Buy into
Today’s expression is “buy into.” This is a tricky one because “buy into” doesn’t necessarily mean buying anything. What it means is this, you believe in something. You can buy into a vision, a strategy, a set of beliefs.
A lot of investors bought into Elizabeth Holmes’s vision. They believed in her vision. She was going to revolutionize blood testing . She was going to take something that was inconvenient, expensive, and even scary—having to go to a lab to get blood drawn—she was going to take that and make it cheap and easy, something you could do with a pinprick at home. That was a great vision, and a lot of people bought into it. They believed it completely. But as you learned today, they bought into the vision, but they didn’t look closely enough at the business.
Leaders of all kinds try to get others to buy into their vision. What can you do to get people to buy into your vision? You can explain your vision, you can motivate people, you can hire people who are already believers. Politicians try to get voters to buy into their vision for their countries or their districts. CEOs try to get employees to buy into their vision for the future of the company.
You can “buy into” a strategy. I’m watching “Succession” on HBO Max now—it’s a great show. No spoilers, but at one point, the top executives of the company don’t buy into the CEO’s strategy. The CEO wants to buy a big competitor, but the other executives don’t think that’s a good strategy. They don’t buy into the strategy, but they’re too afraid of standing up to Logan Roy, the CEO.
These are probably the most common ways to use “buy into,” and notice that there’s no money changing hands. This is all about belief.
You can also buy into a set of ideas or a concept. And interestingly, when we use “buy into” with a set of ideas, we often say we don’t buy into a set of ideas. For example, I don’t buy into the concept of Eastern medicine. Eastern medicine is using things like acupuncture, herbal medicine, things like that. It’s based on an idea that there’s vital energy running through your body. I can honestly say I don’t buy into Eastern medicine. I don’t believe in it. It’s fine if you do, and it’s great if you like acupuncture. If acupuncture helps your pain, fine—do it. And if you want to, then drink an herbal tea to prevent your next cold—I won’t stop you. But I don’t buy into it; I don’t believe in it.
I’m recording this in mid-February. I didn’t drink alcohol during the entire month of January . A lot of people do that to get the year off to a healthy and balanced start. But I’ve met more than a few people that don’t buy into that idea. They say that you should just not drink too much all year round; if you do that, then you don’t need to take a break from it in January. I buy into the idea because I’ve found it to be helpful for me; but we don’t all have to buy into all the same ideas, right?
A lot of people say they don’t buy into organized religion. They might be spiritual overall, but they don’t buy into the idea of a church and its leaders and the bureaucracy and such.
What about crypto? Some people buy into the idea of a decentralized currency, not controlled by any government. Other people don’t buy into it. Cryptocurrency is a real thing, but it’s also a set of ideas. The president of El Salvador has bought into cryptocurrency; as you learned in Lesson 406 , he believes in the ideas behind Bitcoin, even if he’ll mostly use it to consolidate his own power.
Quote of the Week
Where did Theranos get the name Edison? They named it after Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. And this is a famous quote by Thomas Edison. It goes like this, “I’ve not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
We can’t hold Thomas Edison responsible for a fake medical device test bearing his name. I do like this quote though, “I’ve not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
See you next time!
And that’s all for today’s Plain English. Thanks for joining us as always, and congratulations on all the hard work you’re doing in English. It’s such a privilege to be part of your studies each and every week. Remember, you can always follow along with the full transcripts on the web site. Today’s full lesson is at PlainEnglish.com/446. We’ll be back on Thursday, when we’ll welcome Spotify to the content moderation wars. See you then!
Learn more expressions like this
