Small change

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. You are Neil…

and hello, you are Feifei.

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. You are Neil…

and hello, you are Feifei.

Neil, a question - if you looked into my purse, what would you find?

Not much! Probably lots of small coins that aren’t worth much.

Well I’m not rich, Neil - but yes, you would find small change. A collection of coins with little value.

OK - is this the phrase for this program?

Not exactly. The phrase is ‘small change’ but it’s not about money. Something that is insignificant or trivial, meaning not important, can also be described as ‘small change’.

Like getting a seat on the train during the rush hour is ‘small change’ for me.

And getting chocolate sprinkles on top of my cappuccino is ‘small change’ for me.

Really? That’s ‘big change’ for me! Let’s hear some examples that are far from being small change!

I’ve only got a cold so my health problems are small change compared with your broken leg.

Eating out every night is small change to Molly - she can afford it with the huge salary she’s on.

Where I sit on the plane is small change to me, as long as we arrive on time.

This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re talking about the phrase ‘small change’, which describes something insignificant or trivial, meaning not important.

We can also describe someone as being ‘small change’ - so they are not important. Feifei, do you think I’m small change in this program?

Of course not, Neil. You are very important to this program - and besides, we couldn’t afford the other presenter!

Ha ha. Very funny. So now we’ve explained ‘small change’ - can you lend me some?

You mean money? How much do you want?

Ten pounds!

Neil, that’s NOT small change - and your request is not ‘small change’ either. The answer is ‘no’!

Well it was worth a try. See ya.

Bye.