Today is the last class of our current four-class set. We will begin with a collocations exercise. Our grammar unit today is unit 140. Our reading today is about copying Korean companies. The vocabulary words will come from our reading. Please be able to recognize them in class. 

For our listening exercise, we will listen to a story by Planet Money. It is about the Art of War. I included the transcript, but I want you to you to listen! Please listen first or listen and read. For the listening, I have included one question. If you want to write a paragraph about the question- I will edit it for you. 

Vocabulary

• bogus- (adj) not genuine or true; fake.
• cachet- (noun) the state of being respected or admired; prestige.
• vibe- (noun) a person's emotional state or the atmosphere of a place as communicated to and felt by others.
• knock-off - (noun) an item intended to look like something it is not, such as an expensive watch or designer clothes. 

Click HERE for the reading

Listening Question: Why do some people think the Art of War is a good book for business? What do you think? 

(SOUNDBITE OF DROP ELECTRIC SONG, "WAKING UP TO THE FIRE")

CARDIFF GARCIA, HOST:

Hey, everyone. It's Cardiff and Stacey.

STACEY VANEK SMITH, HOST:

Hello.

GARCIA: And it is yet another day on THE INDICATOR when we are talking about business and economics beach reads.

VANEK SMITH: Because who says that you can't take economics to the beach? Not me.

GARCIA: But yeah, these are books that are readable and fun and will teach you something, hopefully, about economics.

VANEK SMITH: Yes. It is business at the beach. And my book for today is not exactly an economics book. But it is one of those kind of cliche books you always see recommended on every CEO's reading list and the list of, like, all these business gurus.

GARCIA: Yeah, right next to "Atlas Shrugged."

VANEK SMITH: Right next to "Atlas Shrugged," exactly.

GARCIA: Yeah, thanks.

VANEK SMITH: It's on a bunch of Amazon lists, you know, of recommended reading for managers and entrepreneurs. It is "The Art Of War" by Sun Tzu. It was written in the 6th century B.C. by a Chinese general. But there are a bunch of modern iterations of this book. There's "The Art Of War For Executives," "The Art Of War For Managers," "The Art Of War For Women."

GARCIA: What is going on?

VANEK SMITH: Right? What is going on? I mean, why are management consultants and corporate lawyers reading about things like, you know, how to handle an attack in unexpected weather? But, you know, this is everywhere, right? You see it in TV shows, in movies. And, in fact, in the movie "Wall Street," the movie "Wall Street" with Michael Douglas, he has this whole passage about "The Art Of War."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WALL STREET")

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: (As Gordon Gekko) I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun Tzu - "The Art Of War." Every battle is won before it's ever fought. Think about it.

VANEK SMITH: (Laughter).

GARCIA: He's talking like he's leading the raid on bin Laden, OK?

VANEK SMITH: I know.

GARCIA: Like, he's talking about the world of private takeovers. Like, this is stupid. You know what I mean?

VANEK SMITH: I know. He's, like, buying little pieces of a company, selling little pieces of a company. Today, THE INDICATOR goes to the beach with Sun Tzu. And we look at why corporate leaders are consulting this book, you know, about hand-to-hand combat. I mean, what can this advice possibly offer to someone who's, like, day trading or, you know, working in an advertising agency?

GARCIA: He himself would probably have one of those jobs.

VANEK SMITH: Oh, no. You think Sun Tzu would? No, Sun Tzu would have a podcast (laughter). Sun Tzu would have a podcast.

GARCIA: He'd be the competition, yeah.

VANEK SMITH: (Laughter) Sun Tzu would have a podcast.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VANEK SMITH: Sun Tzu's "The Art Of War" has basically been a best seller for about 2,500 years. And it's a wonderful book. But I cannot understand why corporate America is so obsessed with it. I mean, running a company is not like going to war. It's weird. Why are businesspeople taking advice meant for warriors? Why are they talking like warriors, like annihilating the competition, when you're just trying to sell more, you know, paper clips than your competitor or going into battle when you're just trying earn a little bit more money than you did a few months ago? To understand this a little bit better, I called up John McWhorter. He teaches linguistics at Columbia University. And he's the host of this great podcast called Lexicon Valley. I don't know - what do you think is going on there?

JOHN MCWHORTER: I hate it.

VANEK SMITH: (Laughter) You hate "The Art Of War"?

MCWHORTER: I hate it. When you mentioned that, it reminds me of a business I worked for 25 years ago. It was a naming organization that helps come up with names, brand names...

VANEK SMITH: Oh, sure.

