Phil's English Lessons

Hi and welcome to Phil's English podcast where I try to help you understand English better. In particular, I hope to help you understand the idioms native speakers commonly use. Today's new idiom is "You've got to roll with the punches." The meaning of this idiom is to accept minor setbacks and continue towards your goal. It means to minimize the pain of adverse actions by an opponent or by a competitor. You must continue competing. You must try to win next time. I believe the origin comes from the sport of boxing in which one fighter rolls his head away from his opponent's punch to minimize the damage of the impact. How would you use this idiom in the business world? For example, after a salesman has lost a big sale, a co-worker might say to him "That's just the way it is in this cut-throat business. You have to roll with the punches!" This is a way of telling his co-worker to forget about losing that sale and to go out and just keep trying to win more business. I hope you have enjoyed this idiom