This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 474.
Everyone's coming out of the woodwork.
How to identify opportunism in English.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Good.
Doing well, Michelle.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
Thanks.
Lindsay, have you ever done any woodworking?
Woodworking?
Oh, my gosh.
That is so far from my wheelhouse, Michelle.
I'm going to have to say a solid no on that.
What about you?
So I did take a science class, a special science class in high school.
It was called R&E.
So it stood for research and experimentation.
Sounds serious.
Yes, it was.
That was the one.
Didn't I tell you about how the teacher told me I could never make it in the class if I couldn't cut with my right hand?
I don't think I heard that story, actually.
Oh, it was the first day of class and I'm lefty and I cannot use a righty pair of scissors to save my life like i.
I can't do it.
Okay, there's other things i can do with my right hand.
I can use the mouse, i can play guitar, you know, but i can't do the scissors.
Okay, um and i, we had to cut something and i asked him if he had a pair of lefty scissors and he said if you don't, if you aren't able to figure this out, then you're never gonna make it in this class.
Whoa harsh yeah, it was intense and i never forgot that.
So um, but he, he ended up being all right.
But so we did do some woodworking.
We made boomerangs, we made um uh, trebuchets.
Is that the word?
I don't even know what that is, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
And, uh, so we did do some stuff.
And then as a theater, a studying theater, where we I did have to take some classes where we had to do Um yeah, a trebuchet is a catapult.
Yes.
Ah, okay.
So you really had your day in shop class.
I had my really like, it's very scary with the fingers.
Yeah.
Right.
Protecting your hands and your body.
Right.
Safety measures.
You mean for sure.
Yes.
It's very scary to think about cutting things off or whatever.
So, um, But today we're not talking about us doing woodworking, although we just did a little bit.
But we're going to answer a listener question about an excellent idiom dealing with woodwork.
Yes.
I am so excited about this because this idiom can apply to business, totally can apply to business, can apply to life.
So I'm going to go ahead and read the question.
Our listener Yogesh Chavan wrote in from India.
Yeah.
And he says, I've been listening to All Ears English for quite a long time.
And I absolutely enjoy learning from your episodes.
Well, thank you, Yogesh.
We do recognize your name.
And we love any listener that sends in a great question to support at allersenglish.com, right?
Here's the rest.
Today, I came across the phrase, everyone is coming out of the woodwork.
I understand the basic meaning, but I was wondering if this phrase carries any metaphorical or deeper meaning in English.
If you could shed some light on it, I would be really grateful.
Thanks again for all the amazing content you share.
It's helping me grow my English skills every day.
Warm regards, Yogesh Chavan.
Thank you, Yogesh.
Really, we really appreciate that you're listening to the podcast.
And guys, yeah, and he wrote about All Ears English.
If you have not listened to All Ears English, go on over to that podcast and hit follow and hit follow here as well, if you haven't.
For sure.
For sure.
So we love this idiom, Michelle.
That's why we're excited that Yogesh asked about it.
It's fun sounding.
It's expressive.
It is kind of making a statement when you use it.
I do use this sometimes.
Do you?
I think you used it with me a couple of the last time we recorded and I said Oh, I just planned an episode.
Remember what we were talking about?
I don't either.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So this is definitely a fun one.
So, but, but, so what does it mean?
All right.
So basically, um, we use this, everyone is, or something is coming out of the woodwork.
People are coming out of the woodwork.
Um, coming out of the woodwork means to all of a sudden appear out of nowhere, right?
They're just, you wouldn't expect it.
You They weren't doing something before and now they are.
They're present.
It's unexpected.
It might be negative.
There might be some kind of judgment attached to this, but it's kind of like random.
These people are here now randomly.
Right.
And you might know the reason that you might know the reason they're here.
Right.
So let's do some examples.
So Go ahead, Michelle.
Oh, now that Trader Joe's has come out with their fall specials, everyone is coming out of the woodwork to get them.
