{"id":8338,"date":"2022-01-31T10:35:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T15:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=8338"},"modified":"2022-01-31T10:35:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T15:35:58","slug":"using-cards-to-negotiate-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/using-cards-to-negotiate-in-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Using cards to negotiate in English"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Everyone\u2019s got their guilty pleasures and I have to admit that lately I have been super into binging legal dramas like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Better Call Saul<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Suits<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. One thing that caught my attention while watching (besides thinking how miserable I would be if I were a lawyer) is the amount of idioms related to playing cards they constantly use. I\u2019ve never been much of a card player myself but it is fascinating to see how games can have such an influence on the language. Most importantly, these expressions and phrases seem to go a long way in in the business place, specially when you are negotiating, having a discussion or trying to reach an agreement. So how about we go over some card-related idioms today? Are you ready? Game on!<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8335\" style=\"width: 546px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8335\" class=\" wp-image-8335\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-kendall-hoopes-1796794.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"536\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-kendall-hoopes-1796794.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-kendall-hoopes-1796794-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8335\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Kendall Hoopes from Pexels<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><strong>to lay your cards on the table<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to be open, honest and straightforward about your intentions, thoughts or plans, not to keep a secret.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Listen, it\u2019s time I <strong>laid my cards on the table<\/strong>. I have no intention of extending my contract if you don\u2019t increase my wages.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The manager <strong>laid his cards on the table<\/strong> and told his team there would be some layoffs in the next trimester.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>to have a card up your sleeve<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to have a hidden advantage that you keep a secret waiting for the right circumstances.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have to tell the boss that we couldn\u2019t get the deal. Unless you <strong>have a card up your sleeve<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">John didn\u2019t do so well on his job interview, but he\u2019s still <strong>got a card up his sleeve<\/strong>: he is very well-connected.<\/span><\/span>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_8334\" style=\"width: 485px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8334\" class=\" wp-image-8334\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668842.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668842.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668842-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8334\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>to hold all the cards<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to be in a position of power and control in a given situation<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well, John. You&#8217;re the CEO\u2019s son, after all. So when it comes to downsizing, you<strong> hold all the cards<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s not much I can do. Since Sarah is a member of the board, she is the one who <strong>holds all the cards<\/strong> about budget cuts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>to play your cards right<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h4><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to make good use of an opportunity, know how to act properly and reasonably in a given situation.<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Greg, just remember that if you <strong>play your cards right<\/strong> during this meeting, you can definitely land these new customers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I overheard the manager saying that if Tom <strong>plays his cards right<\/strong> on this next project, he might get that promotion.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_8336\" style=\"width: 397px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8336\" class=\" wp-image-8336\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-koolshooters-8974501.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"387\" height=\"258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-koolshooters-8974501.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-koolshooters-8974501-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8336\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by KoolShooters from Pexels<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><strong>a house of cards<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">an unstable structure that is bound to collapse\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The government&#8217;s plans to expand the public transportation network in the city proved to be just another <strong>house of cards<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our marketing director got fired because most of his projects turned out to be inefficient <strong>house of cards<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>to overplay your hand<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to be overly confident or think that your position in a given situation is better than it actually is.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When asking for a raise, Gina <strong>overplayed her hand<\/strong> and got fired instead.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The clients are interested in your ideas. Just be careful not to <strong>overplay your hand<\/strong> or we might lose their business.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Have you ever used any of these idioms before? Can you think of any other card-related phrases and expressions on English? We&#8217;d love to hear about them in the comment section! Have a wonderful week ahead, everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-koolshooters-8974501-350x233.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-koolshooters-8974501-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/01\/pexels-koolshooters-8974501.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Everyone\u2019s got their guilty pleasures and I have to admit that lately I have been super into binging legal dramas like Better Call Saul or Suits. One thing that caught my attention while watching (besides thinking how miserable I would be if I were a lawyer) is the amount of idioms related to playing cards&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/using-cards-to-negotiate-in-english\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":8336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,135139,135370],"tags":[554135,554131,554137,333436,554136,554132,554133,554134],"class_list":["post-8338","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-english-language","category-english-vocabulary","tag-card-up-your-sleeve","tag-card-related-idioms","tag-cards-on-the-table","tag-english-idioms","tag-hold-all-the-cards","tag-idioms-about-playing-cards","tag-overplay-your-hand","tag-play-your-cards-right"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8338"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8359,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338\/revisions\/8359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}