This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 165, Business English Idioms to Avoid at Work.
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Offer ends August 10th. allearsenglish.com connection hey lindsay how are you today hey i'm pretty busy today aubrey but i'm good i'm good yeah i prefer that actually i kind of love a day where i'm busy i have a lot to do i know sometimes the day kind of flies by but yeah i don't know i like to feel busy makes me feel more important maybe these days i feel like it's kind of weird if i'm not like what's wrong right something's wrong i'm missing something if i'm not busy That's true.
Forgot to put something on the list, right?
Yeah. Absolutely. Oh, man. I'm really excited about this episode.
We got a question about if there are idioms that are inappropriate in business English, and there are some that I do hear them still sometimes.
I think people just don't know. So we're going to share a few today, why they're inappropriate, why you should avoid them, and sort of like why people still use them maybe.
Yeah. yeah i love it i'm that's why i'm glad we have this show business english 100 dedicated to career english right aubry yes absolutely yeah so if you guys love it hit follow on the show all right so let's go deeper into that question then i mean is there anything else that is the question right yes right we're diving right in today so i'll go ahead and read our question the student sent the question are there any idioms in english that are inappropriate in a work setting And this is what's interesting is a lot of language, if it's informal, like maybe you wouldn't use it as much at work, but we wouldn't call it inappropriate.
Inappropriate is very specific to like it's going to offend someone.
It's going to make someone uncomfortable.
And there are there are some idioms that are outdated or maybe would be more offensive to one gender that we really just need to cut them out of our language.
Yes, true. And sometimes it depends on who we're talking about.
So let's get into this a little bit more.
I mean, anything else we need to know, Aubrey, to lay the groundwork here for today's episode?
Yeah, I think just to share the meaning of the word innuendo.
If you guys haven't heard the word innuendo, this is often what makes...
Language that might be inappropriate for some seem fine for others if they're not bothered by the innuendo, which means something like a double meaning.
So on the surface, if someone doesn't know the double meaning, it's fine.
But then there might be some kind of double meaning that is either inappropriate.
Racist or sexual or something. There's like a hidden meaning here that that most native English speakers would know.
And just at the risk of offending someone, it's better to not use it, especially at work. yes and it's hard because there are so many expressions that do go back to historical events that maybe aren't on the surface obviously offensive but they are if you look at where they came from and that's kind of a second level so this is the low-hanging fruit Right, Aubrey?
I mean, we can't be responsible. You just always want to be looking for them, listening to the conversation about what phrases are in.
What are we no longer saying? You try your best and we're all going to make mistakes.
That's our connection approach to this. Right.
And if you realize that you've made a mistake, You know, it's the same thing if you have, you know, I have a good friend who's non-binary.
OK, sometimes I use the wrong pronoun. Yes, I do.
And then I immediately correct myself and apologize and we move on.
It's not a huge thing. We make mistakes and it's OK as long as you try, like you show the effort.
Yes. absolutely and one thing i love the idea of if you're working in english especially if it's with native english speakers and you start feeling a little more comfortable like you have a good relationship you could ask them you could say can you please let me know if ever i accidentally say something inappropriate or offensive maybe there's a double meaning i don't know about if you could share with me right because i know if i i have some friends that have asked me that.
And we're at the level, at the relationship now where I can.
And they're always very appreciative when I share like, oh, just FYI, there's this hidden meaning.
Or they'll come to me with a joke. They're like, I don't understand why this is funny.
And often I'm like, oh, there's innuendo there.
And that's one of the best benefits to having these deeper connections is being able to have someone that you can ask something like that. my gosh it's true like you know this could be an intimidating intimidating aspect of learning a new language right like if i'm working on my spanish trying to work in spanish where am i going to go to find this out that's why i'm glad we cover these topics on all airs english for our listeners so absolutely so not only are we going to share today three phrases that you shouldn't use that might be offensive for each one we're going to give you a better alternative That's also idiomatic, but that doesn't have any kind of innuendo or isn't possibly offensive.
OK, so what is our first one here today, Aubrey?
Yeah, so this first one is to be in bed together or to get into bed with.
And I still hear business people use this a lot just to mean working together to start a business relationship.
They'll just refer that as being in bed together.
But more and more, I think people are moving away from this because of that innuendo.
There's clearly a sexual reference there, which could create discomfort or awkwardness depending on who's speaking, who's there.
