Small change: The English We Speak

Feifei: Hello and welcome to The English
We Speak. You are Neil…
Neil: … and hello, you are Feifei.
Feifei: Neil, a question – if you looked into
my purse, what would you find?
Neil: Not much! Probably lots of small
coins that aren’t worth much.
Feifei: Well I’m not rich, Neil – but yes, you
would find small change. A collection
of coins with little value.
Neil: OK – is this the phrase for this
programme?
Feifei: Not exactly. The phrase is ‘small
change’ but it’s not about money.
Something that is insignificant or trivial,
meaning not important,
can also be described as ‘small change’.
Neil: Like getting a seat on the train
during the rush hour is ‘small change’ for
me.
Feifei: And getting chocolate sprinkles on
top of my cappuccino is
‘small change’ for me.
Neil: Really? That’s ‘big change’ for me!
Let’s hear some examples that are far
from being small change!
I’ve only got a cold so my health problems
are small change compared with your
broken leg.
Eating out every night is small change to
Molly – she can afford it with the huge
salary she’s on.
Where I sit on the plane is small change
to me, as long as we arrive on time.
Feifei: This is The English We Speak from
BBC Learning English and we’re talking
about the phrase ‘small change’ which
describes something insignificant
or trivial, meaning not important.
Neil: We can also describe someone as
being ‘small change’ – so they are not
important. Feifei, do you think I’m small
change in this programme?
Feifei: Of course not, Neil. You are very
important to this programme – and
besides, we couldn’t afford the other
presenter!
Neil: Ha ha. Very funny. So now we’ve
explained ‘small change’ – can you
lend me some?
Feifei: You mean money? How much do
you want?
Neil: Ten pounds!
Feifei: Neil, that’s NOT small change – and
your request is not ‘small change’ either.
The answer is ‘no’!
Neil: Well it was worth a try. See ya.
Feifei: Bye.