202 ”against the grain” 無料ビジネス英語学習

無料ビジネス英語学習 Words & Phrases 第202弾は、”against the grain” です。

ヒカとタロウのオフィスでは、毎朝朝礼を行っています。
ずっと決まったプロセスで進めているので、
何か変化をもたらしたいと、ヒカはタロウに聞きました。

“Can I try something different in the next chourei?”
「次の朝礼、違うやり方でやってみていいかな？」

「僕だったらいつものやり方に従うけどね。」

と言いたい場合、あなたがタロウなら英語で何といいますか？

“You shouldn’t ignore the normal custom.”

これでも伝わりますが、こんな言い方もあるんです。

そこで、
“I wouldn’t go against the grain if I were you.”

と言ってみましょう！「常識に反する」という意味を持つとても自然な表現です。

発音もビデオでチェック！
ぜひこの表現を使ってみてください。

Hello everyone. Welcome to this Bizmates
words and phrases video series.

Today's idiom is
against the grain.

OK, what does that mean?
Grain... Against it.

We will find out but first let's do our test.
OK, so I say...

I'm reading the newspaper, and I say:
I can't believe there was another political scandal.

And you say...

that's right.

Politicians think they're above the law;
they don't have to follow it.

Perfect. I hope you got that.
OK, let's go on to today's idiom

Against the grain.
Now here's what I sometimes hear

OK, let's imagine
that I am joining my first "chourei."

You know, the daily meeting, the regular
meeting -- the "chourei."

OK, and I say to Taro:
Can I try something different in the next chourei?

You know, I'm gonna make an
announcement a different way, not the

usual way. So I'm trying to break the
custom.

And Taro says:
You shouldn't ignore the normal custom.

You know, we have a process we follow every time.

So to do something different
is not so good in the chourei.

ok so I understand you shouldn't
ignore the normal custom.

The sentences ok, but...

I'm not ignoring the normal custom, OK?
I'm trying to change the normal custom.

OK, and to change the custom, we could use...
to say "change the custom"

We could use this idiom like this --
so I say to Taro:

Hey, you know, can I try something different
in the next chourei meeting?

And he says:

You know, I wouldn't
go against the grain if I were you.

Very natural. OK, so he doesn't mention
the word "custom" but I can understand

with this idiom
against the grain.

So if you can imagine like if you shave.
You know, shave.

You know, the hair on our face; it grows
downward like this, right?

And when you shave, you start from the top.
If you go down like this with the razor

it's very easy to shave; it's very smooth.
But if you turn the razor upside down and

try to go up like this... it's very
difficult. It hurts because you are going

against the direction of the hair --
against the grain, against the normal custom.

That's what it means. OK?

So I wouldn't go against the grain if I were you.

Don't change the custom. Go with the
grain. OK, I hope you got that

OK, let's look at pronunciation. So I said:

not I wouldn't go against... but it's
I wouldn'... I wouldn'...

goagains'...
I wouldn' goagains' the grain if I were you.

I wouldn't go against the grain if I were you.
You try...

Good. OK, with my sentence:
Can I try something different

in the next chourei meeting?

OK, I understand. Perfect.
OK, please remember this

and for homework I will ask you:

You know, can I try something
different in the next chourei?

And you say...

That's right. You know, I wouldn't
go against the grain if I were you.

Please remember this and
we'll see you next time. Thank you.