This is the Business English Podcast Episode 101.
This conversation never happened. How to signal something is a secret in English.
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Hey there, Michelle. How's it going today?
Hello, Lindsay. Good. How are you? I'm good.
We're recording on a Monday morning, so I get to start off my work week on the microphone with you.
Best part of the week. So all good. All good.
That's good. Yes, I feel the same way. Lindsay, are you good at keeping secrets?
I think it depends on who I am. It depends on how serious the secret is, right?
Like sometimes I'm not. It just depends on how important it is that the secret be kept, let's say. okay okay I like your honesty yeah um I think I'm I can be pretty good like if somebody because I always think uh if somebody then later to me said like you didn't tell anyone right like I couldn't lie yeah and so if if I think that that could ever happen but you know like I I i don't want to put myself in a situation where that person finds out or like i lose their trust so i mean i'm not saying that i'm perfect but i i try i try i really do try if somebody specifically tells me yeah and i try if it's a specific request i know that seems like a painful moment where if you did give away someone's secret that's very important that they come back to you it seems awful Just like gut wrenching, gut wrenching, right?
Right, exactly. So, but guys, there are some times when at work you might need to keep a secret, right, Lindsay?
Oh, 100%. It could be because there are good things coming down the pipeline, right, down the pipe.
Good things are coming up. or not so good things are coming up, right?
And so maybe you have been let in on a certain piece of information that is not meant for everyone's ears for whatever reason.
And it is important for your job and your professional credibility to keep it a secret, right?
Right. And guys, this is not an episode about us saying whether or not you should keep a secret because we're leaving that up to you.
So you you have to I don't want to get anyone in trouble.
You have to be the one to evaluate whether or not it's OK to tell someone something.
We're giving you the tools in case you decide it's OK to tell someone something.
But you have to you. It's all it's on you.
It's on you. That's a very good point, Michelle.
Right. I mean, we, you know, our value here is connection, but the way we do that is we give you the language to say what you need to say that you feel is right.
We're not here to teach moral lessons. You should follow your own personality, right?
The whole goal of All Ears English is for you to be able to have your personality in English.
That's so important. That's right. Yes. That's right.
So guys, make sure before we get into it, make sure you hit follow on the Business English podcast so that you never miss anything from our show.
100%. I love it. I love it. So, Michelle, let's get into a little bit deeper.
How does this relate to connection? Well, I mean, if you're sharing something, it could be about yourself as well, right?
I'm not necessarily talking only about gossip.
It could be something about yourself that you are telling them.
Also, like, don't tell anyone else. Or, you know, it's just something that, you know, should be kept a little private, whether it's your secret or, you know, whether it's something you've heard about the office, whatever it is.
So, but this can bring about connection if you're sharing.
Like, let's say you're telling something about yourself.
This is showing, oh, I trust you. I connect with you.
And also it signals someone like, should they keep it a secret?
What should they do? So these are good ways to signal that. yes i love it it's a good point when you do decide uh to share something it's like letting them in and it's showing them that they matter as a colleague to you or as a colleague and a friend right right right right right so guys uh just a couple episodes ago we did uh how to find a job when you have a job that was episode 98 yeah okay so that might be a situation like if you're looking for a job and you know we talked about on that episode whether you should tell anyone And we kind of decided to don't tell anyone.
However, you know, again, it's your district discretion what you want to do.
Yeah. But listen to that episode and decide maybe there's something, you know, that that you could learn from that one.
I think that could go along with this episode today.
Yeah. And you only have to go two episodes back.
So easy. Yes. Yes. Good stuff. So let's talk about what would be the scenarios here, Michelle, that we might be talking about.
Let's zero in on some scenarios. Yes. Yes.
So one thing could just be company plans, right?
Like maybe maybe your office is moving. Maybe, you know, maybe you're getting a new client and that's very exciting.
Yeah. I mean, going along with that, just any big news coming in, you know, it could be about maybe, you know, that a new employee is starting who has a specific skill set that's going to really make things better.
Right, right, right. Or maybe your company is going fully remote.
That kind of goes under company plans. But I've been talking to some friends recently, just a friend I was talking to on Saturday, where around the pandemic, their company just sold half their real estate, right?
In the building they were at in Denver. And now they are remote four days a week.
And then they come into the office one day a week.
So that's a big deal, right? Information that you might have that your colleagues don't.
So how to share that, right? That's the question.
Right, right, right. Or maybe there's just something simple like, oh, you know, there's going to be a company party or a cool lunch or something.
It could be something more casual. Right.
Or I'm just thinking of a few others to give some.
Someone is retiring, right? That could be a huge deal.
Yeah. You know, some big icon at your company, someone important is retiring and it is a secret, right?
They're going to announce it soon, but it's a secret.
Yes, that's a good one. I mean, and like we said, we don't want to spread rumors or say things that we can't, but this is a connection skill and you should...
Know that you might even if you don't feel comfortable sharing something, you might hear it.
And so to know what these mean and to know, hey, keep a secret.
Yeah, that's important as well. Just for your connection on the other end, if someone's telling you something.
Yeah. Yeah, and I would also add to this other context in which you might receive or use these phrases.
I was given a few bits of information at the conference I went to a few weeks ago in different conversations I had just along these lines, right?
Certain plans that companies have that they don't necessarily want to share with other people because they are trying to get on the cutting edge of things ahead, get out ahead of the market, right?
By doing something. Oh, I see. So this could happen at a business dinner.
This could happen at a conference if you're considering doing business with a company or it could happen at work with a colleague for sure.
