An excellent video for business people and learners and our topic for business conversation next week!
- wakefordian
- Mar 6
- 2 min read
(Pre-listening vocabulary exercise below)
The State of the Union seems like a long time ago
Mar 06, 2026
Vocabulary for Paul Krugmen's Video
Here is a 19 word vocabulary list you can pre-study to prepare to listen to Paul Krugmen's video about the President's speech and the state of the US economy. You can also click the button to go to some vocabulary exercises in my Google Drive.
State of the Union = a yearly presentation by the US president on conditions in the US
golden age = a period when conditions are the best and all is well
to allay (fears) = to calm or reduce ( fears, things you are worried about)
to boast = to show off, to claim to be the best, to say things that show your greatness
my alley = (1) a small back street, (2) your area, field, a subject you know about
noisy (data) = data that don't show a clear trend, data with lots of error/variability
to flatline = to die (medical- heart monitor shows no beats), to stay the same
liberation day = in this case, the day Trump announced his tariff plan, April 2, 2025
supply/demand = key concepts in economics, production and consumption
pogrom = rare word, violent targeted attack (against immigrants in this case)
a boom = a period of economic growth or increase in popularity
crude = unrefined oil, oil straight from the ground as in Texas Crude
to crack = to pass a barrier, to exceed some limit or line
(the price) at the pump = the price of gas to consumers, at the gas station
a gallon = US unit of measurement for liquids , 3.78 litres
ordinarily = usually
to lop off = to cut off (usually a bigish, casual kind of cut) to remove
to contemplate = to think about x, to consider x, thinking about it a bit of a dreamy way rather than technical or calculating kind of way
forethought = thinking about in advance, planning,
in denial = to refuse to accept something that is clear or obvious, a term from psychology
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