I'm Susan Clark with the Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A woman from Japan was telling a friend about her trip to the United States. The woman had visited major businessesand investment companies in New York City and Chicago.

"I studied English before I left home," she said. "But I still was not sure that people were speaking English."

Her problem is easy to understand. Americans in business are like people who are in business anywhere. They have a language of their own.

Some of the words and expressions deal with the special areas of their work. Other expressions are borrowed from different kinds of work such as the theater and movie industry.

One such saying is get your act together.

When things go wrong in a business, an employer may get angry. He may shout, "Stop making mistakes. Get your act together."

Or, if the employer is calmer, he may say, "Let us get our act together."