This is an All Ears English Podcast Episode 2283.
Are you fickle? English vocabulary for tough decisions.
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Would you consider yourself a decisive person?
Today, get four ways to talk about someone's level of decisiveness and what it means for their personality or the way they see life.
Hello Aubrey. What's shaking?
What's going on today?
Not too much. How are you, Lindsay?
I'm feeling great, but I do have a question to start off the day for you today.
Okay, let's hear it.
So would you consider yourself a wishy -washy person in many situations?
Do you tend to be wishy -washy when you're faced with a choice?
Good question. No, I don't think so.
I'm a pretty decisive person.
I usually, maybe too much so.
Sometimes I'll make a choice or a decision and then people are trying to talk me out of it or giving me all the reasons to change my mind and if anything I'll be sort of stubborn, like, nope, I made my decision, I'm sticking to it.
I think I'm the opposite of wishy -washy.
What about you? That's good.
I probably fall somewhere more in the middle, in between, because I can always see, especially when I'm making a big decision, I can see both sides.
Both are great, both are good, both have drawbacks.
I can see all the black and white of everything and the gray, the shades of gray, right?
It's all there and I could see how this could work or how that could work.
And so I can be wishy -washy, but when I make a decision, I obviously know I need to move forward with it.
Interesting. We got a really good question about this.
There's some related vocabulary that's super interesting that I'm excited to dive into, because I think this is such an interesting topic for connection to ask people if they're wishy -washy or if they're decisive to use some of this interesting vocab to find out something about people you know.
Yeah. Shall I go ahead and read the question?
Let's do it. All right.
This is from our YouTube channel, from Daniel Masumi.
Thank you to Daniel.
He says, thank you for your fabulous podcast.
Well, thank you, Daniel, for being a listener or a watcher, a subscriber over on YouTube.
All right. I have a question regarding a word I've heard a lot recently.
What exactly does wishy -washy mean?
Thank you so much, Daniel Masumi from Iran.
Excellent. Yes. Awesome.
Love this question.
If you're not subscribing on YouTube, I think that's a really fun way to listen to the podcast over there, especially if you prefer sort of a visual video format or hit all right here on the podcast, if you prefer audio.
Yeah. Go on over to YouTube.
If you get a chance, guys, hit subscribe.
We're going to be making some experiments with our format on YouTube, not on the podcast, but on YouTube and see some new things happening over there this fall.
So I can't wait to see you all over there as well.
All right. Good. Awesome.
So like we said, yeah, sharing opinions, talking about if you do have a hard time deciding about something is a great way to connect.
We want you to have this vocab.
So let's dive first into wishy -washy.
Yes. What exactly does this mean, Lindsay?
So this just means that you just can't decide.
You're kind of back and forth in the world of politics.
Maybe you're a flip -flopper, right?
Right. And that's a really a total sin for politicians, although I could see over their careers, things change, their perspectives change.
So I don't think it's the worst thing if unless they're flip -flopping from day to day.
But anyways, I think wishy -washy is about not having firm ideas about something, usually something specific.
So I think the idea of broadly being a wishy -washy person, I don't use it that way as much, right?
Well, I love that you say you don't use it that way as much because sometimes I do here.
So our first example is using it that way.
It's like, I have a friend who's very wishy -washy.
I don't know what she really thinks about anything, and this is such a character judgment that if someone said this about me, I think it would hurt my feelings.
You know, I feel like it's because everyone's wishy -washy sometimes about things.
But then if you use that and define their character, you know, because people might be decisive sometimes and wishy -washy other times.
Right. Or maybe the person who's saying that about the person just hasn't taken the time to really listen to that person and see what they actually think.
There could be a lot going on there.
So yeah, I wouldn't recommend it in terms of a broad character judgment.
But on a given decision, yes.
Right? Exactly. You might say, sorry, I'm being wishy -washy.
I'm just not sure exactly what I think about this.
Sure. So you're just admitting, like, I haven't made up my mind yet.
So sorry if it seems like I'm being wishy -washy.
Easy. I love that. And this is slangy.
This is common. I'm actually really excited that our listener asked about this one.
Yeah, me too. It is, I think you could use it at work, but it does feel quite informal.
Yeah. Right. If you were to call someone wishy, there are better options.
Our second option is better at work to call someone indecisive.
It means the same thing.
But then again, it's interesting how it's sort of a character judgment.
If you say someone is indecisive, unless you're saying it's about a specific thing.
Yeah, it's so funny.
I think in American business culture, I think we have a slightly misguided value towards decisiveness because sometimes if you're super decisive, you haven't thought through everything fully.
Like there's not much value for a company to make a decision and charge forward.
They haven't fully.
And I think if you have fully thought through it, you might have a little bit of hesitation.
Maybe you don't share it.
So maybe it's about the decisiveness, the appearance of decisiveness, but you're not necessarily.
Right. And it kind of implies that you're not open -minded if you're extremely decisive and never question your own opinions or decisions.
Yeah, it's a little strange.
But there are certain things that our business culture does value that are.
I agree. Yeah. But I might say, okay, I've been indecisive about this for a while, but I finally made up my mind.
