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Hello and welcome to the English We Speak with me, Fay.

And me, Roy.

We may sound a little different. That's because we're not able to record in our normal studios during the coronavirus outbreak.

Roy, why have you shaved off your beard? I don't think I've seen your chin before.

Well, I got your message. You told me to trim my beard.

You said it's sad but necessary to keep my fur low during the coronavirus.

I thought it was a bit weird as my beard is made of hair, not fur. I'm not a dog, Faye Faye. That's debatable. I saw you run after a ball kneel through for you. Anyway, I wasn't talking about your beard. I said it's very sad at the moment that some workers have been furloughed, but it's necessary for some business to do it.

To furlough someone is when workers are put on a leave of absence,

for example due to an economic problem the business is going through.

Ah, yeah.

That actually makes more sense.

I was so confused about why you were talking about my beard.

I agree. it's really sad that some people have been

furloughed. That's our word for this program isn't it? It is and is not a new word but it's certainly more commonly used recently due to the coronavirus crisis.

We'll talk about it more after these examples.

Vlad is worried about being furloughed, but it looks inevitable.

The company decided to furlow workers while the business wasn't operating.

After Mandy was furloughed, she decided to devote her free time to painting.

This is the English we speak from BBC Learning English and we're talking about the word furlow which describes when workers are put on a leave of absence.

For example, due to an economic issue that a company is facing.

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