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Laughing all the way to the bank: The English We Speak


Feifei: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
I’m Feifei.
Rob: And hello, I’m Rob.
Feifei: Something funny, Rob?
Rob: Not really… Well, yes actually. I’ve
had some luck.
Feifei: Tell me more.
Rob: Well, I bought loads of shares in that
new chain of burger restaurants and
guess what?
Feifei: You’ve got a free burger?
Rob: No, Feifei – the price of the shares
has risen and I’ve doubled my money. I’m
laughing all the way to the bank! For the
first time in my life I’m rich!
Feifei: Calm down, Rob! I think you’d get
some strange looks if you went to the
bank laughing – the bank has all your
money – there’s nothing to laugh about.
Rob: Seriously, Feifei! If I ‘laugh all the way
to the bank’, it just means I have made
lots of money very easily.
Feifei: Of course!
Rob: Let’s hear some more examples.
The florist laughed all the way to the bank
when she signed a deal to supply all the
hotels in the chain with flowers.
Since we bought it, the price of our house
has greatly increased. So when we come
to sell it, we’ll be laughing all the way to
the bank.
Now the two companies have merged,
shareholders will be laughing all the way
to the bank!
Feifei: This is The English We Speak from
BBC Learning English and we’re looking at
the funny phrase ‘laughing all the way to
the bank’, which means ‘to make lots of
money very easily’.
But, Rob, buying shares is no laughing
matter.
Rob: Why’s that?
Feifei: Shares can go down in value as
well as up – and I’ve just read that
because someone got food poisoning at
one of those burger restaurants, the share
price has gone down.
Rob: Oh, so my get-rich-quick plan hasn’t worked.
Feifei: Can you cry all the way to the bank as well?
Rob: Cry all the way to the bank? Yes, I
think you can – and I’m going to do that
right now. I need to borrow some money. Bye.
Feifei: I can lend you a fiver! Bye.
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