For a living
Today’s expression is an easy one. This is almost like a day off for you, that’s how easy this expression is. This may be an easy expression to understand, but you absolutely need to know how to use it in English. The expression is, “for a living.” Living ends in -ing, but in this case it’s a noun.
What you do “for a living” is your primary source of income. In today’s lesson, you heard that patients who suffer from long Covid can experience brain fog . One symptom of brain fog is not being able to find the right word. I gave an example of one person who couldn’t find the right word. She is a radio journalist; she talks for a living. If your business, your career, your primary way of making money is talking on the radio, then you can’t afford to lose your place and be unable to form a sentence or find the right word.
Before the pandemic, a lot of people moved to New York to try to make it in live theater. It’s a difficult life for a young actor—all the auditions, callbacks, hearing “no” over and over. It’s hard to make a living as an actor in New York. Most of the people that you see on stage at smaller theaters don’t perform for a living. Yes, they make some money for their performance. But most actors—and I’m not talking about the famous ones on Broadway—but most actors do something else for a living, and they perform at night. A lot work in restaurants, retail, and the hospitality industry because the hours are flexible. What does that actor do for a living? He works in hospitality, but he performs at night.
What do you do for a living? That’s what you might say if you want to know a person’s career. I would caution you that this is a somewhat direct way of asking the question, “How do you make money?” It’s a little more polite to say, “What do you do for work?” or “What’s your career?” or simply, “What do you do?” If you add “for a living,” at least to me, you’re asking a little too directly how they make money. However, it’s common to use “for a living” when talking about someone that’s not in the conversation. For example, you might ask: “What does her husband do for a living?” Or, “I wonder what that guy does for a living.”
Here are a few variations on this expression. “She makes a good living” means that someone earns a relatively high income. You might describe a friend who started a business that is now successful. She makes a good living selling software to large companies. She makes a lot of money doing that.
You can use this to say that it’s difficult to make a comfortable income doing a certain activity. For example, it’s hard to make a living selling used cars these days. The market is getting more competitive and more consumer-friendly , as we’ve discussed. That’s great if you’re buying a used car. But if you’re working in car dealership selling the cars, it’s another story. It’s hard to make a living selling used cars. It’s certainly possible—and some people do make a good living in car sales—but that’s becoming increasingly difficult with all the online tools.
“Earn a living” is another variant. “He can barely earn a living with his acting career. I think it’s time for him to try something else.” That means, he can just barely make ends meet with his acting career. He doesn’t have much money left over. He does earn a living—he does make enough money—but he doesn’t have much left over.
I used to do a lot of business travel before covid. That’s a tough way to earn a living. That means it’s difficult to work in that environment. That’s a tough way to make your money. Some people love it—I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it—but it’s a tough way to earn a living. Alarm at 4:00 am on Monday morning, taxis, hotels, restaurant meals, interrupted sleep, always in a new place. It’s a tough way to earn a living. I prefer working at home!
JR’s song of the week
Today’s song of the week is “Amsterdam” by Gregory Alan Isakov. It’s from the album “The Weatherman” and is inspired by his travels to the Netherlands. In the lyrics he sings about his “silhouette,” which is his shadow. He says his shadow will “follow me down every street” no matter what my crime. “Amsterdam” by Gregory Alan Isakov is today’s song of the week—thanks JR.
See you next time!
And that’s all for today. I listened to Gregory Alan Isakov a few years ago and really liked it; I think I was listening on a road trip or something. I’ll have to go back and listen to the rest of the Weatherman album.
Speaking of weatherman: do you remember I said I was holding out hope for a good Memorial Day weekend? It was freezing the first day—I was under a blanket on Friday night, it was so cold. But it gradually got better and I even got outside to enjoy the sun, even if it didn’t quite feel like summer.
Remember that the rest of this lesson, including a full transcript, is available at PlainEnglish.com/373. And we’ll be back next Monday with another lesson. See you then!
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