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My company teaches English face-to-face or over Skype.

Friday 2 March 2012

108:Credit where credit is due

The word "credit" has quite a few meanings.


The expression in the title means you should praise someone who deserves it, even though you might dislike some things about them. Credit here means praise (похвала). 


A credit can be a unit of work in a school or university course. I've got two credits towards my degree.


Credit can mean money in your bank account. I was relieved to see from my statement that my account was in credit.


Credit can also mean a method of paying for goods or services at a later time, usually paying interest as well as the original money. I bought the car on credit.


In Russia too the word credit (кредит) has several meanings. Most often though it is taken to mean "a loan". Today's photo shows many adverts for loans. My guess is that many of these loan providers are "loan sharks" (ростовщики), who would be charging an exorbitant rate of interest.


One of my students, no names, no pack drill*, earns his money by phoning people who have taken out loans and "reminding" them that their payments are due. He uses several "techniques" for persuading them it would be in their best interest to pay - before he tells their friends, employer, work-mates etc. Apparently he is learning some colourful new language. He tells me the target is to make 400 calls a day! If he recovers a certain amount of money for the credit company then he gets a bonus on his small basic salary. 


It's certainly not a job that would appeal to me but "needs must when the Devil drives" (a proverb meaning sometimes you have to do something you would rather not).

*pack drill

noun

  • a military punishment of marching up and down carrying full equipment.

Phrases

no names, no pack drill

punishment will be prevented if names and details are not mentioned:that way there’s no names, no pack drill - if anyone asks, I’ve never heard of you, ok?

1 comment:

  1. коллекторские агентства - общепринятая практика, удивительно, что для вас это удивительно :)

    ReplyDelete