MCWHORTER: ...For things. That's a pretty interesting thing. Somebody came up with the name Aquafresh for that toothpaste. That's pretty good if you really had no idea what the toothpaste is going to be called. And the first thing that they would give you as sort of what was supposed to get your glands going was "The Art Of War" by Sun Tzu. And I remember thinking, what in God's name does this little book with these little aphorisms about beating people and competition have to do with making up the names for things? If anything, there's an activity that's sedentary. Technically, they're just drinking coffee. But they're talking the way people talk to each other...

VANEK SMITH: General Patton (laughter).

MCWHORTER: ...When they're slitting one another's throat. Exactly. That's what it is.

(LAUGHTER)

MCWHORTER: I would think that what you would want to do in this job is be creative, maybe a little bit puckish, flexible. The idea here is not to beat the hell out of the other naming organizations.

VANEK SMITH: (Laughter).

MCWHORTER: I just thought, this doesn't help. You know, if they're trying to be a good naming organization, assigning people "The Art Of War" really has nothing to do with anything. And I thought at the time, it's as if they think they're stockbrokers.

VANEK SMITH: Were there people at your company that were super into it - like, people at this naming company were like, oh, yeah, like, five different ways to set fire to people or whatever (laughter)?

MCWHORTER: You know, the funny thing - that company's employees were not like that. The people who they had working there were sort of mild-mannered aspiring academics like me. And none of us, I think, really got anything out of reading Sun Tzu. We were kind of words people who wanted to go home and read and listen to NPR. It's a very limited aspect of what creativity is. It's a very limited aspect of what sharing is. And yet I think it's easy to kind of miss, as life goes on, if you're in that culture, that there are other ways of interacting because there can be something narcotic about all of that, you know, bro bonding that involves loud noises and quick, facile affirmations. It's all very, you know, "Wolf Of Wall Street." There's something to that. You know, that was a great movie. Anybody wouldn't mind spending one day in that movie.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WOLF OF WALL STREET")

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: (As Jordan Belfort) I'm going to let you on a little secret about these telephones. Without you, they're just worthless hunks of plastic, like a loaded M16 without a trained Marine to pull the trigger. It's up to each and every one of you.

My killers who will not take no for an answer, who will not hang up the phone until their client either buys or (yelling) dies.

(CHEERING)

MCWHORTER: But I think there are different ways of being human. And that language does tend to discourage you from thinking about those things because you look like what needs to be called a weak sister if, amidst all of that boom, bang, boom, you suggest that we take it down a notch and try to think in some other ways.

VANEK SMITH: So what about all of this, like, war talk and reading about war and talking in these, like, warlike ways? Does that have an effect on the way people see themselves?

MCWHORTER: You know, this is what I always say about things like that. Language can help shape a world view because the metaphors that we use have a way of subtly giving us a sense of what normality is. And so for example, to the extent that you say hitting the ball out of the ballpark and various metaphors of that kind - to the extent that they tend to refer to masculine activities, it might encourage a certain sense that it's male to triumph as opposed to - just to fit in, which is supposedly feminine. And so it's a part of the modern culture. I don't think it's going to go away. But it is why that kind of man is driven to using that particular kind of language. It's fun, really. It's just that the culture didn't encourage doing it to such an extent before - I imagine this probably starts in a real way in the '80s.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WALL STREET")

DOUGLAS: (As Gordon Gekko) You win a few. You lose a few. But you keep on fighting. And if you need a friend get a dog. It's trench warfare out there, pal.

GARCIA: This is really silly.

VANEK SMITH: You don't think of yourself as, like, going to battle with your deadline?

GARCIA: No, not at all.

VANEK SMITH: (Laughter).

GARCIA: I'm trying to, like, get my work done.

VANEK SMITH: (Laughter). Anyway, I actually read the book. It's not very long. It's really beautiful, actually. It's very sort of philosophical and thoughtful. And there's something sort of weirdly peaceful about it. I really loved it.

GARCIA: About "The Art Of War"?

VANEK SMITH: About "The Art Of War." He's all about sort of, like, winning the war before it starts and all these things. I mean, there are these funny chapters, like, five different ways of attacking your enemy with fire, just in case you were ever wondering. Now I know this...

GARCIA: I feel like I just need one, you know?

VANEK SMITH: That's true. That's true. But, in fact, you just have four in your back pocket.

GARCIA: Yeah, why not?

VANEK SMITH: That's never a bad thing.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

VANEK SMITH: Today's episode was produced by Constanza Gallardo. Also, if you have a question about the economy or about business or about something you've been hearing in the news, send us an email. We would love to look at your questions. It is indicator@npr.org.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)