So just to avoid that chance. Yeah. um yeah i'm hopeful that this is being used less i don't like it yeah i think any reference to bed in the workplace especially when you're talking about someone in your immediate life your immediate co-workers people in your world you want to avoid i do want to make sure if we have any die hard all those english listeners i know we taught this subway and i think it was on allers english podcast and it was taught and i do have an opinion on this one tell me what you think it's okay if you disagree I think when it comes to saying, talking about, we taught it more in the context of the politicians are in bed with the energy industry, for example.
That politician is in bed with Shell Oil, and that's why we're not passing climate change referendums in Texas, for example.
That I don't find as bad because that person's not in my world.
I'm not going to have dinner with that person.
I'm not trying to have a meeting with them.
They're kind of like... up here in in the world what do you think Aubrey I mean it might be a personal decision Yeah, interesting.
That's a bit of a hot take. Yeah. Which I kind of love.
I love that a hot take, like something that not everyone will agree with, right?
Yeah, sure. I can definitely see what you're saying because it's not as personal.
We're not talking about two people being in bed together, which is more of like this visual and it feels more personal.
We're talking about business relationships, more overarching.
But I am going to push back a little. I still don't like it because there's that innuendo still of it being about sex.
I don't love it. I'm like, why can't we just instead say these companies are working together?
We might even need to come up with something better there.
Because I think you're right that the alternative I had here was putting our heads together.
And this is more like what we're working together to come up with an idea.
But what you're talking about is a really specific meaning.
That means they're like helping each other.
And in a way that might even be a little bit, not illegal, but maybe unethical, right?
Unfortunately, the lobbying industry is legal.
It's so sad. But not always ethical, like insider trading, I think of, right?
So that's what's interesting is that idiom, being in bed together, has that a little bit of a negative innuendo or a little bit of a negative implication.
And I don't know if we have a direct... Anything that means exactly that you would have to say a lot to say that to be like these politicians are helping each other out.
And I don't know if it's on the up and up. a lot more yeah so i think you and i disagree slightly on that which is totally cool depends on personality depends on kind of who you're around and what's being said one expression when it comes to like lobbying i know the expression bought and paid for right just came up recently in politics and that could be on that same wing of things but when you're talking about people at work working together and helping each other definitely i agree avoid it entirely Interesting.
So this is an interesting one. And something that's fascinating here is I'm glad that we kind of pointed out that you and I don't even see quite eye to eye, whereas often we do.
Usually you and I are very much on the same page.
For sure. that will be the case for you guys where you're working out in the business world.
You might hear this and the person saying it is very much just thinking this means working together.
They're not thinking of the innuendo. They're not intentionally trying to create this uncomfortable situation because idiomatic language is often that way.
Like you're used to sort of using it to mean one thing, not intending the meaning behind it.
So we do have to give each other some grace, some understanding.
The benefit of the doubt. They're not trying to offend me.
I love it. Yes. So good. Okay. So these next two, I think we're going to be on the same page.
So let's talk about number two for our listeners.
What is it, Aubrey? Number two is too many chiefs and not enough Indians, which is problematic on multiple levels, right?
First of all, here in the United States, especially here out West, there are still a lot of people who say the word Indian to refer to Native Americans, to refer to first peoples.
Which is confusing for me now because often I do.
I'm like, I'm not sure if you're talking about someone from India or maybe it's confusing and also offensive to people of that culture and heritage.
So I think that's the first reason to not use this idiom, right?
Oh, my gosh. Yeah, there are multiple reasons.
And so just stay away from this one. You know, maybe you heard another generation.
I actually don't hear this one at all. I don't know if I've I know I've heard it, but not many times.
I do feel like it's being phased out as as Americans are more aware of cultural appropriation and cultural sensitivities that is becoming luckily.
Yeah, totally. i think that we've michelle and i have said on this show like as we've gone through the pandemic as a culture we've just become more aware culturally something in the pandemic just brought up our awareness a bit more i think we were all at home watching the news paying attention to things we had time to pay attention And it's a good thing.
You know, we're just we're evolving as a society.
So go with the flow, guys, you know, just move in that direction.
Push yourself in that direction or just don't learn these to begin with.
Right. Yes. So let's share a better alternative.
That idiom meant like there are too many decision makers, too many people, too many leaders.
