Take something lying down
Today’s English expression is to “take something lying down,” but we always use this expression in a negative form. What I mean by that is, we always say, “Someone didn’t take that lying down” or “Someone isn’t taking that lying down.”
When we say that someone “isn’t taking something lying down,” we mean the person is fighting back against some type of aggression. There’s usually some type of rivalry or competition. One party in the competition attacks in some way or makes an aggressive move. The other party responds with a counterattack. When someone responds with a counterattack, we say that person isn’t taking it lying down.
In today’s lesson, you learned that Taylor Swift is re-recording her first five albums so that she owns the synchronization rights and the rights to the master recordings. This has always been possible, but not very common. This was a direct challenge to the rights-holders of her original master recordings. If Taylor Swift is going to do this, then maybe more artists in the future will do the same thing.
Universal Music is the biggest record label. They aren’t the owners of Taylor Swift’s back catalog, but they are the owners to the master recordings of other artists. They saw Taylor Swift’s tactic as a threat to their business. And they aren’t taking this lying down. That means they’re going to do something about it. They can’t change contracts that are already in place, but they can change contracts with new artists they sign in the future. And guess what? These contracts are going to have a longer exclusivity window.
So, in this example, one party (Taylor Swift) made a move to empower artists at the expense of record labels. The record labels aren’t taking it lying down, meaning that the record labels are responding with their own move. That move isn’t against Taylor Swift, but against new artists that haven’t yet been discovered.
Apple and Facebook (now called Meta) are business rivals. Apple recently changed privacy settings on its phones; these new settings let users opt-out of being tracked around the internet. Well, guess who makes a lot of money on tracking users around the internet? Facebook does. Now advertisers on Facebook can’t target users as precisely as before. So, Apple strengthened its privacy rules, hurting Facebook’s advertising business.
Facebook isn’t taking this lying down. They are looking forward to a new type of online world called the “metaverse.” Apple and Google have dominated the smartphone era, but Facebook is tired of simply accepting whatever terms Apple and Google dictate.
Facebook wants to be the Apple and Google of the metaverse. So, they are investing heavily in this new idea; Facebook even changed its name to Meta to signal its commitment to this new type of online world. Therefore, we can say that Facebook—er, Meta—isn’t taking it lying down; it’s responding with its own ecosystem that it, Meta, not Apple, will control.
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and husband of Prince Harry, recently won a court battle against a newspaper in Britain. The newspaper published excerpts of a letter she had written to her father. She didn’t take that violation of her privacy lying down; she sued the newspaper group and recently won in a British court.
Quote of the Week
Today’s quote of the week is from Taylor Swift. She says, “I think fearless is having fears but jumping anyway.” Sometimes we describe risk-takers as “fearless.” But this quote says that maybe that’s not true. Someone who takes big risks has fears but jumps anyway—or takes the risk anyway. So, today’s quote again from Taylor Swift is, “I think fearless is having fears but jumping anyway.”
See you next time!
I wonder if JR is going to pick a Taylor Swift song on Thursday for the song of the week. And I wonder if he picks one if it’s going to be a re-release or not. Who knows? We have to wait until Thursday to see what he picks. Hopefully, JR listens to the lessons he produces; we’ll find out on Thursday.
In the meantime, that is all for today’s lesson. If you want to stream a Taylor Swift song and reward the artist herself, then pick a version that says “Taylor’s version.” I’m up to the song called “Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor’s version”) on my playlist. I’ve never been a big Taylor Swift fan, but I’ll start listening more. These songs are pretty good.
Remember last week; we talked about QR codes—or, I should say, 2-D barcodes. We talked about how they’re made and what type of information is contained in that confusing black and white box. Well, coming up on Thursday, we’ll talk about all the ways QR codes are being used in the world. See you then!
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