Right. This is definitely something you can call yourself if you've had, it could be about anything.
It could be about a purchase that you've been researching about.
It could be a bigger deal.
You can be indecisive about anything that's sort of hard to make a decision about.
Anything, anything.
Yeah, I just bought one of those aura rings, you know, the aura rings where you can get a sense of your blood pressure and your sleep cycles.
And that was so indecisive for a couple of weeks about which size, size eight, size nine, it doesn't fit right.
I was just, and then there was, there's a real refreshing moment when you say, yes, this is the size I'm going with.
I feel great moving forward.
I'm not going to think about it anymore.
Right? Yes. Yeah. Interesting.
And this is kind of highlighting, I think, a difference between wishy washy and indecisive because would you have ever called yourself wishy washy about that purchase?
Like, Oh, I'm feeling wishy washy.
I haven't made a decision.
I probably wouldn't.
It just feels a little different.
Yeah. So when it comes to, I think, a decision that's more about research and getting information, we wouldn't really wishy washy because it's not so much about having an opinion.
Right. It's more about just making a decision.
When you would call yourself wishy washy, it's more like, I don't know what my opinion is about this.
Yeah. That's a good point.
I like that differentiator there.
All right. Aubrey, what's number three?
Are we sitting on a fence here?
What's going on? What has number three is to be on the fence, which means there's a decision and you just haven't chosen a side or an opinion more.
You haven't decided which side you agree with.
Yeah. And this is one of the ones that I think this week when we had our fluency party of the month, one of the students in my room came up with this, I'm on the fence, to be on the fence or to be sitting on the fence.
Oh, we've played a fun game where they came up with as many idioms as they could think of.
And that's a good one.
Yes. Yeah. By the way, guys, when you're in our courses now, you get invited to these monthly fluency parties.
So we are loving meeting our students, connecting with you, letting you connect with each other, right?
That's what it's all about.
Yeah. They're so fun.
Just one more reason to get into an aller's English course so we can get to know you there.
That's right. Yeah.
So tell us about this one then to be on the fence.
Yeah. So for example, I might say, you know, my sister is on the fence about the guy she's dating.
It was sort of mean like she's not sure what she thinks about him.
She's not sure if they should keep dating.
Yeah. It just means she hasn't decided for sure how she feels.
Yes. Or this could work in the job interviewing world or your career.
I've been offered two different job opportunities and I'm on the fence about which to choose.
Yes. Right. So I haven't decided yet, right?
There are definitely pros and cons to both.
Sometimes it takes us a little while to decide.
And we wouldn't say I'm being wishy washy about which one I'm going to choose because this doesn't have to do with an opinion.
Right. It has to do with a decision we need to make.
Yeah. And I also think wishy washy has an element of the delivery too, of the way you present that you can't decide.
It's a way they're delivering that mindset verbally.
That's a good point.
I'm not sure. Maybe they'll call you, they'll let you know, let's not talk about it today.
There's a little something there, I think.
Yes, I agree. Right.
Because sometimes you can be decisive about the fact that you don't have an opinion yet.
Yeah. But that's not being wishy washy.
That's right. And then so fence sitting is not taking a side.
So there are extensions to this kind of picture in our mind of being on the fence.
Exactly. We have this verb we use, fence sitting, she is fence sitting.
Then we also have the noun, fence sitter, just a person who won't take a side.
Yes. Interesting. Okay.
All right. We'll take a quick break and then we'll come back.
All right, Aubrey, we have a fourth, which is I think the most interesting one.
I do too. What's a little more rare and more impressive when someone uses it, it's the word fickle, which means changing frequently.
Usually we're talking about a person's loyalty or interest or affection.
So you can call someone fickle if just their opinion is changing a lot.
Oh, he's pretty fickle.
But we use this more often, I think, when we're talking about loyalty.
Right. So when we're talking about loyalty, you get into trustworthiness.
Is this person on my side or not on my side, right?
You're getting into a bit of what team are you on kind of thing.
Yes. You might say her friend is kind of fickle.
He changes his mind all the time, but this wouldn't really be about which bed to buy, which when you're researching something, it's more either like your affection, the types of people you're dating, something that you're changing all the time.
That's more a personality thing.
Yeah. Fickle is way too heavy for a choice of what kind of bed.
Do you want a pemper petic or something else?
No, I'm too fickle to decide.
No, right? This is definitely a heavier adjective.
There's more here. Yeah, for sure.
Ooh, I love this. So we're going to see this one come back up in the role play.
Most likely, shall we dive into a situation here, Aubrey?
Sure. I have one more example.
I like this one to use this about myself.
I would rarely call someone else fickle.
Yeah. It does feel like you would have to explain why and it feels sort of, there's a negative connotation here, but I might say about myself.
I'm not usually a fickle person, but I keep changing my mind about this to admit this about yourself.
I love that. I also love what comes to mind right now.
A bonus word, I'll see if you agree, Aubrey, is the idea of being squirrely.
Squirrely. Do you ever use that?
Yes, it's true. Squirrely is a more informal version of fickle.
I think they're very similar.
I might call one of my kids or like a close friend squirrely if they're being fickle because fickle is kind of formal for just your daily conversations, wouldn't you say?
