This is an all ears English episode why you should not say for your information Welcome to the all ears English podcast Downloaded more than 200 million times.
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 host Aubrey Carter the IELTS whiz and Lindsay McMahon the English Adventurer coming to you from Arizona and Colorado USA To get real -time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized
vocabulary list Try the all ears English app for iOS and Android start your seven day free trial at all ears English comm forward slash app How is the meaning of FYI Different from for your information.
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slash A -e -e terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed You Hello lindsay, how are you?
I'm feeling pretty good today.
We're getting towards the end of the week here So feeling great feeling great abria.
What are we getting into today though?
I have a fun question for you to start this out Okay, i'll do my best to answer.
Yes What do you think is the difference between saying FYI?
and for your information Uh, I think for your information feels a little more direct to me An FYI feels a little more playful.
I feel like it's more common Am I right?
Yeah. I mean this is really interesting.
I Would have said the same probably I probably would have said before looking into this I would have said they mean the same thing and one is the acronym.
So maybe the acronym is a little more casual informal But the more I looked into this The more I realized how different they are and that you probably actually should never say for your information I'm gonna make an argument for that interesting Okay, now you've gotten me intrigued here abre, so let's
see what why we should never say it so Should we cover FYI first for our listeners because this is the one they've probably seen Heard let's do it Let's cover FYI and then for your information and then we're going to give you guys more polite options And really talk about intonation today because these
Intonation is really key on the message that you're sending with today's phrases.
Got it. Okay. All right.
So what is FYI? It's an acronym, right?
Yes, right So this is said or written often we put it in emails to share information Without expecting an immediate response or action, right?
You're just giving someone information and they don't really need to respond usually Um, okay, so more written.
Yeah. So for example FYI i'm writing to the grocery store if you need anything Yeah, or the car is out of gas FYI, right?
So this is just your and these are spoken phrases But it's also written for sure where you're just letting someone know something and you're you know It's sort of implied that you don't need them to respond.
It's kind of like hey I hope you listen to this you should pay attention to this, but i'm not expecting a response, right?
It's basically what that means Yeah And so interestingly for your information is what FYI stands for supposedly, right?
but our language english has really evolved to where FYI is now the only one that really means that and for your information is always A confrontational way to correct someone like sometimes jokingly between friends sometimes angrily but people almost never say For your information the long way out
Just like there's almost always this Energy behind it.
So anger may be And I had to think about this I was trying to come up with examples where I could just say for your information and it would know it's like that's weird It either sounds weird and I wouldn't say it or it sounds confrontational So you're saying you wouldn't say the car is out of gas for your
information, right?
All of a sudden I'd be like, oh, sorry.
Did I you know, I should have filled it up I guess like there feels confrontation.
It feels computational So when we say for your information, we're adding a layer of confrontation.
Okay So maybe someone accuses you of leaving the milk out and you'd be like for your information I was not the one who left the milk out.
That sounds like a fight, right?
It sounds like a fight.
Yeah But you know, you might say FYI was and I like that still is going to be kind of confrontational just because of the context here But I love that you pointed out.
I wouldn't say, you know for your information I'm running to the grocery store if you need anything.
If someone said that to me, I'd be like It feels more like you're directly talking to me and you want to say something, right?
It's yeah, it's very it is very confrontational and then i'm confused.
Like why why are you like that?
Interesting or we can also in this same confrontational way we could put it at the end of a sentence I was not the last one to have the key for your information All right.
So again, you're standing up for yourself.
There might be a fight going on someone's accusing someone of Breaking into a house.
I don't know because you had a key Yeah, and keep in mind even if we said fyi here because of the context right if you're like Um, I wasn't the last one to have the key fyi Like there is still a little bit of confrontation here just because of the message of what you're saying But if you really do want
to just say fyi Like we use it all the time You really just want to give someone some information and you don't need a response back Our recommendation after I had to think about this a lot.
I thought of a lot of examples I would never say for your information.
I wouldn't say it out I would say fyi and then reserve for your information when you want to be confrontational when you're upset and you're standing up for yourself For example.
Yeah, exactly. No, this is good to know.
I you really don't think about it But then when you dig in you go deeper you realize yeah, they're not the same So we do have other options though for our listeners today, yeah Yes, right.
