T-learning # Idiom
Speak Like a Native

a slowcoach

Choose the correct definition a, b or c.

a) a very old car

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

b) the trainer of a bad team

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c) a person who does things slowly

Well done ! That’s the right answer.

A slowcoach (sometimes spelt in two words ‘slow coach’), in informal British English, refers to a person who moves, acts, or works slowly. It is said of someone who takes more time than necessary ; someone who lags behind.

The equivalent term in US and Canadian English is ‘slowpoke’.

French translation

un traînard

How NOT to translate : *un coach lent, or un car lent
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Examples in context

Slowcoach dividend-cutters will be punished for lagging behind

Investors reward companies quick to curb payments as few want to see groups splashing cash

Marks and Spencer was among the early birds to cut dividends

Get your punishment in early. If ever there was a time to cut dividends, it is probably now. The penalty for most of the 30-plus listed businesses that have decided to pass, cut or delay payouts to investors since the coronavirus outbreak has been more carrot than stick. AJ Bell has totted up how much — £500m of dividend cuts and deferrals announced on Monday, nearly £1.5bn since the end of February from the likes of Marks and Spencer to Marston’s. A bevy of businesses said they were considering a cut in the future. And several groups — including Pearson, Playtech, Direct Line and Sage — said they were abandoning share buy-back plans.’

Financial Times, 23 March 2020

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Everyday usage

Come on, slowcoach ! If you don’t hurry up, we’ll be late.

He is a slow coach, I can’t stand working with him. I have to do all the job myself !


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