High vs. Low Stakes: idioms describing risk

Wooden stakes 

High vs. Low Stakes: idioms describing risk

Many decisions can involve some risk, especially in business. Making the wrong decision can be very costly and even lead to complete failure. Other decisions have less serious or inconsequential levels of risk. In other words, decisions can have high levels of risk or virtually no risk at all. Deciding what shirt to wear in the morning has little risk for me, while deciding where to invest my retirement savings could have disastrous results.

Inconsequential decisions are often called “low stakes” situations because what happens does not matter very much. Wearing my blue shirt instead of my gray one will likely make no difference. “High stakes” situations include college admission tests, dating and marriage, job interviews, etc. You have a lot to gain or lose at critical points. Casinos try to attract “high stakes” gamblers who will bet a lot of money. For corporate boards, selecting a CEO is a process that is often critical. Because the potential risk is so high, the board is “playing for high stakes.” Here in Silicon Valley, a lot of venture capitalists compete for high stakes, such as funding the next Apple or Google.

So what is a “stake” exactly? Because of the spelling we know it isn’t for dinner (steak), even though the pronunciation is exactly the same. Please look this up because I am only offering my guess here, but the most common meaning of stake is a piece of wood that is sharpened on one end, to help stick the wood into the ground. For example, we use fence stakes to hold up fences. In the old days, people marked the corners of their property with wood stakes, so others would recognize the boundary. Even today, surveyors use wooden stakes to measure the land very precisely. Often the tops are sprayed orange or a colorful ribbon is tied around the top. If you camp, you probably have tent stakes to hold up your tent. Though originally made of wood, most tent stakes now are metal or plastic.

Stake supporting sapling

White settlers pushed west after 1865. The Homestead Act signed at the end of the Civil War encouraged western expansion by giving land for free to anyone who would go live there and put the land to use for seven years. Free land was a big incentive, and the settlers used wood stakes to mark out their land claims. Quickly, “staking a claim” meant asserting ownership over a piece of land, and eventually anything else. During many gold rushes in the west, each miner established his area by staking a claim, both literally and then figuratively, by registering with authorities. Before miners could travel west and stake their claim, they had to save or borrow a grubstake, so they could eat (grub=food) until they found gold.

Some mines grew very rich and attracted outside investors who often paid dearly for a small share, or stake, of a company. Initially, investors held only a “small stake” in the mine. By stock manipulation and other tactics they quickly grew their investments until they gained control. These days, people who own corporate stock are called stockholders, but we use “stakeholders” to indicate all those affected by group decisions. For example, all Americans are stakeholders in our democracy because how the government operates will affect us. Corporate employees who do not own stock are still stakeholders because their jobs are at stake.

To make a long story short, what started out as a piece of wood pointed on one end became a verb meaning “to claim,” and then evolved into a noun describing value (I wish I owned a big stake in Google!). Please post a comment or send me an email if you wish to correct or add anything. Accuracy is important to me because my reputation is at stake.

Did you learn English outside the U.S.?

This 1812 cartoon from Massachusetts pokes fun at contemporary political maneuvering that continues today.

If you learned English outside the U.S., you never have studied American cultural and historical references used every day by native speakers. Many expressions depend on historical contexts never taught in schools outside the U.S. One example is the word "to gerrymander." This word refers to the division of voting districts in favor of one party or another. Voting district maps are drawn by state legislatures. Normally, voting districts correspond to areas which neighbor each other. However, voting districts could also join end-to-end, resulting in a long, skinny district that can wind around like a snake. Why bother with this impractical arrangement? The reason is that dishonest politicians can group together favorable neighborhoods into a strongly supportive voting district.

What does this have to do with gerrymandering? To purposely arrange unbalanced voting districts in named in honor of Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry in 1812.

General Ambrose Burnside, c. 1862

In a similar way, during Civil War General Ambrose Burnsides was famous for his facial hair. His moustache was connected to his hairline by means of a bushy connection of facial hair. Today, if a man has facial hair in front of his ear, we call it a sideburn.

Can you think of any modern words that are based on celebrities or historical figures? Why are all stuffed bears named "Teddy?" Email me if you want to know!

Since people growing up in the U.S. take a series of U.S. history classes, students often learn what these terms mean from history class, not English class. Popular U.S. media commonly use terms like these, often with no explanation. Since non-native speakers usually learn academic English, which is sort of artificial and does not include everyday expressions used in the real world.
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Slang, idiom, expression, argot, jargon, colloquialism: what is it?

To improve your knowledge of U.S. slang, this website is really good. Another good reference is the Urban Dictionary.

