This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2511.
Got a boatload of work, how to share it in English.
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Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
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We all go through periods where we have a slew of work to do, whether you're a university student or a professional.
Today, get new ways to say that you have a lot of work or responsibilities, and see how you can use this to connect.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Doing great, Michelle.
How are you?
How's it going?
Hi yeah, everything's good over here.
Lindsay, do you feel like you have a slew of responsibilities right now?
Uh, i would say, at work, i do at home, not as much, not as much.
Um, things are pretty chill right now.
So yeah, what about you?
Do you feel like you do?
Yeah, i do right now.
I feel.
I i think that this month in particular, there's a lot going on.
There's a lot of changes with my kids and okay, with school schedules.
There's a lot of um, I have a lot of things that I'm doing to help with my husband's business.
So there's a lot of things going on, even things that I'm helping my friends with.
So there's a lot going on, but it's good.
It's all good things.
But it does happen to be a busy month.
It's a busy month, yeah.
It's a busy month, but it's a good thing.
So today we are going to talk about this word.
Lindsay, what is that word that I used when I asked you the question?
Yeah.
An interesting word that might actually be new for a lot of our listeners.
So you said, do you have a slew of responsibilities right now?
I feel like it only comes in certain chunks.
It only shows up in chunks.
But what does this even mean?
This word slew.
Yeah.
Strange sounding.
So a slew is a lot, right?
Basically, it's many.
But I would say it's just more emphatic and with more personality.
Right, because many and a lot they're pretty neutral.
But slew is a little more emphatic.
But lindsey, how do we spell slew?
Is it s-l-o-o?
No, it's not believe it or not, it's like it's.
It's like stew right, a stew you make, a stew spelled similar to that.
So slew s-l-e-u s-l-e-w sorry, s-l-e-w.
I saw the W and I said you.
What is going on with my mind these days?
I don't know.
So scratch that, guys.
S-L-E-W.
Good.
S-L-E-W.
All right.
So guys, we're going to talk more about this in just a minute, but be sure that you hit the follow button so you never miss anything from All Ears English.
Great.
All right.
So yeah.
Do you feel like you use this word in your daily conversations, Michelle?
I wouldn't say it's a daily word.
No.
Right.
I would say many is a daily word.
A lot is a daily word.
But I wouldn't say slew is it.
Right.
So that's why this stood out to me.
I think I recently heard it.
I was watching TV and I heard it.
I can't remember exactly where I came up with this, but I realized, oh, wait, that's a good one.
Right.
That's a little bit unique.
So it's not a daily thing, but it is useful and you absolutely will hear it.
And I've even heard it since I've planned this episode.
Yes.
What about you, Lindsay?
What do you think about this word?
Yeah, I also agree.
I don't think it's every day.
I think it's it's common.
When I start to talk about workload, you know especially like a large onslaught of work.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Then it's very handy.
So let's give some examples.
So here's the first one for our listeners.
I thought I was going to leave early, but then a slew of phone calls came in.
Oh, that's not good.
Yeah, like ready to get out the door just ticking.
The clock is ticking down, it's a friday and yeah, oh no yeah, a slew.
So or we got a slew of rsvps for my daughter's birthday party.
Most are yeses, so a whole bunch came in.
I like what you said, lindsay.
That word onslaught, it's kind of like it's all coming at you, right.
Yeah, that one's a bonus for today, for sure.
Be sure to get the transcripts or be a premium user in the app, guys.
You can see the spelling of this because these spellings can be challenging for sure.
Here's another example.
There's a whole slew of things I need to do before I leave for my trip.
That can feel overwhelming if you're preparing for a trip or some kind of retreat where you have to literally go away from society.
You have to let everyone know you're going and then you answer any mail, any pay, any bills, things like that.
Right, it's funny because the preparing for the trip is can be sometimes very stressful, and it's just so funny because it's it's just totally you're preparing to be relaxed.
