Fill the vacuum
This is always a risk for me…talking about science. But we’ll give it a try. “Fill the vacuum.” It’s not a scientific term per se, but it’s based on a scientific term.
A vacuum is a space with no matter. Air has molecules—molecules are matter. Oxygen, nitrogen, whatever. So, if you’re sitting in a perfectly empty room, it’s still not a vacuum because there’s air.
If there’s a vacuum on earth—like in a laboratory—and if you open it up, air rushes in because there’s a difference in pressure. True vacuums are rare.
Anyway. The expression “fill the vacuum” means to occupy a space or a role that has been left empty by someone or something else. Like many expressions, this isn’t literal; it isn’t exactly like air rushing into a real, physical vacuum. But it’s still helpful to picture this in your mind. Any time there’s an opening, any time someone has left a space or opportunity empty, someone else can come in and fill the vacuum.
Here’s an example from business. A lot of major grocery chains in the U.S. have closed store locations in unprofitable areas. But the people left in those areas still need to eat. So dollar stores have come in to fill the vacuum. Dollar stores are smaller, cheaper—but they offer less healthy food.
They are not ideal. But people need somewhere to shop close to home, especially if they work long hours and care for children. So grocery stores left a vacuum: they left an empty space in the market. And dollar stores—for better or for worse —often fill the vacuum. They see an empty spot and then they take the opportunity, they fill the space left empty by others.
A sad fact about Latin America is that the drug trade is a big business. The soil and altitude in the Andes mountains are perfect for growing coca, the raw ingredient in cocaine. And consumers in North America, Australia, and Europe have a voracious appetite for illegal drugs. It seems like every time there’s a success in one place, another place suffers a setback.
And so it has been with Ecuador. Colombia negotiated a peace with its biggest gangs and increased security at its ports. The biggest gangs disbanded. But that left a vacuum. That left an opportunity for other gangs to step in and take over. And so gangs from Mexico and Albania filled the vacuum…and set up shop in Ecuador .
A person can leave a vacuum, too. If someone is a strong leader and has a lot of power, and if that person retires, leaves the business…or goes to jail, then there can be a space, an opening, an opportunity for someone else. That’s often called a “leadership vacuum.” You can ask, who will step up and be the new leader? Who will fill the leadership vacuum?
The biggest cryptocurrency exchange was FTX. The CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was convicted of fraud and is going to jail . After FTX’s collapse, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange was Binance. The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to money laundering. He might go to jail!
The two most famous leaders in crypto have been toppled. Who will fill the leadership vacuum? We’ll have to wait and see.
A few more quick examples for you. When Russia invaded Ukraine almost two years ago, many foreign companies shut their operations in Russia —that included the big carmakers like Renault, Nissan, and Mercedes. Chinese carmakers filled the vacuum. They took the opportunity.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live events , many fans couldn’t watch their favorite sports games, plays, or concerts. So streaming companies stepped in to fill the vacuum—and they had some record years.
See you next time!
And that’s all for us at Plain English today. I was struggling with this one. It’s not easy to find examples of “fill a vacuum” that don’t have to do with war or depressing topics. Anyway, we made it, you and I together, and JR too. Don’t forget JR helps us every week. He edits the audio, uploads everything to your favorite platforms, he makes sure the transcripts are on PlainEnglish.com, for all of you to enjoy for free. Today’s transcript is at PlainEnglish.com/646.
And we will be back on Thursday with a new lesson. See you then.
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