Take a hit
The expression we’re going to talk about today is “to take a hit.” What does it mean “to take a hit”? It means to be affected badly by something. And it’s very, very common to say that someone’s reputation took a hit when that person’s reputation is damaged.
Earlier in this episode, you heard that Carlos Ghosn’s reputation took a hit in Japan after he was accused of under-reporting his income and using Nissan company assets for his personal benefit. Without commenting on whether any of that is true, it is definitely true that his reputation in Japan took a hit. His reputation—the way people see him—suffered.
Who else has seen their reputation take a hit? Right around the same time Ghosn was being arrested, we were living through the #MeToo movement, and many people in the entertainment industry saw their reputations take a hit. For some of them, their reputations took a serious hit. That’s what you would say when someone’s reputation is very badly damaged: that person’s reputation took a serious hit.
That’s one common way to use it, when you’re talking about a person whose reputation has been badly damaged. But you can also talk about an enterprise, like a business or an entire industry, taking a hit. After a recent conflict in the Middle East, stocks in the United States took a hit. That means stock prices fell after disturbing news came to light.
If an entire industry suffers from some external event, you can say that industry has taken a hit. It’s been a few years, but every so often the US state of Florida suffers from a bad hurricane season. In those years, you see pictures of beachfront properties badly damaged, water everywhere, hotels closed for renovations. When that happens, you’d say that the tourism industry in Florida has taken a hit from a bad hurricane season. The whole industry suffered from that one event or one trend. The whole industry had lower sales.
The US, Canada, and Mexico have a new trade agreement and the three countries have a deeply integrated auto manufacturing industry. Parts and supplies go back and forth over borders and any changes in trade agreements or tariffs or rules can affect carmakers. Analysts now think automakers will take a big hit from the new trade agreement, which is expected to increase labor costs in Mexico and increase duties and tariffs on parts moving across borders. The auto industry is expected to take a big hit from that—in this case, the hit isn’t lower sales, but higher costs.
So once more, to take a hit is to suffer badly. And we often say that a person’s reputation has taken a hit, or that a business, industry, or enterprise takes a hit if it suffers from some external event.
Quote of the week
Here’s our quote of the week. It’s from Carlos Ghosn himself. Here’s what he once said, and you tell me if his recent actions are consistent with this believe. Here it is: “You’ll never convince me there is a hopeless situation or there is any finality in any success or any failure.”
Say what you like about what he did. You can agree with it, disagree with it. But he staged an escape from Japan where he was being held for trial. As we learned at the end, he’s not totally out of the woods yet. But the man lived up to his quote. He certainly didn’t think that situation was hopeless. So here once more is the quote, which may shed light on the businessman’s mindset as he planned his escape. “You’ll never convince me there is a hopeless situation or there is any finality in any success or any failure.”
That’s all for today. Coming up on Thursday, I couldn’t resist this story. The father of preventative medicine—you know preventative medicine. The idea is you take some steps today and you hopefully don’t get a terrible disease later. The father of preventative medicine recently turned 100 and is still working. It’s a great story, lighthearted, but a good one, and that is coming up on Thursday. Make sure to join us then!
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