There are more polite ways because sometimes you do need to get this message across But again, we want to be polite And then we want to be careful with our intonation here because we're going to teach you three phrases that are more polite But they could sound rude confrontational sarcastic depending
on the intonation. Yes So the first one is just so you know Right.
So this one you got to be real careful here with the intonation as you said Yeah, so give it to us first Lindsay a sentence where it's like polite We're trying to politely let someone know that we weren't the one that had the keys last Okay, here's something's like so just so you know, I didn't have the keys
last i'm not sure who lost them, but it wasn't me All right, so much more polite then for your information.
Yes Yes, so that was a more pleasant polite Non -accusatory tone or non -defensive tone, let's say.
Yes, but with the exact same words If you change the intonation, it still could be very accusatory.
It could sound rude, right?
I'll give you that example Just so you know, I didn't have the keys last i'm not sure who lost them, but it wasn't me Oh gosh, the tone is so different.
It's fascinating. Wow.
Yeah, it shivers down your spine, right?
It definitely This can be a little scary to hear for the This can if someone is saying that with that kind of tone, you know that things are taking a bad turn in your conversation They're very defensive for some reason they're angry, right?
So you want to think about you can be using the exact same vocabulary and depending on your tone of voice Your intonation you're sending a totally different message Which you especially have to think about in a second language because it's kind of harder to hear the tone You're thinking about the vocabulary
and the grammar So you have to be aware listen back rewind this and listen to lindsay's and then mine I'm sure you can hear the difference in tone Yeah, in this next one.
We're going to do the same thing.
So we could definitely do this in we could start So what is it operate?
What's the phrase the phrase is by the way?
And lindsay if you want to give us the polite.
Yeah, sure I'll be the polite one on the podcast today There we go By the way, no, no, let me start again.
So by the way, I wasn't the one who left the milk out Yeah, it's hard.
This is kind of hard anyway because just with the context like it's a little fresh Like let's say you've been accused of leaving the milk out Like you need to get across the message that you weren't the one that did it Right the worst the worst thing you can say I think is for your information The most
rude these are better options, but they're still it's interesting.
It's really tricky It's hard to share that message without being defensive because you are defending yourself, right?
It feels fresh She has maybe says something like oh by the way, I wasn't the one who left the milk out I'm, not sure who did right when you add that I don't know who did it, but it wasn't me It does help the more you say the more you add does help but again, this can be said with very rude defensive
intonation I'll give us that.
Okay, by the way, I wasn't the one who left the milk out It's like every word changes, right?
Drama drama Okay So when you hear that from someone, you know again there's a fight brewing Maybe there's already drama in your home for example, right?
Yeah Uh, okay third one Aubrey is for what it's worth Yes, this is a good one, too.
Yeah, so give us the polite way Okay, you're trying to let someone know, you know, maybe you've been accused of being late a lot.
What could you say?
Okay. Well for what it's worth.
I always try to be on time Nice, right.
That's polite. It's a nice way to say, you know, you're kind of this for what it's worth does soften it more But again, i'll give the rude version depending on your tone.
You could say for what it's worth I try to always be on time and this is what actually this sounds like i'm accusing the other person i'm always being late Oh, yes.
Okay, and there's so there's extra meaning in there.
I try to always be on time.
Don't know about you It is super interesting and super important for our listeners to hear both versions of all three of these expressions, right?
Right. Yeah, that's interesting You don't think about the there could be hidden meaning or double meaning you could be accidentally accusing someone of something When that it's not in the words you're saying it's implied by your tone Wow, what if you could hear your favorite song for the first time
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Okay. I'll bring it.
Let's move on Let's bring this all into a role play and just so i'm clear It sounds like we're in a fight.
So we need to be fresh fresh fresh fresh here Yes, so we the good thing is we are friends who?
Fought recently, but we have all met up to talk about it So we're still going to use these phrases, but we're trying to be polite.
We're not in a fight Okay, we were in a fight before.
Okay, then never mind my comment.
Okay. Yes. All right, here we go.
All right I'll start us out For what it's worth.
I'm really sorry about what happened.
