Easy English Expression 0512 to put lipstick on a pig

easy english expression rehashed hello everybody my name is coach shane and welcome to easy english expressions come on let's master english Hello, everybody. E-Cube number 512.

My name is Coach Shane. I'm an English coach. I have been helping people master English since December of 1986. That's when I first had students. December 1986.

A long, long time ago. I focus on adults, okay? Men and women who want to master English as an adult. Communication skills, speaking, and listening. If that's interesting to you, then you need to join my community.

It's free. School.com slash LME. S-K-O-O-L dot com slash LME. Enjoy the podcast. Let's go back in time. Yep, somebody left a message. Coach Shane, yesterday you taught us what's all this racket, but you taught that expression like a long time ago.

Why are you doing it again? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It happens. No, you know, I'm sure I will repeat expressions from time to time. I do my best to not...

Make that mistake. But hey, it's review. The dialogue should have been different. I hope the dialogue was different. Now, today's expression, I'm 99.87% sure I have not done in this podcast.

It's a good expression. To put lipstick on a pig. P-I-G. Is that a pig? I don't know. Oink, oink, oink, oink. Yeah, P-I-G, a pig. Some people eat pigs.

Some people have pigs as pets. Some people think pigs are very dirty. Actually, pigs are very clean. Some people have pig body parts in their body. Yeah, pigs are very compatible to the human body.

Pig, P-I-G. Lipstick. Usually women wear lipstick, but some guys also wear lipstick. That's what makes your... Lips red to put lipstick on a pig. This is a great expression.

And in America, we have many ideas or stereotypes or images of a pig. But one image is not too beautiful. So if you think of a pig, is it a beautiful animal? No.

So if you put lipstick on a pig, will it be beautiful? No. No, it's still a pig. So in daily English, putting lipstick on a pig means trying to make something look good or sound good, but it's still the same thing.

All you did was put lipstick on a pig. So let me give you a couple examples. Let's say you're a rich person and you own a building but people are complaining that the building is ugly and that you should – because you're very rich, you should build a new building. But you say, no, I'm not going to spend money on a new building.

Just paint the building. So repainting an old building is basically putting lipstick on a pig. It's still the same building. All you did was add some paint.

Yeah. Another idea would be your office, your office space. Lots of people have a cube. Their office is just a desk and this kind of wall, but it's like a half wall.

And most people's, their office area is not that nice. But, Changing the color of the wall, the half wall, changing the color is just putting lipstick on a pig. You're not really doing anything.

Everything's the same. It's just the color is different. All you did was put lipstick on a pig. I'm going to give you one really great example after you check out the dialogue, which also has an excellent example.

Here we go. What do you think of my business proposal? Well, um, I don't think it'll work. Um, what if I add more graphs and pictures, huh? That's just putting lipstick on a pig.

Sorry. So you make a business proposal, but what's important in the business proposal is the business idea. Will it make money? Will customers buy the product?

That's what's important in a business idea. It's all about sales. Will customers buy the product? Pictures and graphs and colors do not add anything to your business proposal.

All that is, is lipstick on a pig. Now, if your business proposal is really good, well, that's great. But if your business proposal is bad, then it's a pig. Adding graphs and pictures is just putting lipstick on a pig.

I feel sorry for pigs. I like pigs. Yeah, I think pigs are cute. I think pigs are smart. And I'm an American. So part of my diet. Okay, one more example of putting lipstick on a pig.

And I really like this one. You go to a hotel and this happened to me. There's a hotel chain in America. The name of the chain is Howard Johnson. Howard Johnson is a chain all over America.

And anyway, I went to this hotel last year and I got a room and the room was cheap. The room was okay. You know, $50, not even 50. I think it was $45.

It was okay. Nothing special. But the staff... was horrible. I felt like they were from a prison and I felt they were gangsters. I didn't trust them. I had to double check to make sure my car was locked.

I had to double check to make sure that my door was locked. I You know, I was nervous the whole time and they were loud and they didn't look very clean. They had tattoos all over themselves.

It was unbelievable. The cleaning crew, I'm not joking, the cleaning crew smelled good. Not a good smell. Not like a clean. Not like a Clorox type cleaning soap smell.

I mean body odor, dirty. I'm sorry. It was disgusting. It was horrible. I was shocked. But it was too late. I already paid for my hotel room. So I slept there.

And yeah, I survived. I survived. Well, about a week ago, I went past the hotel. And I saw... They changed it. It was painted nicely. They had a new sign.

It looked great. I was thinking, oh my God, it looks really nice. Maybe I can go back here one day and have a nice stay. And as I was driving by, I'm not joking, out the front door of the hotel,

was the same guy I saw a year ago. And he looked just meaner. He was big, fat, tattoos everywhere. He had a cigarette in his ear and he was smoking a cigarette.

He came out the door and he spit on the concrete. I'm thinking, oh my God. This is crazy. They remodeled this hotel. They made the hotel look really nice.

But they kept the staff the same. The same people. All they did was put lipstick on a pig. The hotel was okay. It's a cheap hotel. The staff was the problem.

If you have something and there's a problem with your something... Don't just try to put lipstick on a pig. Find the problem and solve the problem. Then you're going to be successful.

If you just put lipstick on a pig, you're going to have the same problems. It's true. That goes for your personal life, for your professional life. If you got a problem, solve the problem.

Think about it right now. Everybody's got problems. I got problems. Everybody has problems. Personal problems, business problems. We all have problems.

Physical problems, mental problems, emotional problems. Everybody has problems. So think about your problems right now. And of course, hopefully, you're trying to solve your problems.

But are you actually solving your problems or not? Are you just putting lipstick on a pig? It's the big question. Think about that today. Stop putting lipstick on a pig.

Lipstick can be expensive and pigs don't like lipstick. And if you see a pig today, say hi. Be nice to pigs. All right. I'm serious. Don't put lipstick on a pig, okay?

Check out the dialogue a couple more times. Don't forget you can download all these podcasts. You can see all the dialogues on our website, www.letsmasterenglish.com. If you're not a DDM member or a PERF member, what are you with?

Join. Join the damn classes. They're so good. And I'm going to see you guys tomorrow. Together, let's master English. What do you think of my business proposal?

Well, I don't think it'll work. What if I add more graphs and pictures? That's just putting lipstick on a pig. Sorry. What do you think of my business proposal?

Well, um, I don't think it'll work. Um, what if I add more graphs and pictures, huh? That's just putting lipstick on a pig. Sorry. Thanks so much for listening.

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