BUSINESS ENGLISH PARIS WORD OF THE DAY: FRIVOLOUS

BUSINESS ENGLISH PARIS WORD OF THE DAY: FRIVOLOUS

French translation:  frivole, vaniteux, peu sérieux

Hello Darlings! Happy Thursday!

I hope you are doing well? And that you are making the best you can of the circumstances...

So, the word for today is FRIVOLOUS. I was just reading an article in Inc.com and I saw the word and I liked it right away for the word of the day. The exact quote in Inc.com was:

Quay Women's Frivolous Sunglasses

"That's why I suggest entrepreneurs take a three-pronged approach to their expansion planning. This exercise helps business people ruthlessly prioritize their needs and determine what is a must and what is frivolous. " How to Determine Exactly How Much Money You Need to Push Your Business to the Next Level INC.com

So we can see that in business, whether small or large, this issue of frivolity is very important when it comes to spending, forecasting, planning and budgeting. 

I imagine that after the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, the word frivolous will be used a lot more often than it currently is. Why? Because of the record-setting stimulus package that the federal government in the United States has rolled out to assist Americans and small business owners who were hard-hit by the virus. The stimulus package is financial aid to keep the economy from going over the cliff. However, there will be a lot of oversight. 

Small business owners can't just borrow money for "frivolous" things just because the federal government has earmarked over $1 trillion dollars (yes, I said said over $1 trillion) in aid and this includes low interest loans and grants.  There will be criteria to be met in order to get some of these funds and one, I imagine, is a showing that the spending will not be "frivolous." Frivolous is going to become a very dirty word in the upcoming months and years when people start pointing fingers at who is responsible, (or I should say, who is to blame) for "wasting" all the stimulus funds.

What about you and where you are? The entire world is hit by the coronavirus although it is not clear that all world governments will be giving their citizens the kind of financial relief that we see in countries like the USA. But what about in the context of work? Can you think of any applications of the word "frivolous" in a business and work context?

I imagine you can use the word to describe people, habits, ideas. Not so much places. You can't say a place is frivolous, I don't think. People are frivolous and ideas are frivolous. And maybe things could be frivolous - or at a bare minimim, things could be a form of frivolity. But places probably are the only nouns that cannot be described as frivolous. A place could be a location where frivolity is apparent. Like Vegas or Ibiza or Macau. But I don't know if you would say "Vegas is a frivolous city." You might say "there is a lot of frivolity in Vegas." It is a question of the construction of the sentence, I think. With places, the adjective frivolous just sounds slightly weird. On the other hand, you can totally say "my boss is very frivolous. All she cares about is how things look on the outside."

What about you? Can you think of a discussion you could have with me using this word? F.R.I.V.O.L.O.U.S. 

AMAZON

Note: During this time, I am offering strictly telephone conversation courses to respect the order of President Emmanuel Macron who has issued a directive as you know that the French population must remain under curfew for the next 15 days. If you would like to start or continue with English conversation lessons therefore, it will be strictly by telephone. I look forward to speaking with you, que même. I have noticed that I now have visitors from countries other than France including Germany, United Arab Emirites, Belgium, Spain and Oman. You are also welcomed to take English conversation with me if you like :) 


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