food words

Sweeten the pot

Add incentives or improve the terms of a deal

“Maehama-san had to sweeten the pot considerably to get the client to sign the contract.”

Sour on

Turn negative, lose interest

“Ando-san was quite enthusiastic about leading the project but management had already soured on it and quietly killed it.”

Spice up

Make more interesting

“The research report was pretty bland until Rie-san spiced it up with some new graphics.”

Take it with a grain of salt

Don't believe all of it

“Remember that Ito-san tends to exaggerate so take everything he says with a grain of salt.”

Pepper with

Dot with, intersperse with

“Hatanaka-san's pitch was peppered with statistics on the purchasing patterns of the client's target market.”