Follow suit

Follow suit

Today is already a long episode, so I had every intention of picking an easy word to explain, something I could explain in just a minute or two, but I realized I used a complicated expression that you should probably know, so here goes. The expression is “follow suit,” and it means, to do the same thing as someone else. Germany introduced Daylight Saving Time during World War I to save on fuel, and many other countries followed suit shortly thereafter—they did the same thing.

Now, to help you remember this, let me share where this phrase comes from. You know playing cards, like you use for poker or whatnot, playing cards have four suits: spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds. Those designs are called suits. And in many card games, when one player plays a card of one suit, the next player has to play a card of the same suit. So if one player puts down a heart, then the next player has to follow suit by also playing a heart.

So what does the English expression follow suit mean? It means to follow someone’s example, to do the same thing as someone else. Germany introduced Daylight Saving Time, then Britain and other countries followed suit; they did the same thing. They also introduced Daylight Saving Time.

Let me give you a few other examples. One thing we discussed a couple of months back is that many offices in the US are going to a more casual dress code. Recently, a lot of companies in my industry let their employees wear jeans any day of the week, and about a year ago, my company followed suit. They also decided to let us wear jeans five days a week if we like (as long as we don’t have important meetings). Our competitors first started doing it, then my company followed suit. They followed the example; they did the same thing.

That’s all for today—thanks for hanging in there with this long episode. Quick plug for the email list. PlainEnglish.com/mail – if you want to get the email summaries of each episode, with links to English articles about the main topic and one bonus vocabulary word or phrase each episode—that’s twice a week, then go to PlainEnglish.com/mail and sign up.

JR and I will be back again on Thursday with episode number 85. Don’t forget to join us twice a week by clicking “subscribe” in your podcast app or “follow” if you listen on Spotify. We have tons and tons of new listeners and JR and I are both so happy to have each and everyone one of you with us. Congratulations on learning English. It is a great thing to do and if you’re listening to and understanding this program, then you have already learned a lot and you have a lot to be proud of. See you right back here on Thursday.