But yeah, preparation is a lot sometimes, but then it's the best when you're like on the plane, you're like i've done everything and you can just relax at that point yeah, but do you ever have that feeling?
It's like a home alone, kind of feeling like, oh man, how did i i, i hope not, gosh terrible leave your child at home?
No, not that, not that, but that you did forget something.
I don't know if you ever get that, but like i'll have that.
But once i feel like, once i reach the plane or once i reach my destination, i'm like okay, it's over right right right, whatever you forgot, there's something you can do.
Yes, totally right.
Yeah um, would you say this is formal or informal in your opinion?
Yeah, i say that this could be either.
I think it's more about this adding personality, being emphatic, you know again yeah, it's not, it's not used all the time, it's not as neutral as some of the other ones.
Like I wouldn't say oh, I have a slew of grapes in the fridge right right, right.
It just doesn't sound quite right.
I mean yeah, you could do that, but you would be being funny.
Oh, gosh, I got a slew of grapes.
Come on, Lindsay, let's go eat a lot of grapes.
You know, it's not so much about physical objects that you have a lot of objects or items or pieces of food right.
It's really about workload, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.
So a slew is a noun, right?
So a slew of something you know, because you might have also heard, like you know, slay and slew, but that's not this context.
Okay.
Different verb, different verb.
Totally.
Yes.
To slay is, well, we'll do that another day.
That's, that's also become kind of a fun little slangy thing that, that people are saying.
So we could do that a whole other episode.
So slay and slew, slew being the past tense of slay.
But guys, that's not what we're talking about today, right?
We're talking about a noun here.
Okay.
So I thought we could do a little exercise.
We could ask each other one question and we have to use the word slew in our answers.
Nice.
I love it.
Yes.
Okay.
So first one, you're up first.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
Lindsay, when is your busiest time of year?
Honestly, I think it's right now.
We have a whole slew of work to do to prepare for exciting events like Black Friday that's coming up very soon, by the way.
So September through November, I would say, is by far our busiest time of year, Michelle.
Yeah.
Okay.
Very good.
Good news.
A whole slew of work.
So as I said, a slew of work.
And Michelle, what was it like moving last year?
Oh, boy.
Yeah, I had...
It was crazy, you know, just gathering everything up.
Like I had a whole slew of boxes, more than a slew.
And I still have a slew of boxes that need to be unpacked.
Haven't been unpacked.
Well, it's been a while, but there's, you know, not everyday items.
It's like a box of books or something.
Okay.
It was a lot.
I remember we did an episode, Michelle's Topsy Turvy Summer.
Oh, yeah.
Was that last year?
That was last summer, I think.
Yes, I should listen to that.
That was probably good.
Oh my gosh.
Wow.
That brings me back.
Yep.
That was a topsy turvy summer.
Topsy turvy summer with a slew of boxes everywhere.
I love it.
Yes.
Good example.
Yeah.
Nice.
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Okay, Michelle, we're back.
So there are other ways to say this for sure.
You can show more personality or less personality.
One of them shows more personality, a boatload, a boatload.
For example, I have a boatload of contacts that I can introduce you to if you're interested.
So are we upping our personality there a little bit?
I would say yes.
I would say all of these are... Well, most of them are kind of upping it a little bit.
Yeah, boatload.
I love that one.
This next one is very informal.
You know, you're not going to use it all the time, but this one is oodles.
Have you heard this one, Lindsay?
Yeah, I've heard this.
For example, hey, check out my... Here, check out my collection.
Oodles of sneakers.
I'm a sneakerhead.
I feel like there was a brand name...
Or maybe a product, oodles of noodles.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So when there's just a lot of something, right?
And this would work for food items, quantity of food, right?
Yes, exactly.
But again, this one is much less common than even the others.
Then the next one is a mountain of, right?
So you could say, I have a mountain of worries right now.
I'm having trouble sleeping.
Yeah, that's not good.
Or a stack of.
I usually think of a stack of bills, a stack of papers, right?
Something physically piling up on your desk is what we think of here.
