Get off to a good start
Threads got off to a good start . To get off to a good start simply means “to start well.” And typically we use this when the way something starts affects the mood or tone or foundation for the future.
“Threads” had high expectations. If it had not started well, then the project could have ended just as quickly as it started. But it got off to a good start, and its initial momentum will set the foundation for it to grow in the future and for Meta to continue to make improvements.
I finished writing this lesson on a Monday. I got off to a good start that day. I was up early, I had slept well the night before, I had a good breakfast. I was ready to go. Who knows what will happen later in the week! But I got off to a good start. I started well and that laid the foundation for the rest of the week.
You can use lots of different words instead of “good.” We got off to a bad start means just the opposite—the start was not good and that set a negative mood for the future. I recently went to Las Vegas for some meetings. I missed my flight. I got off to a bad start. I got to the hotel at 10:00—pm! 10:00 pm—and my room was not ready. This trip got off to a bad start. It definitely got better over time , but it did not begin well.
Here are some other words you can use to describe starting well: “We got off to a strong start.” That’s probably the most common. We got off to a positive start, a great start, a promising start. We got off to a promising start means that the beginning of a process showed promise , or suggested there would be future success. We got off to a smooth start means, everything went well. There were no problems. It was smooth, it was successful.
And here are some more that you can use to describe starting…not so well: “We got off to a difficult start.” That’s common. Or, We got off to a rough start, a challenging start.
CNN+ was a streaming service associated with CNN, the cable news network. It was hyped as the future of television news. CNN invested $300 million in the platform. But it got off to a disastrous start. Nobody wanted it. CNN+ didn’t carry news, which CNN is known for . It carried fluffy talk shows and consumers were not willing to pay for that. Subscriber numbers were low. The beginning was a disaster, so we say it got off to a disastrous start. And that set the tone for CNN+’s entire, brief existence. The streaming service lasted precisely 30 days. Three weeks after it launched, executives canceled it. One week later it was gone.
Way back in lesson 13—and I remember this, it’s not often I remember things from those double-digit lessons—but back in lesson 13, we talked about a “rocky start .” And that is another variation on the theme. If you get off to a rocky start, that means your start was not terrible, but not smooth either. There were some problems.
I got off to a rocky start with my landlord here in Mexico. Yes, me! When I got here to Mexico, I didn’t have a bank account and I had to pay a deposit of three months of rent—don’t ask. Anyway, there’s a limit on how much money you can take out of an ATM every day. I didn’t know that. Or I guess I knew it, but I didn’t think I would hit the limit.
Well I did. And I had to give my deposit and I couldn’t get enough money in cash to pay the deposit. And since I didn’t have a local bank account yet, I couldn’t transfer the money like a normal person. So we had to delay the official signing of the lease until I could wait 24 hours to get enough cash from the ATM to pay my deposit. We got off to a rocky start! It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t smooth. To my landlord’s credit, he was patient with my situation and everything is going just fine now. We got off to a rocky start, but everything is better now.
See you next time!
All right, so we’ll do a few Threads. Check it out. PlainEnglishPod on Threads . I’ll link to it in the transcript. If you follow us on Instagram, you can find us on Threads. PlainEnglishPod on both platforms. We’ll be back here on Thursday with a new lesson. See you then.
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