Stay afloat | English expression meaning | Free online lesson with examples (2024)

Stay afloat

Today’s English expression is to “stay afloat.” This has one very specific use. We use “stay afloat” when we’re talking about a business struggling to survive, or a person is struggling to keep their finances in order .

“Afloat” simply means, floating in the water, staying above the surface of the water. When you think about this expression, I want you to think about a damaged boat out on the ocean. You’re on the boat. Water is coming in the bottom. You’re worried the boat might sink. Your job is to keep the boat above the surface of the water until help arrives. You’re trying to keep the boat “afloat,” above the surface of the water so the boat doesn’t sink.

That’s the image I want you to have in your mind as we talk about “stay afloat” in a business or personal finance setting. A business that is struggling to stay afloat is not in danger of sinking into the ocean, but of going bankrupt or simply having to shut its doors.

During the pandemic, travel ground to a halt . Nobody was flying. Governments gave airlines loans so the airlines could stay alive. Hotels furloughed their staff and delayed payments on their mortgages. But one type of business in the travel sector got no such help: the rental car agencies.

With almost nobody renting cars and high fixed expenses, rental car agencies were in trouble . So, they sold off large parts of their fleets just to stay afloat. That means, they had to sell a lot of their cars just to stay in business. They couldn’t afford to keep all those assets sitting idle as their bills piled up. So, they had to sell a lot of cars just to stay afloat. That may have been necessary to stay afloat during the worst of the pandemic, but nobody knew that travel would come roaring back and that rental car agencies would be desperate for cars less than a year later.

What did restaurants do to stay afloat? Some of them opened elaborate outdoor patios to serve customers outside. Others switched to a take-out or delivery-only model . Sadly, not every restaurant was able to stay afloat. Some of my favorites have closed. But many restaurants were only able to stay afloat by simplifying their menus, switching to delivery-only, and relying on short-term loans. They were able to stay afloat—to keep from closing—only by doing those things.

I scanned Google News for examples of “stay afloat” and most of them related to businesses. But as I mentioned earlier, you can also use this to describe a person or a family’s finances. One article I saw said this: a person was juggling multiple jobs just to stay afloat. That means the person had to work more than one job just to meet the needs of her family.

Trying to “stay afloat” or struggling to “stay afloat” is not the same as just going through hard times. It’s not the same as “stretched thin ,” for example. When you’re struggling to stay afloat, there is a real possibility that you might not make it. If a business is struggling to stay afloat, there is a real danger that the business might have to shut down or go bankrupt. If a family is struggling to stay afloat, there is a real danger they might lose their house or be forced into bankruptcy.

Quote of the Week

“Catch-22” is a classic American novel by Joseph Heller. It’s also a movie. The book is now recognized as one of the best satirical novels in American literature. Despite all that, the author never made all that much money from the book, as is sadly often the case with great works of art.

He was at a party thrown by a very rich man one time when Kurt Vonnegut, another American writer, commented to Joseph Heller that the owner of the house made more money in a day than he, Heller, had made in total from his novel Catch-22.

And Heller’s reply is this week’s quote of the week. Speaking about the owner of the house, Heller said, “Yes, but I have something he’ll never have—enough!”

See you next time!

I like that one. Well, that brings us to the end of this week’s Plain English. Congratulations again on all the hard work you’re doing to upgrade your English, and thanks so much for including us in your study plan. I just love these moments that we spend together each week and I know that you’re making tons of progress, too.

Remember this was lesson number 414 and the full lesson, courtesy of JR, is at PlainEnglish.com/414. If you’re not yet a member at PlainEnglish.com, sign up now and you’ll unlock access to the transcripts and full archives of our 414 previous English lesson sets.

We’ll be back again on Thursday when we’ll talk about a special kind of helpline established in a South American capital city. I’ll leave you in suspense until then. See you Thursday!