And there's a really good alternative. That's too many cooks in the kitchen.
Which has the same meaning, right? There's too many people trying to be in charge.
Imagine trying to cook something and there's 20 people there trying to help.
That's hard. Yeah, for sure. I recently watched a movie about a famous chef who was also very heated and passionate and he was really kind of crazy in the kitchen, like just really telling people what to do and a lot of drama.
And I can't imagine two or three of those people in in the kitchen.
Right. Yes. And this translates a reason we use this quite a bit in the business world, because often if there's some kind of project and there's no clear leader and everyone's, you know, everyone's ideas are given equal weight, we're wasting a lot of time not just making a decision and going forward.
Right. So this is a great one. This is safe.
There's no weird innuendo if if you want to express that idea.
You can just say, oh, there are too many cooks in the kitchen.
Love it. Okay, what's number three? All right.
Number three is there's more than one way to skin a cat.
I still hear this all the time, but it's really violent and gruesome if you think about actually skinning a cat.
And I know people who use this aren't imagining that, but like you're still saying it, right?
Oh, I know. We could say other things, right?
I mean, we believe in animal rights here and you got to love animals.
I mean, they're harmless beings, right? How can you?
Yeah. So anyways, what is something that would be better?
So the meaning here is just like there's more than one way to accomplish something.
And I looked up online because I was like, I can't think of another way to say that.
But I saw online you can say there's more than one way to peel a potato.
I like that much better. Represent Idaho.
Love it. I know, right? Well, I've never heard that before, even in Idaho, but it does get the same meaning across.
So I kind of love that idea. Let's adopt this way.
If one of you said this to me at work, I would know exactly what you meant.
And it's just kind of fun to say. There's more than one way to peel a potato.
I mean, it's just more fun, less violent sounding.
We don't want to create this imagery that's kind of painful to think about.
Yeah, I love it. Absolutely. Yes. I suggest this one.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. All right, Aubrey, shall we do a little role play here?
Yeah, we'll show you these better alternatives the way you can use them at work.
You and I are just coworkers meeting about a new project in this role play.
Want to start us out? Yeah, here we go. We need to figure out a plan.
I'm excited to put our heads together here and figure it out.
Definitely. I'm glad just you and I are assigned to this.
Sometimes it's tough when there are too many cooks in the kitchen.
True. I know there's more than one way to peel a potato, but if we have too many ideas, it can take a lot of time to pick one.
I accidentally wrote more than one way to skin a potato.
We don't say skin a potato. We say peel a potato.
So good catch. That's true. I was blending the two.
No, peel a potato. So this role play shows our listeners.
These are totally viable phrases, right?
Absolutely. All of these we use a lot in business English.
No, they're very safe. No one's going to be offended.
There's no innuendo. So first you said, I'm excited to put our heads together here, which just means like meet together, share ideas.
Love it. And then and then you said sometimes it's tough when there are too many cooks in the kitchen.
Right. Exactly. Meaning like, oh, it's difficult if there's too many people working on this project, too many decision makers.
And then you said there's more than one way to peel a potato.
But if we have too many ideas, it can take a lot of time.
Right. So just saying, you know, there's more than one way to get things done.
I love it. So good. Thank you. This is good.
We've got some good alternatives today. Yeah.
I mean, where should we leave our listeners for today?
What do we think? Yeah, I think it's really important to be aware that there are idioms in English that are still used that are inappropriate in a work setting.
And like you said, Lindsay, though, you don't want to create discomfort or awkwardness.
We also recognize usually when someone uses one of these, they they aren't thinking of the innuendo.
They're not intentionally trying to make someone uncomfortable.
So we definitely like you know, try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they use them.
But I think it's really, I'm glad you guys were able to follow the podcast so that you're aware of these to avoid using them.
Yeah, for sure. And this is the importance of studying updated English material, right?
So now you guys know, you know, the information, you know, the background, you know what you want to avoid.
And this is it right here. So hit follow if you love business English, right, Aubrey? absolutely yes these deep connections right they're only possible if you have mutual respect and that's one of the things we want to share here is how you can share that show that to co-workers yes connection comes after respect is established between two people it's like a baseline foundation yeah yes absolutely all right great well thanks for hanging out with me today i appreciate it awesome thanks lindsay i'll see you next time talk soon bye bye Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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