2023-11-13 Fly by night – The English We Speak

Introduction

Some companies or people just can’t be trusted. We can describe them with the phrase we’re going to explain in this programme.

Transcript

Feifei
This is The English We Speak with me, Feifei…

Phil
And me, Phil. We’re going to look at an adjective about organisations and people that are difficult to trust – ‘fly-by-night’.

Feifei
‘Fly-by-night’ is a compound adjective that literally means ‘something that flies in the night’.

Phil
Yes. ‘Fly-by-night’ originally described companies, who would disappear overnight taking all the money they owed with them. It’s usually used before a noun.

Feifei
My friend bought a second-hand car last month, it’s already broken down and the company has disappeared. Are they a fly-by-night company?

Phil
Yes, we can use it more generally to talk about companies or people who are unreliable or difficult to trust. If it looks like someone is running a fly-by-night operation, it’s best to avoid them! Listen to these examples.

Examples

I applied for a job, but when I went for the interview it looked like a fly-by-night company – so I turned them down.

The agent I bought the ticket from was a fly-by-night operator. Once I got to the airport, I couldn’t get any help.

I got my roof fixed, but it was a real fly-by-night job – it’s already started leaking.

Feifei
You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we are learning the expression ‘fly-by-night’, which is a way of saying that a person or especially a business is untrustworthy.

Phil
In the last example we heard about a ‘fly-by-night’ job.

Feifei
Yes, so you can also use ‘fly-by-night’ more generally to talk about things related to untrustworthy people or businesses. A fly-by-night company might do a fly-by- night job if you hire them.

Phil
Now, we will definitely be here next week with another episode of ‘The English We Speak’ – we’re no fly-by-night operation!

Feifei
See you next time!

Phil
Bye!