Slang, idiom, expression, argot, jargon, colloquialism:
Either a printed or online dictionary will tell you what each of these words mean. Some definitions may differ, but these words all generally refer to language as it is normally used by native speakers. This everyday language differs from academic language in important ways. The vocabulary of formal, academic English language is quite fixed and slow to change. Words have well-defined meanings that change little over time. However, everyday English changes constantly. Words used today were unknown yesterday. Yesterday's slang sounds archaic today. Some idioms are completely arbitrary, like "P,U." Every American pre-schooler knows this means something stinks! What do the initial letter stand for? No one knows for sure.

One function of colloquialisms is to establish and maintain a community. The community is people who understand and use certain slang expressions, Insiders know the what it means to "pay lip service." If you are an insider, you can understand the intended meaning of the expression that lies beneath the meaning of the individual words. If you are outside the community, you may understand the words but not understand the underlying meaning they way insiders do. For example, the community of people born or growing up in the U.S. constantly use slang, idioms, and similar expressions which exclude non-native speakers. People outside the community cannot usually penetrate colloquial expressions very easily.

Another function of slang is to provide a platform for humor. Since the actual meaning of the expression may be the opposite of the literal meaning of the individual words, people using these kinds of phrases often have an ironic intent. To understand humor in English, non-native speakers need a broad understanding of the most common expressions. These expressions are known since childhood by native speakers but continue to baffle non-native adults.

One good way to discover these expression is to read a U.S. general interest magazine, such as Time magazine, Readers Digest, or National Geographic. If you have not lived all or most of your life in the U.S., though you understand the individual words and grammar, the overall meaning of the magazine articles remains elusive. That is because vital parts of the meaning are contained in the slang, idiom, expression, argot, jargon, or colloquialism used in speech and writing.

Please let me know your own experiences with English slang. How have you tried to learn common expressions and idioms? You can email me directly by clicking here. Also, please give me any feedback you can so I can keep improving. Thanks!

The meaning of English words

What does "civil" mean?

Everyone knows you can find the meaning of English words in a dictionary. However, a dictionary can only provide the most basic answers. Dictionaries really only provide hints about each word, especially words that have different uses or completely different meanings. Some words change their meaning depending on their role or function in the sentence. For example, when used as a verb "live" means one thing and is pronounced in one way. When used as an adjective, "live" has both a different meaning and pronunciation. 

Yesterday a student asked me about the word "civil." Because he had just taken a business training workshop, he knew about "civil rights" of workers that offer legal protection against discrimination. Civil rights are the topic of this cartoon. Civil rights in the U.S. became a common cause during efforts to reduce discrimination against people of color. More recently, civil rights have been extended to members of the military regarding their gender preference. Using "civil" in this way is only a specific application of the general usage.

The word civil forms the basis for "civilization/" What is the difference between civilized and uncivilized people? Civilized people follow laws and social rules, try to be courteous and respectful to others, and to build sustainable societies. Even if people disagree completely, they can still debate their views with civil discourse instead of insulting, threatening, or attacking their opponent. People who act civilly believe in cooperation as well as competition. Civility is collaboration between people. Or from another view, being civil is just having good manners, acting civilized, not like a savage.

Civil rights then can be understood as the rights of an individual in a civilized society. The word has many other important meanings though. In the U.S., you can get married in a church or by religious means, or you can get married in a court by a judge or justice of the peace. In the second case, we call this a "civil" marriage to show that it was legally and socially sanctioned, but without any priest, minister, or other clergy presiding. The civil officer (judge) presides instead. If you don't choose a civil union, then you can have a "church" wedding.

Involvement of a judge and public court in civil marriages suggests that "civil" is an important part of the U.S. justice system. Our law is divided into two parts: criminal and civil. Criminal justice deals with crimes. Civil justice governs contracts between people or companies and resolves disputes between various parties when no crime is involved. Besides marriage, a kind of civil contract, civil courts are where lawsuits are filed and settled. Lately, many high tech companies have been suing each other over intellectual property (patents, etc.). These cases are all held in civil court since no crime is alleged.

"Civil war" is an oxymoron. (an oxymoron is a phrase that contradicts itself. Wars are anything but civil!) Yet we call wars that break out within one country civil wars because they are not wars with other countries. This year is the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. This war was not at all civil and even though it was a long time ago, it killed more Americans than any other war before or since. So this phrase "civil war" is unintentionally ironic.

The dictionary will offer brief hints for these meanings, but fully understanding them is difficult, especially for non-native English speakers. Like many words, the deeper you look, the more you think about it, the more detail you see and appreciate. So dive in and really think about some words you already know. Do they have more than one  meaning? Do their meanings change slightly in different expressions?