And sometimes this, like we said, this has a bit of a negative connotation for the people that are coming out.
I almost imagine like insects coming up from the wood, right?
Sometimes, in some scenarios, like if we want to imply that people are taking advantage of something right.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but not always like here.
You're not really saying like people are taking advantage of Trader Joe's.
It's just, they want to get the good deal.
So they're coming out of nowhere.
Right.
They like their pumpkin spice stuff.
Okay.
Um, or what's another example?
Our team doesn't seem to want to put in that extra effort, but they come out of the woodwork whenever their supervisor comes to town.
Yeah.
I guess that, I guess that works too.
Yeah.
Yep.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, or everyone, uh, sorry, Lindsay, can you move your, I can't see.
Oh, there we go.
Yeah.
Everyone came out of the woodwork to help her out once they realized there was a celebrity guest.
So sometimes people are opportunistic or opportunistic.
Yeah, they're taking advantage or maybe there's money involved.
Yes.
Right.
You know you talk about like an estate, someone's estate.
Someone passes away and all of a sudden oh, my third cousins are coming out of the woodwork that I've never heard of.
Yeah, that kind of thing.
So that's why it does imply maybe taking advantage, showing up at the right time, opportune time right.
Yes, right.
And this can definitely happen in business for sure.
So definitely.
So here's another example.
Everyone came out of the woodwork when it became time for the employees to strike.
For sure.
Or you might use it to refer to something in your target market.
Um, you couldn't get anyone to buy your product, but when it was free, everyone came out of the woodwork to claim their free voucher, whatever it was.
You know that sort of thing.
So there is a bit of a negative.
Just to answer yogesh's question, it does have a little bit of a negative connotation to it right, Right.
Okay.
You know, not always but there.
But you know you have to listen for the context.
But a lot of times it is Oh, out of the woodwork, out of yeah.
Like you said, insect.
Like maybe, uh, yeah.
Like, uh, termites or something.
I don't know.
I don't, did you have a chance to look at a Michelle exactly where it comes from?
We don't, you know, like, you know, yeah.
Um, let's see.
Yeah.
Um, I think we should take a break.
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All right.
So we did have a chance to look this up real quick for you guys spontaneously, and we do see that it does come from this idea of vermin coming up out of the wood of wooden houses, right.
This became common in the mid-1900s.
Interesting.
Gross.
For sure.
So we get the vibe, we get the idea.
It's usually kind of negative or opportunistic, at least.
What are some other things we might say to express the same thing?
Yeah.
So coming out of nowhere or popping out of nowhere.
This one is less insect day.
But she had really let me down.
But then she came out of nowhere and showed up to my presentation.
Now, this is a little bit different.
This is not right.
I mean, if you're saying she came out of the woodwork when I told her there might be a cash prize or something like that?
And usually with come out of the woodworks is important for Yogesh's question.
It's usually groups of people.
It's usually not like that person came out.
One person.
True.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Everyone was coming out of the woodwork.
He came.
Yeah, I agree.
We're talking about lots of coming out.
So, yeah.
And this one's not quite as negative, right?
Right.
It's just, hey, they showed up.
I didn't expect it.
Right.
Exactly.
Or you could also say somebody suddenly became interested in something.
So no one showed up.
But once we told them we had catered at lunch, everyone suddenly became interested in attending the meeting.
Now.
It doesn't have to be.
Oh, she suddenly became interested in the topic when her boss told her about something with the company.
Right.
And you are applying a little bit of opportunism here because you're saying suddenly, right?
Everyone suddenly became interested.
Suddenly, right?
You would have to say that with that tone of voice, right?
Yeah, for sure.
And then another one that's not opportunistic is just come like, come flooding in to come flooding in.
The offers came flooding in when she appeared on Shark Tank.
Sometimes I watch Shark Tank in the evening.
It's kind of fun.
It's a nice relaxing one.
Dan always turns it on like to go to sleep and then I am the one to turn it off.
But I do.