Right. Or even your boss, your boss might share something with you and then they'll tell you don't tell anyone.
Well, that one you probably should not tell anyone.
Don't do that. Yes. Yes, exactly. So guys, this is basically what to say when you need your colleague to keep a secret.
Maybe you're sharing something you shouldn't, whatever it is.
But here we go. So let's go over some expressions.
Lindsay, what's the first one? All right, this one's a little lighter, right?
We start off kind of light, right? You didn't hear this from me, but dot, dot, dot.
I love it. Very natural and native, Michelle.
Here's a sample sentence. You didn't hear this from me, but I think our team may be moving to the location downtown.
Okay. Right. Yeah. So it's just, I wasn't the one to tell you, you know, you're saying.
Yeah. The thing I would say about this one, I think it's more for rumors like that are flying around already.
Right. It's, it's not for like a top secret thing that someone brought you into a corners and don't tell anyone this.
True. It's much more like, I think it's more casual if the word gets, do you feel that way?
Would you agree? It's like a little less serious actually. as a yeah i think it's a little less serious where i actually feel like the next one is pretty serious yes yeah the next one is this conversation never happened very serious like we're going from zero to a hundred years yes yes exactly so you could say something like i heard our client may be unhappy we need to figure this out and oh this conversation never happened Yeah.
Very serious. Don't even, yeah. Don't tell anyone in that case.
Yeah. I would strongly recommend. Okay. And then here's the next one.
Don't tell anyone I told you this, but right.
Don't tell anyone I told you this, but everyone will get a Christmas bonus this year.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. All right, Michelle, is there another one?
All right, we'll do one more, which is please don't mention this to anyone else.
This is kind of formal. Yeah, so please don't mention this to anyone else, but I may be leaving the company.
Yeah, so that's really important. You know, on the other side, the advice would be maybe don't tell anyone in your company that you might be leaving.
Right. Right. Because then people do talk.
Right. It's just it's a human nature. Right.
They do. They don't write their things, especially when it affects their own job or their own position.
And so it's probably wiser just to if you are thinking of leaving and looking for another job, don't mention it.
I think we talked about this on that episode.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So probably don't share this anyway, but the expression is good.
But Lindsay, I think it would be good to do a follow-up on how to ask someone if it's okay if you share something, right?
Because somebody might tell you something that seems maybe like a secret and you're not sure.
So you want to make sure, you know, it's okay to talk about it.
And so I think that would be a fun follow-up.
Yeah, I love that idea, Michelle. So guys, hit follow on Business English so that you don't miss that show, right?
We do three episodes a week, but we never know when certain episodes are going to come out.
So you don't want to miss it. Do we have a role play, Michelle?
Let's do it. So we are colleagues here. So you didn't hear this from me, but I think our biggest client is going to ask us to change the pitch.
Really? That's huge. Does Sheila know? Oh, not yet.
And this conversation never happened. I won't say anything, I promise.
Okay, well, don't tell anyone I told you this, but I may be switching departments.
Wow. Yes, but please don't mention this to anyone else.
Lots of secrets flying around here, Michelle.
Yes, very exciting. all right so the first thing i said to review our role play for our listeners today so you didn't hear this from me but and again in the we said that this one is a little more for rumors that many people might or not not you know they could be true not just a rumor but things that are flying around that other people probably already know about right it's a little less serious Sounds a little gossipy.
A little gossipy. Yeah, gossipy. That's right.
But then. And then you said, and this conversation never happened.
And guys, we kind of, we said it in the same way, in the serious way.
How did you say that, Lindsay? Okay. And this conversation never happened.
And I heard it in your tone of voice. Hopefully our listeners heard your tone of voice.
You got a little quiet. You got serious and flat, right?
Right. And there's kind of like those pauses in between, like never happened, right?
Very serious. Yeah. Very serious. And then I said, okay, well, don't tell anyone I told you this, but I may be switching departments.
It's like, now that we're telling secrets, let me tell you more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I said, wow. And you said, yes, but please don't mention this to anyone else.
So you re-emphasized, you said it twice, or you emphasized twice that you want that information confidential.
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. I mean, there are other things we could have said, even that you just said confidential and thinking top secret.
You know, there's like lots of ways we could have said this, but we focused on a few today.
And, you know, what do you think the takeaway is for today, Liz?
Oh my gosh, the takeaway is obviously like we don't condone spreading rumors.
Be careful when you do because yeah, I mean, you want to make sure you're credible at work, right?
Yeah. And if you were going to share something or if you hear someone saying that something's important, like this conversation never happened, we need to know the degree of seriousness here.
That is the most serious one, right? Right. i think it'd be cool to do a follow-up someday on when we're talking about secrets at work there's a big controversy going on right now in american work culture around non-compete agreements companies asking employees to sign non-competes especially in the technology world and a lot of state governments are trying to outlaw this so that because it really kind of uh handcuffs workers from moving to another company and getting a job in the same field in their industry it's really interesting um okay yeah that's a great topic yeah we'll come back to it what do you what else do you think for our listeners to close today michelle Yeah, guys, this is important to these are expressions and phrases that are important to have.
And they're also important to know because somebody might say them to you.
And like I said, look out for that follow up on how can you ask if it's okay to share something?
Yeah, so we'll come back to the topic of secrets at work.
And we'll look at it from different angles for you guys.
This is really applicable to our listeners lives, I think in the corporate world.
Yeah, that's right. That's right. Well, thank you all for listening.
And Lindsay, I will talk to you next time.
All right. Take care, Michelle. Bye. Bye.
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