English phrase of the day: Beyond your pay grade

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Hello students! Do you know what it means for something to be beyond your pay grade? That’s our phrase of the day, and I saw it in a TV show where a married couple was getting a divorce. The man was talking to his friend and asking for some advice. He started to ask some more technical legal questions, and the friend replied, “That’s beyond my pay grade” and suggested the man get a lawyer.

If something is beyond your pay grade, it means it is outside your area of skill or knowledge -usually “higher” or more advanced / more complicated than what you know or what you can do. The man’s friend could give him general advice, but he couldn’t answer the legal questions about divorce -those questions were beyond his pay grade, more advanced than his knowledge -so that’s why he advised the guy to get a lawyer.

To use an example for myself, I know how to film videos and publish them on YouTube -but if someone asked me for more scientific details about how a video camera works, I would say that’s beyond my pay grade -it’s more advanced than my area of knowledge.

Thanks for joining me today. I’ll be back tomorrow with a new daily phrase

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English phrase of the day: Beyond your pay grade Espresso English

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