Eat into
Today’s English expression is “eat into.” This is a tough one; I’m not going to lie. It’s also not very common. But you’re not here to learn only the easy stuff, right?
We use “eat into” when you have a mass of something—time, money, a budget, savings, profit, resources. But something else takes away from what you have, and that generally doesn’t make you happy.
Like you, I have twenty-four hours available to me in each day. I plan my days around my job, my responsibilities here at Plain English, my sleep, my exercise, and some leisure time. A while back, a bunch of stuff started going wrong at my house. I had a leak in the ceiling in the kitchen. My microwave broke one day. My couch cushions were no longer holding me up, so I had to get my cushions re-stuffed. I had a problem at another condominium I manage, too. At the same time, I had all my other responsibilities. Dealing with all of that was starting to eat into my leisure time. Those unexpected repairs reduced the amount of leisure time I had available.
Many small businesses are dealing with higher costs these days. I heard a podcast about a company that makes and sells toys. That company makes a profit by selling toys. They ship their toys from China to the U.S. in a shipping container. That used to cost $2,700 for a one-way journey. But that price went up to $40,000. Guess what? The higher shipping costs are eating into the company’s profits. The shipping costs were an unexpected external event that reduced the company’s profits.
Gas prices are up, both at the pump and for heating fuel at home. Residents in cold-weather countries are paying more to heat their homes this winter. Those higher costs are eating into household budgets. That means, the higher costs are taking more money out of household budgets.
Do you remember how you heard it today? Print newspapers were once the only way people got their information about the world. But radio started to eat into newspapers’ audience. Some people could just get their information for free over the radio; they didn’t need newspapers. So radio ate into newspapers’ audience. Then what happened? TV came along. And the same thing happened: television further ate into newspapers’ audiences. So the newspapers had an audience and an external event caused their audience to become smaller.
If you’re a user of Instagram Stories, you might know that videos are currently limited to 15 seconds. If you post a longer video, Instagram breaks up the video into 15-second chunks. A new feature will allow you to post longer videos of up to 60 seconds. Instagram hopes that this will eat into TikTok’s and YouTube’s popularity. Instagram hopes this new feature will take some popularity away from TikTok and YouTube.
TikTok, for its part, is experimenting with group messaging. Hmm…I wonder if that might be designed to eat into WhatsApp’s popularity for group messaging?
One day soon, I’ll write a lesson about the popular new way to pay for things in America: installments. Those of you in Latin America, especially Brazil, you know what I’m talking about. Instead of paying upfront, you agree to pay over time in fixed monthly payments. Companies that offer installment payments are hoping to eat into credit card companies’ market share.
Credit card companies dominate online commerce in America. Yes, there are alternatives like PayPal and direct payments. But credit cards and debit cards are by far the most common way to pay online, here in the U.S.
New payment companies are trying to eat into credit cards’ market share. The credit cards have a large percentage of the market; that’s called their market share. And the new companies want to start to take some of that market share for themselves. They want to eat into credit card companies’ market share.
JR’s song of the week
It’s Thursday, so it’s time for JR’s song of the week. This week, it’s “Cold Heart” by Elton John and Dua Lipa. The song is a mixture of three Elton John songs: “Rocket Man” from 1972, “Sacrifice” from 1989, and “Kiss the Bride” from 1983. Both he and Dua Lipa sing the lyrics.
This was released in August 2021 and it was a surprise. Elton John and Dua Lipa each started teasing it on social media and commenting on each other’s posts in early August, and in the middle of the month they released the single.
See you next time!
That’s all for today. Next week, we’ll pick this topic up again with the rise of the subscription newsletter and how that’s changing the media landscape, at least among American media.
Speaking of subscriptions, if you’re looking to upgrade your English in 2022, you can improve your pronunciation, expand your vocabulary, and build your confidence with us at Plain English Plus+ . We have tons of tools and resources to help you get there, and all backed up with a friendly and supportive community of members from around the world. If that sounds like it’s a good fit for you, come check us out at PlainEnglish.com/Plus.
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