But, like even last night, I was watching and they just they know how to get you, especially that they know how to keep you watching.
It's always on.
It's always on.
And it's fun to see small, I don't know.
It's fun to see inventors entrepreneurs, small businesses coming up with ideas to solve problems.
I think.
And it's one of those comfort TV shows that is good for you know, you don't have to, you know, no big emotions, just interesting.
And yeah, totally agree.
Peaceful.
So, Michelle, why is this useful for business?
What do you think?
Right.
Well, again, this could be used for outside of business as well.
But this is just it's really good for talking about motivation, right?
Why someone is suddenly interested in something um, but it doesn't.
It doesn't always have to be negative, like the trader joe's example um, but a lot of times it's.
People are coming out of the woodwork because something happened, because there's money involved.
They found out their friend.
Yeah exactly, i won the lottery and suddenly all my high school friends i didn't even like were coming out of the woodwork to be my friend.
Right, that's why people, when they win the lottery they don't even share.
Yeah, with most people they get a lawyer, they get an accountant and then they don't really tell anyone.
Because imagine, i mean you, you would learn a lot about people, right?
If that happened and then people started coming out of the woodwork, and then what are their motivations?
Tricky, tricky, tricky.
Lindsay, now you're making me wonder.
You seem to know a lot about this.
Have you won the lottery?
I've never won the lottery.
I don't really play the lottery.
Should we do a role play, Michelle?
Let's do it.
So we are hiring managers.
All right, here we go.
Okay.
Well well, it seems our team suddenly became interested in the promotion now that they found out how much money is involved.
Well, can you blame them?
No, it's just that they came out of nowhere.
Oh, yeah.
Money motivates.
True.
Everyone is coming out of the woodwork.
Yeah.
The responses are flooding in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very typical.
So maybe we're talking about some kind of opportunity we gave to the team and no one was interested.
And then we introduced maybe there was a bonus available or something.
Right yeah yeah um, what did you?
So i said?
I said well well well, why did i say that?
What is well?
Well, this is a fun bonus for today.
Yeah, so this is showing a hint of like sarcasm or cynicism.
Maybe i guess you may be a cynicism yeah yeah yeah, you're like oh well, well.
Or you might hear well well well, well and our listeners may have heard this in the movies yeah, maybe in like a disney movie or something, i don't know.
It's very expressive, you know?
Yes, Exactly.
So it seems our team suddenly became interested in the promotion right now that they found out how much money is involved.
Yes.
And I said, well, can you blame them?
And you said, no, it's just that they came out of nowhere.
So you're still pointing this out, this fact that they didn't want to do this before.
They were nowhere to be found before.
And now they've come out of nowhere.
And then you said, yeah, money motivates.
And I said, true.
Everyone is coming out of the woodwork.
Mm hmm.
And then I said, yeah, responses are flooding in.
And then we'll focus on whatever it is we're doing.
Right.
Nice.
Yes, exactly.
Guys, check out episode 465.
We did tricky, complex or challenging how to describe hard things at work.
Love that.
All right.
What's the takeaway today?
I mean, I think that this phrase is really good for everyday English.
So we could have covered it over on All Ears English, but we covered it on business to give you a bonus for to see it through the work angle.
We could talk about our target market, our target customer.
We could talk about, I guess, our team.
We want to be careful who's around when we're saying that, right?
With this last role play, I probably wouldn't have wanted to say this around the team.
No, no, no.
But it can apply to a lot of different groups of people in different ways.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So definitely an interesting one to know and be aware of.
You use it in or out of the office.
But yeah, just definitely know what it kind of what it's implying before you just use it.
There's an implication there for sure.
Yeah, it's a little loaded, isn't it, Michelle?
Love it.
It definitely is.
But that's why it's such a good question.
So thank you again to Yogesh for that question.
And yeah, Lindsay, thanks for talking about this with me today.
All right, Michelle.
Talk soon.
Bye.
All right.
Bye.
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