Recipe for disaster

Recipe for disaster

Today’s main story was longer than usual, so we’ll do a quick phrase: “a recipe for disaster.” When something is a recipe for disaster, it means all the factors needed for a disaster are in place. Like I said before, the forest atop Notre-Dame was a recipe for disaster: dry wood, lots of air, and not easily accessible to firefighters—not to mention the fact that Notre-Dame itself is on a tiny island in Paris. Everything you needed for a disaster was there. It was a recipe for disaster.

Do you remember the dam that collapsed in Brazil? It just buried this town under a river of mud. What did we have in that case? The mines were not well-inspected. The companies cut corners in constructing them; that means they did them cheaply and didn’t do a high quality job. In previous dam collapses, nobody was really punished, so the mining companies were not really afraid of what would happen to them if something went wrong. So is it any surprise that it happened again? Sounds like that was a recipe for disaster. It was almost inevitable: all the factors you need for a disaster were there.

Boeing. I hate to keep bringing this up again, but that plane was rushed to market. They didn’t give the pilots enough training. That 737-MAX was so complex, and Boeing tried to pretend it was just like previous 737’s when really important parts of its computer system were actually new. And some of the safety features were optional and not installed on all the planes. That was a recipe for disaster.

You can use it in a light-hearted way. Here’s a recipe for disaster: me trying to paint a room. First of all, I don’t have enough time, so I’m likely to try to rush through it. Second of all, I’m not very handy around the house, if you know what I mean. I can change a lightbulb and hang a picture, but that’s about it. My talents are elsewhere, shall we say. I’m no good with painting tape. I don’t spread the paint evenly on the wall. If I try to paint a room in my apartment…well, let’s just say that’s a recipe for disaster.

Okay, so there you have it, four examples of a recipe for disaster.

Song of the week

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: JR’s song of the week. To get us going, JR picked a song of his own. But in the future, we will be accepting nominations for the song of the week, and we’re working on putting together a Spotify playlist, too, so stay tuned for that.

The song JR picked is “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi. It came out in 1988 and talks about a conventional couple, the man is working, the wife is at home, and they hope that if they stick by each other, that will be enough to reach their goal. It is like an anthem for the state of New Jersey, where Jon Bon Jovi is from, and is a popular cover song for rock bands, karaoke, weddings, things like that, in the US. “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi is the first song of the week, chosen by JR. Check that one out for a classic American rock song, a staple of karaoke and weddings everywhere in the US.

That’s all for today’s episode. Thanks for being with us on Plain English. JR and I will be back with a new episode on Monday. You won’t want to miss it. Don’t forget to sign up for the episode emails by going to PlainEnglish.com/mail . See you Monday!