By the day

By the day (hour, minute)

Today I have an unusual little expression for you. It’s not even much of an expression, but it’s a little tool that I want you to have in your English toolbox. Here’s what you originally heard. When Norwegian Air had its plane stuck in Iran, it was losing money by the day. That means that every day that went by, it was losing more money. So when you say “by the day,” it means that one day they lose money; the next day they lose more money; the day after that, they lose money; every single day, they’re losing money. They are losing money by the day.

Here’s another example. Have you ever gotten sick, and felt that your illness was getting worse by the hour? Boy, I did. Right after Christmas, I got sick for about 24 hours, but it seemed that I was getting worse by the hour for most of that day. That means that each hour that went by, I was getting worse and worse. I was getting worse by the hour.

Usually, this expression is used when you want to say something is getting bigger, worse, better, whatever, quickly. You would not say that something is getting better by the year. That’s pretty slow. Venezuela is experiencing rapid price inflation. The Venezuelan Bolívar loses value by the hour. If you get paid in the morning, you don’t want to wait until the afternoon to spend it, unfortunately, since the currency loses value by the hour. It loses value really quickly; every hour, it’s worth less. It’s a very, very difficult situation over there.

I saw a funny interview with the coach of a hockey team. He said, “I get more gray hair by the minute.” It was a joke, of course—but what he meant to say was that, he’s going gray pretty fast. He was saying that because he was coaching a team in a difficult game; lots of stress, so he said he was getting more gray hair by the minute.

This is also how you say, at what interval do you do something. Here are a few examples—it’s easier than trying to explain. You typically reserve a hotel room by the day; you generally lease an apartment by the year, but you pay rent by the month. If you go to an internet café, you probably pay by the minute. If you pay for parking, you generally pay by the hour if you’re staying just a short time. In longer-term parking, you might pay by the day. Some hotels let you stay a little longer and pay by the week; you might get a discount if you pay by the week. And there are some hotels that let you pay by the hour—those are the hotels to avoid!

Are there still internet cafés out there? I guess there are; I haven’t been to one in a long time. Anyway, that brings us to the end of Plain English for this Thursday, February 28, 2019. It’s almost March: spring is in sight for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Remember to claim your free audiobook—in English or in your own language—by going to PlainEnglish.com/book. Maybe Crazy Rich Asians would be a good choice, what do you think? If you saw the movie, then you basically know what the plot is. You don’t have to worry about getting too lost in the storyline since you already know what happens. Then you can just concentrate on the English. It’s 13 hours of English listening, and if you join Audible’s free trial program, you can have it for free, and keep it forever. Check that out at PlainEnglish.com/book. Thanks again for being with us. JR and I will be back with more on Monday.