Scratch the surface

Scratch the surface

“Scratch the surface.” This is an English idiom, and it means, “to explore only a small part of a larger topic.”

You might know from listening that I’m interested in new technologies. And I’m interested in large language models like GPT, which is behind ChatGPT . I’m primarily interested in learning how to use them to make my business better and more efficient, so that I can provide even better service to all of you in the Plain English audience.

I’ve done some research. I’ve done some reading. I’ve experimented with some things. I’ve learned some code. I’ve worked with a lot of no-code apps. But who are we kidding? I’m not a GPT or AI expert. I’ve just scratched the surface of what these models can do.

I’ve just scratched the surface . That means, all my reading, all my learning, all my experimenting, all my trial and error: it only represents a small part of this much, much bigger topic. There’s a lot I don’t know. I’ll never know it all!

I know a lot. But I’ve only scratched the surface. I’ve only explored a small percentage of this bigger topic.

I’ve been living in Mexico for a year, actually about 16 months. I’ve tried to sample as much Mexican food as I can here, within the bounds of my budget and my diet. But I’ve only scratched the surface. There’s so much food from all the different regions: I’ve tried a lot of new food, but if you add it all up, it’s still only a small percentage of the country’s rich cuisine. I’ve only scratched the surface.

Black holes are one of the mysteries of the universe. Back in 2019, scientists released the first image of a black hole . But for all astronomers know, they admit that we’ve only scratched the surface of black holes. They’ve only learned and understood a small amount of what there is to know about them.

There was a big scandal in Brazil—actually all of Latin America—called the Car Wash scandal . In 2014, Brazilian police were investigating a car wash in the capital, Brasilia. They suspected that the car wash was being used to launder money. They were right. It was being used to launder money. But they had only scratched the surface of what would become a continent-wide corruption scandal.

They had only scratched the surface because, by investigating that one little car wash, they—at that point—only understood a small part of a much bigger pattern of criminal and corrupt activity.

I’m always looking out for you guys, and I want you to succeed in English. So here’s a tip on how to sound really smart—in English. Explain something really complicated to someone. Explain something you know a lot about. And right when the other person gives you a confused look, just say, “Of course, we’ve only scratched the surface of this topic.”

See you next time!

That’s all for today. Now listen. If you’ve only ever experienced Plain English by listening to the audio lessons, then you’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible with Plain English.

At PlainEnglish.com—with the free and Plus+ memberships—you can practice what you learn, get feedback, join a live conversation call, watch step-by-step video lessons, practice your pronunciation, practice your writing, take quizzes, take courses—we even have a course about ChatGPT . If you all you do is listen—that’s great! It’s a great step. But just realize, you’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible with Plain English.

So if you’ve not been to our website yet, this is your excuse, this is your reason. Go to PlainEnglish.com/join and take a look at the membership options we have there. There’s a free membership you can start with, it includes the transcripts, review quizzes, ChatGPT course—and a few more free goodies.

So check it out: PlainEnglish.com/join

We’ll be back here on Monday with a new story. See you then.