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To “bring up” something means to raise a topic or to introduce something into your discussion or your conversation.
For example, teachers like it when students bring up interesting questions in class.But even though Chris brings up an interesting point, or presents an interesting idea, Alex thinks that Hannah is right, or correct.
He says, “Don't take this the wrong way, Chris.”The phrase to “take something the wrong way” means to be offended, to be mad, to be insulted by something that someone says.
Alex is saying, “Don't take this the wrong way,” because he is going to say something to Chris that he may not like, that may make him angry or mad.So he's saying, “I don't want you to be mad about what I am going to tell you right now.”
He doesn't want Chris to be offended or upset by what he's going to say, which is that engineers and customers don't always have the same interests.Alex finishes by saying, “But of course, I'm not a marketing expert by any means.”
The phrase “by any means” (means) is used to mean at all, or in any way.Alex means that there's no way that anyone could consider him to be a marketing expert, and Alex agrees with that assessment; he's not a marketing expert.
I might say, I am not an expert in German linguistics by any means,” meaning I don't have any knowledge in that area, or I am not an expert at all.This is similar to Alex's statement that marketing was outside the scope of his expertise in the formal meeting; it has the same effect.
You might say also, for example, you're a good musician, but not professional by any means.This would mean that you enjoy music, you're good at playing music, but you aren't good enough to be paid for it - to get a full-time job doing it.
That covers the new vocabulary in the informal meeting.
