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Drag - Vocabulary Lesson

Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for drag….drag is the name of this lesson set.

Let’s begin the vocabulary.

First the title: “high price of mom’s help is drag on family business”.

Okay… high price right? It means cost a lot and the mom is helping the family business but it’s her help her cost meaning her salary, meaning the money they pay mom is a drag on the business.

Okay… to be a drag… a drag on something or sometimes just a drag… a drag means you hurt something or you slow something or you cause a problem for something.

For example “mom is a drag on the business” means mom is causing a problem for the business.

She’s slowing the business.

She’s causing a problem for the business. so, a drag. Sometimes we use a drag when we talk about personality. Somebody… describe someone. if you say he is such a drag or he is a drag, in that situation, it means not fun… not fun.

He is a drag means “he is not fun”, but here in this story drag means she is causing problems for the business.

She is pulling the business down.

Okay…let’s start the letter.

It says “dear Abby, 20 years ago my sister and I bought a business from our mother”.

Okay, so the mom had the business, it was the mom’s business.

Later she sold the business to her daughters, so now the daughters own the business. The mom is not the owner now. She was in the past, now the sisters, the daughters own the business and they love their mom and their mom loves them. They say “we will be finished paying off the business in two years.”

To “pay off” means to finish paying. So we use pay off when you must pay for something over time. Maybe every month you pay some money.

For example if I buy a car, every month maybe I pay 200 dollars and in 20 years I will pay off the car, means I paid everything. I paid all of the cost. So in two years they will pay off the business. It means they bought the business from their mom but they are still paying her money for the business.

In two more years they will finish paying her. They will totally own the business. Okay. One problem or our problem. Mom who is 77. So the mom is 77 years old. She still draws a salary. Draws a salary. now, here the word draw means, takes or to take, right? you know the meaning of draw like your drawing with a pencil, but here the meaning is different, here it means take. she still takes a salary. she takes a salary. she gets a salary. she draws a salary.

We use the word draw sometimes with money, with a salary. Salary means your payment every month from your job.

Your paycheck every month from your job. So she draws a salary. So the sisters still pay her, they pay her to buy the business, they also pay her a salary like an employee. Maybe 10 dollars per hour. So they pay the mom for doing work and they are paying her to buy the business.

so They’re paying her two different things, and they say “she draws a salary above and beyond the payment for the business.”

Above and beyond means more than or also or in addition to or plus. right? she draws a salary plus the payment from the business, so she has the payment and also, in addition she has a salary. Above and beyond means that plus more.

Her workload has lessened greatly. Workload, her workload has lessened. Lessened means getting smaller… getting smaller… getting smaller. So her workload is getting smaller. Workload means how much work you do. It’s your jobs at work. If you have a heavy workload, then you are very busy at work.

You have a lot to do. If you have a light workload then you are not busy. It’s an easy job. Workload. So now the mom has a light workload. she’s old. she doesn’t do very much, but they’re still paying her every hour she comes to the business.

Okay. So they say in fact her workload is so light, so small, so light, she could do all of her work in one day. So she has very little work at the business now and if she did everything in one day it would lessen the burden of her salary. again lessen means “make smaller”, makes smaller and “the burden”, “the burden” is something difficult you must do or something heavy you must carry. two meanings.

So the burden of her salary, it means her salary is tough, it’s heavy, it’s difficult for the sisters. They must pay their mom every day, every hour. She comes and this is difficult. It costs a lot of money. So it’s a burden, it’s a burden to the sisters.

So they want mom to work less. They want mom to work only one day. Each week. They want mom to work one day so they only pay her for one day.

Maybe eight hours, then they can save a lot of money for the business. So that’s why they want mom to work less, but mom doesn’t like the idea.

She says, she would go crazy if she retired. “retired” means stop working.

So mom says “no… no… I will go crazy, I don’t want to work less, I want to come every day.”

The sisters don’t want her to retire. They say: “she could still come in to the office as often as she wants, she could come every day and do her personal paperwork, banking, letter writing, reading etc.

So it’s okay for mom to come, just to socialize… to talk to them. So she’s not alone. they say, that’s okay. But they don’t want to pay her to do her personal work, paperwork, banking. Because these are all things she does at work, on the clock. “on the clock” means when you are working.

It means during work time. During the time you are paid. So mom has been doing personal work, during work time. On the clock.

So they are paying mom, but mom is not helping with the business.

She’s writing letters to her friends, she’s reading books, she’s not doing work, but she wants the sisters, the daughters to continue paying her. So it’s a problem.

It says “if we try to discuss this, mom gets hurt.” Okay, when they tell mom, mom you’re costing us money and you’re not working. mom gets hurt. She says “just let me know when I’m not worth the money”, We don’t want to do that, we hope she would see the fairness of this and suggested herself.”

So the sisters, her daughters, they don’t want to fire mom. They don’t want to make her quit. They hope mom will understand by herself. But she’s not.

Okay, last paragraph. “Business expenses are going through the roof”. Okay. “Expense” means cost. Money you pay out. The opposite of income. “Income” means money coming in. “Expense “money going out.

So the business costs are going through the roof. “Going through the roof” means going up very fast.

Their cost are increasing. Their costs are going up very very fast. So they are losing money. And there are updates we should make. “updates” means improvements… improvements.

They need to improve the business. Make it better, “but we can’t do the updates”. They can’t improve, “while we are paying mom at the level we are”.

So they can’t continue to pay mom full-time. Because the business is losing money. They can’t pay her that on top of the money for the buyout.

On top of means also, means in addition to, on top of means above and beyond.

They both mean the same thing. On top of means in addition to or plus. Money for the buyout. “Buyout” means you’re buying a business from someone else. They are buying the business from their mom. So they say oh it’s too expensive we must pay mom to buy the business, plus we must pay her salary every hour. These two are too much.

We can’t pay for the buyout on top of her salary too, it’s too much.

Okay that’s all. Use your dictionary, if necessary. Look at the text, use dictionary and review the words.

Listen to this lesson many times.