I would say it is. Yeah.
I think squirrely, but how would you define squirrely?
Imagine how a squirrel moves, right?
They're kind of shifting to the left, to the right, they're running.
How would you describe it?
Yeah, same. Just like something's changing frequently, right?
Maybe it's their movements if they're just like...
But usually it is more about their thoughts, their opinions, something's just changing all the time.
Like you said, the delivery might be sort of erratic when you call someone squirrely.
Yeah, there may be a lack of trust in that person because they're acting a little squirrely, right?
Something's strange.
You're saying this one day, you're saying that the squirrel is running in this direction, then that direction.
Although, squirrels I think are not super common globally, Aubrey.
I've seen in New York, I remember seeing tourists take pictures of squirrels in Central Park all the time, so we may not have a good reference.
We were seeing squirrels all over Hawaii and then we found out they were actually mongoose.
It was like, oh, it looks kind of like a big squirrel, so who knows?
You probably have your version of a squirrel wherever you live.
It's a very small rodent that runs around in the forest.
It sprints in all directions, right?
We have like chipmunks and squirrels and all kinds of little animals.
So interesting. So that'll probably be a bonus word in the app, so good job.
Okay. What are we doing here, Aubrey?
Okay. So in this role play, you and I are discussing the upcoming election.
I was wondering if politics was going to come up because it makes sense.
A lot of the time when people are trying to figure out their opinion and make decisions, it's often about something big like this.
Correct. Yes. Okay.
Here we go. So I think people are tired of politicians being wishy -washy.
For sure. It's refreshing when they're clear about what they believe.
A lot of my friends are still indecisive about this election.
Really? I don't think I know anyone who's still on the fence.
I know some people who aren't usually fickle but are thinking about switching parties for the first time.
Oh boy. We'll be having, yeah, conversations about politics very soon here.
And I think we'll come out with some content to help you guys talk about politics and elections and try to keep it more nonpartisan, but we will try to come out with some content this fall to help you out.
And I'm glad this summer we did quite a few episodes about how to have a conversation with someone if there's very differing opinions, how to keep the contention out of it.
So definitely go back and check them out.
It's the one we were talking about.
The Olympics. We were talking about that because there's controversy and you can still have an interesting discussion about it.
Interesting. All right.
Great stuff. So we started with wishy -washy, right?
I said, I think people are tired of politicians being wishy -washy or in the political world, they call them flip -floppers.
Right. Yeah. Politicians flip -flopping.
Flip -flopping. Yes.
Not the shoe. Exactly.
But being wishy -washy, going back and forth, changing what you...
Often when we say flip -flop, it's more like they're changing what they say they believe or what they will do in order to appease someone else.
It seems like in order to get elected, in order to appeal to voters, then they might change what they're saying.
And that's wishy -washy too, right?
Or you're like, just switching back and forth.
Yeah. Just the political version of it.
Yeah. I don't think we really say that for everyday people.
It's really kind of reserved for politicians, I think.
Yeah. That would be strange in everyday fun.
Like you're flip -flopping on your opinion here.
Wait, what? No. Yeah.
That's what we use wishy -washy.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What else, Aubrey?
And then I said, a lot of my friends are still indecisive about this election.
And this is interchangeable with a lot of what we talked today.
I could say, you know, they're still on the fence, you know, they're being wishy -washy, but indecisive works really well because it's just, there's no negative connotation with indecisive.
It just means you're still thinking about it.
You haven't made your mind up yet.
All right. Excellent.
And then I said, oh, really?
I don't think I know anyone who's still on the fence, right?
Everyone's made their decision.
Nobody's sitting on that fence.
Yeah, for sure. And then Aubrey, you said, I know some people who aren't usually fickle, but are thinking about switching parties.
Okay. And this is definitely where I would hear it's because when it comes to loyalty, you know, I could imagine somebody of the same political party accusing someone else of being fickle, if they are switching, they'd be like, why are you being so fickle?
You've always been a staunch supporter of this side.
Yeah. So it's interesting.
Um, cause I wouldn't consider that fickle.
I would consider that being open minded and, but it all depends on a person's perspective.
Right. Some people are a lot more, they are more into kind of loyalty in a sense around politics, right?
But some people are more about let's look at the issues and why you just shoot and see what I actually believe now, not what my parents believed in or what my, my spouse believes.
Right. Yes, exactly.
Oh, this is so interesting.
I want to make sure you guys check out Jessica and I did a recent episode over on IELTS energy.
It was eight 89. Don't be wishy washy for IELTS band nine.
And we shared some vocabulary over there, similar to being wishy washy similar to what we've shared.
So for some bonus vocab, go check that out and be sure to follow IELTS energy as well.
Yeah. Just, just open that search bar, type in IELTS energy podcast and you will find it.
You can hit follow.
All right, Aubrey, where should we leave our listeners today?
Yeah. So guys, we're all going to have those moments where we're having a hard time making a decision.
It's great to talk it out with a friend and now you have the vocabulary to be able to do that.
Yes, I love it. Good stuff.
Aubrey, we'll see you soon.
Awesome. See you next time.
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