English, baby!

on a shoestring

Date: May 11 2006

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“My favorite films are those that were made on a shoestring.”

Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta, talking about the kind of movies he likes.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

using very little money

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

If you live on a shoestring, you have very little money and live very cheaply. For example, many college students live on a shoestring budget. They eat cheap food, buy cheap clothes, and live in cheap apartments.

In the example above, Alan Moore is saying that he prefers movies that do not cost a lot of money to make. He thinks that movies made on a shoestring require a lot more creativity to make the movie good.

For you hardcore travelers, Lonely Planet publishes a series of books about traveling on a shoestring, such as Europe on a Shoestring, South East Asia on a Shoestring and New York City on a Shoestring. These books list inexpensive hotels, cheap restaurants, and affordable sightseeing activities.

When you travel, do you like to do it on a shoestring or do you like to spend a lot of money?

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

“Penny traveled around Europe on a shoestring.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

	a small or inadequate budget by hossein99
	Alan Moore says that he prefers those movies made with short financial resources. by dolenta
	I think that it means "very little money". by changge12345
	Maybe the movies that costed very little money. by dorothywang
	a small amount of money by aprilapp
	Small sum of money, low bugdet by mrgiba
	I guess It is a small money by danhp1
	with a small amount of money by Allegra
	His favourite films are those which were made with very little money. by Zully Tabarez
	use money as less as possible by ivy_tao
	short of fund or even no fund by davidzong
	movies made with the lowest budgets by amirbiglarbeigi
	it refer to describe that use wery little budget on something by nono_leehom
	with little money by teddy008