Oh, thanks. By the way I was mostly just surprised and I probably shouldn't have reacted the way I did You had every right to be upset.
I'm sorry about saying for your information I'm not the one who wrecked the car that was uncalled for I appreciate that just so you know, I found out later why you were upset and then I understood I still shouldn't have taken out it out on everyone though.
Thanks for understanding Yeah, the tone here clearly is a makeup conversation, right?
Yep. Yeah, we're making up we are kind of having coming back together and we're saying oh we're apologizing Yeah, and all of these phrases right are perfect for this where we're trying to say Fyi, but in a more polite way like I want you to know that but it's couched with apology and Explanation of why
something happened?
Yes. So should we go back through them one more time?
Yeah, let's do it So you said for what it's worth.
I'm really sorry and again, you could feel our tone of voice is different It's kind of like a little bit more pleasant more calm more even keeled a little bit Yes, right and this because we were talking about a fight we had and we're trying to smooth things over It would make no sense to do the rude
version You would want to really be careful to keep that out of you know, to be like for what it's worth I'm really so like if you sound sarcastic, it wouldn't make sense because you're genuinely trying to smooth things over Yes, and then I said thanks By the way, I was mostly just surprised and so here
you're just saying by the way, you're just informing I'm informing you exactly.
Yep And then I had to quote myself in the past in order to use for your information Right.
So it's like i'm sorry when I said And then i'm you i'm kind of mimicking my own tone as I apologize, right?
I'm sorry about saying for your information I'm not the one who wrecked the car Yeah Because i'm like if I quote myself here that I can include it in the role That makes sense because we remember guys if you go back to earlier in the episode We said that just saying for your information becomes quite
serious and quite confrontative Yes, exactly.
So we're having a more coming back together apology conversation.
Yeah, right And then you said just so, you know, I found out later why you're upset and then I understood so all of these you could take this whole role play and remove all of these because what they're trying to do is add this Extra meaning of like i'm just letting you know this just fyi same meaning
right? Just just so that you know Um, and they're not necessary.
You could just say I appreciate that I found out later why you were upset but we add this to create really even more politeness to let them know like It's important to me that I that you know this.
Yeah, it makes it more personal the conversation, right?
Yes, okay And we want to send our listeners back to an episode that we just did was that episode?
23 16 i'm looking back to see what was the measure.
I think it was 23 15 23 15.
So just earlier this week who asked you rude phrases to avoid in english Okay is where we also talked about some phrases that you could accidentally sound really rude politeness is so important in english Especially you don't want to accidentally send a message you don't intend.
Oh my gosh, it is huge And this is great.
We have been going into a lot of stuff about politeness, uh rudeness and how to make sure that we're yeah And we're not unintentionally being rude.
Exactly Yeah, and this is so interesting Like I I had never thought about before how fyi and then when you actually say that out for your information Really has such a different meaning can conveys such a different feeling so definitely be aware Yeah, this is I mean if connection is our highest value,
which it is on this show We should be really you know Looking into this and making this a priority especially as our listeners move up into the c1 level, right?
This becomes the priority It's not so much about grammar.
We've pretty much got the grammar.
We're adding new vocabulary, but it's about this It's about what your words convey the meanings behind your words, right?
We don't want you to accidentally ruin connections by having these hidden meanings that you're not aware of right?
This is there are these subtle nuances these double meanings sometimes and intonation really changes meaning Yes, before we finish up today I just want to remind our listeners guys you can always listen to the podcast in our ios or android app But when you listen over there you get special features
for example for premium users We now get a special weekly role play that no one else gets anywhere else But in the app and what is that role play all about?
I know it's amazing All the keywords from all of the episodes for the week.
We put them into one role play So you can see how these unrelated vocabulary words could all come up in one conversation It's really interesting and that's just for users of the app Yeah, exactly So that along with transcripts right on your phone as you listen to the episode So guys go over to all airs
english .com slash app and download the app and give it a try There's a seven -day free trial so you can try that out.
Yes. Awesome. Check it out.
All right, Aubrey talk soon Bye you next time.
Bye. Bye Thanks for listening to all ears english Would you like to know your english level take our two -minute quiz go to all ears english .com forward slash fluency score?
And if you believe in connection not perfection Then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
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