I have a huge stack of paper.
Literally, your example is on my desk.
I have a huge stack of paper on my desk that I need to get through before I go home.
Oh, not good.
That's like thinking of any of our listeners are probably accountants during tax season, right?
Yes yes yes, for sure.
Um so lindsey, what do you like?
What do you like from these?
What do i like?
What do i like?
I like a boatload.
That's fun.
Yeah, it's kind of i like about it too.
Yeah, it's fun.
I never use it.
I should more often, though i really should.
All right, that's it.
We should have like little games with each other, where then i say oh, you have to use it today, and then you have to tell me what you did.
Um, i would say we record a boatload of episodes of dollars, english every week.
Michelle, like 10 or something crazy.
Um so, let's do a role play, let's put it together, show how it looks.
All right, here we go.
So we're friends.
We're catching up at lunchtime.
Here we go.
All right, here we go.
Unfortunately, i don't have as much time as i thought.
I just got a stack of papers to fill out for my boss before the end of the day.
Oh no, that doesn't sound fun.
I had a boatload of work yesterday that somehow i finished in time.
Sometimes it feels like my boss gives me a mountain of responsibilities right on a friday.
Oh yeah.
Fridays are when a slew of assignments come in.
Oodles.
Yes, oodles.
I never use it either, but I should.
I should.
Yes.
Why not?
Why not?
All right.
So we said a bunch of things here.
You basically said, I just got a stack of papers.
So again, we're imagining that stack of papers.
It doesn't have to be on your desk.
It could be on the floor if there's so many papers.
But we often do like a stack of something on your desk.
Yep.
Yep.
And then you said, I had a boatload of work yesterday that somehow I finished on time.
Or I finished in time, on time, in time.
Both would work.
In time, yeah.
We could do an episode about that, Michelle.
Guys, hit follow if you like that idea.
What's the difference anyways between in time and on time?
There's a subtle difference.
Yeah.
Yeah, we'll have to think about it.
Then I said sometimes it feels like my boss gives me a mountain of responsibilities right on a Friday.
Yeah.
And then I said, oh, yeah, Fridays are when a slew of assignments come in.
Just a ton of them.
Just a ton of them.
Right.
And then I agreed with you by just simply saying oodles.
And I said, yes, oodles, because why do you think I repeated it?
I just think you're having fun here.
Exactly.
You're trying to affirm what I said.
Yeah, it's a good one.
Oodles.
We're kind of lightening the mood, actually.
Yeah, we're connecting here.
I mean, ultimately, you're trying to connect, right?
Yep.
What's another great episode for our listeners, Michelle?
Check out episode 2502.
That was Does Don't Ask Really Mean Don't Ask?
That was another one of Don't ask.
I think I did that one with Aubrey.
With Aubrey.
Yay.
Guys, go check that one out.
And that one sounds thought-provoking, right?
Really interesting.
What's our takeaway for today?
Talking about loads of work, right?
Boatloads of work.
I mean, these are, for the most part, showing a little extra personality.
They're not necessarily the daily ones.
I mean, a stack, a stack of paper, that's pretty neutral.
But a slew, a boatload, right?
These are words that show personality.
You're not going to use them every single day, but they just add something.
So they're very useful and good to just throw out them, you know, once in a while and see how it goes.
Yeah.
And I also think it's a very human thing to have seasons of your life when you are just really under a pile of papers.
You just have a lot of work to do.
I mean, it goes back to our days in college university.
We have final exams.
That's the same thing, right?
Yeah.
So if you share this with a friend, that you have a boatload of work right now, they'll probably be more free to let you know when they have a lot of work to do.
And I don't know.
It's kind of like commiserating a little bit which can build connection, you know.
True.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So love that.
Being able to do it is a big connection skill right there.
So guys, hit the follow button if you want more great stuff from All Ears English.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Thanks for talking about this with me today, guys.
And we'll see you next time.
All right.
Bye.
Bye.
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