This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 181.
How to cover your bases in Business English.
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Lindsay, have you played baseball recently?
No, I've been to a baseball game this past summer though.
Does that count? No. I love attending baseball games too.
It's fun to get a hot dog. We usually leave after the seventh inning stretch though.
Do you stay for a whole baseball game? Baseball games are so long, but you know that they changed the rules of baseball, right?
So they've made them shorter now. Yeah, the rules of baseball have been changed, which is so crazy to me that you could just go and change the rules of baseball.
But now they have a countdown clock for when the pitcher has to pitch.
He only gets, I don't know, less time than before.
Yeah, so it does go a little faster now.
Okay. So same amount of innings, but they have less time to throw a pitch.
So it's shorter. Oh, yeah. I love that. I played softball.
I don't know, like there's professional baseball.
And then for most of us who aren't professional baseball players, we usually even, I have a friend who was a pitcher for UNLV.
So he was a pitcher in college. He almost got drafted.
It was like really close and he didn't. And so then he comes and here he's this, he can throw like a hundred mile an hour pitch and and you still like playing softball in like a league because they're like people don't really play baseball unless it's professional you know it's true it ends up being adult leagues and community leagues you know ways to meet people even corporate leagues tend to be soft right I don't maybe it's because of safety or something maybe they think a softball is less likely to hurt if you get hit I don't have to wear a helmet if someone's throwing it and if you get hit by a pitch yeah you're gonna be black and blue We share that expression on the All Ears English podcast when you're bruised, right?
That you're black and blue. I really love softball.
I couldn't play baseball because that's the other thing is the pitch comes so fast, most people wouldn't be able to hit it.
So the safety and also no one can hit a baseball pitch.
That's true. Except the professionals. We stick with the softball.
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Are we talking about baseball in today's episode?
Yes, exactly. This came up recently because in our community, I posted a video asking our members, community members to share baseball idioms because there are so many in English.
We had an episode not that long ago, you and Michelle shared baseball idioms, episode 1475.
It was called Step Up to the Plate and Learn Baseball Idioms in English. and what was fascinating to me was the idioms shared by the members in our community were all different from the ones you guys shared that day because there's so many i love that so we're crowdsourcing our ideas over there on that community we'll let our listeners know how they can actually be a part of that community in a minute but what were some of the ones that our listeners put into your the answer to you what did they share well that's what we are going to share in this episode is four that were shared by our community members right and we're going to teach them with example sentences but the four that you and michelle shared in episode 1475 were strikes Out of one's league, step up to the plate and go to bat for.
So those are all really interesting. We use them all the time in business English.
So definitely go check out All Ears English episode 1475 to get a refresher on those.
Baseball might be the sport that we have the most idioms.
I mean, it's one of the oldest sports I would venture to guess that it is.
I don't know that for sure, but I'm assuming it is.
It's extremely old in the US and it's just... such a part of our culture even if you don't play baseball or have a child that plays baseball you just you know about baseball i don't know how to say exactly yeah so there are so many i was surprised and we kind of forget how many there are a couple of the ones that our community members posted i was like oh yeah i forgot about that one like if you actually looked up a list there's probably a hundred idioms that all refer to baseball I love our new community.
I love our community. We have revamped. We have really made it so incredibly robust.
Aubrey, how do people end up in this community?
It's an exclusive community. How do they get into it, by the way?
If you join any of our courses, then you get invited to this community.
And so then not only do you have this amazing online course for whatever it is you're focusing on, business English, general fluency if you're studying for IELTS.
We have so many great courses. And then you all are able to come into the community.
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And you also get to come to our fluency parties and open conversation clubs for great English speaking practice.
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So guys, go over to allearsenglish.com. Check out all of our courses over there.
But for now, let's get into some of the knowledge from our students in the community.
Yeah, awesome. Okay, so number one is rain check.
And this is one of those Silke shared this in our community.
And I hadn't really thought about what this has to do with baseball.
I love that she shared with this one. Yeah, that is fascinating, right?
I never connected this just with baseball before, but it makes sense.
Of course, you have rain delays. Exactly, right?
So a rain check means you're delaying to a later time.
And when it's for baseball, it's because of rain.
You're having to rain check and finish the game another time.
But we use this all the time in business to delay anything. whether it has nothing to do with rain.
All the time, all the time. And I love it.
It's kind of, it's soft, it's social, it's fun.
It's a casual way to say, no, I can't attend that thing.
Right. So for example, can I get a rain check?
If I have to say no to attending a happy hour, let's say for example, Aubrey, you invited me to a happy hour.
Oh, Aubrey, I can't make it on Tuesday. Can I get a rain check?
Right. This is such a polite way to, you know, instead of saying, no, I can't go. you to say can i get a rain check because you're implying i would love to do this at a later time i just can't go today yeah could you also i want to know your opinion on this i'm not sure what you think would you also say can i take a rain check can i take a rain check can i get a rain check yeah i think i hear both yeah uh-huh can i take a rain check or can i get a rain check i say both and i for sure hear both yeah good point okay me too what's another example So you might say, oh, we need to cancel today's meeting.
We'll have to rain check. And this, who knows, right?
Someone wasn't able to show up or something's delayed.
And so if you're having to cancel a meeting, this is often the way we would say, we'll do it at a later date.
We'll say, we got a rain check. Interesting.
So I've never actually heard it used as a verb.
You're saying we'll have to rain check. It's kind of being used as a verb here, isn't it?
That's true. Yeah, we got a rain check. Sort of.
Yeah, that's true. We use it as a verb or as a noun.
Because I hear it this way, too. Just instead of saying we'll have to get a rain check or we have to take a rain check, we just say we need to rain check.
Okay. Maybe that's a Western versus East Coast because I've never heard it.
You don't hear it that way. Yeah, I've always only ever said, can I get a rain check?
Let's get a rain check. Can I take a rain check?
Let's take a rain check. Let's take a rain check on that.
That's what I hear. Okay, that's fascinating.
Yeah, we definitely, at least on the West Coast, we definitely use it as a verb too.
Just say, we need to rain check. We got a rain check.
We have to rain check. I mean, I'm all for making communication more efficient and cutting out verbs that are not necessary.
On the East Coast, we like to talk a lot, always talking, adding words.
All right. Love it. What's next? Okay. So number two, this was shared by Edith in our community.
Hey, shout out to Edith. Hi, Edith. And it was cover all the bases.
So this means to be very thorough in plans or in an action.
Oh my gosh. Yes. To be thorough in anything you do.
Have we covered all of our bases, right?
Maybe we're planning a trip. Like I'm planning a trip to Portugal, which actually when this episode comes out, I might even be there.
I don't know. Amazing. That's exciting. So covering all our bases and planning, where are we staying?
What trains are we taking? Are we renting a car?
What are we doing? Right. Or you might hear this at the end of a meeting.
Someone could say, okay, that's the final agenda item.
I think we covered all the bases. It means like we've covered it.
All of the points on the agenda, we've been very thorough.
We're ready to adjourn the meeting. Cover all your bases.
So Aubrey, are you someone that does this at the first time or do you go back and cover your bases later?
What is your workflow? Let's say you're planning a trip. um or do you leave things open to just open to spontaneity and uh good question i think as far as at work i need to be better at covering all my bases because sometimes i will like miss a due date something will happen and i'm like oh if i would have gone and checked you know the to-do list or due dates one more time and made sure i covered all my bases then something wouldn't fall through the cracks that's another really fun idiom right when you miss something when you do don't do something we say it falls through the cracks Yeah, we need to teach that one for sure on another episode.
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Exclusions apply, see details online. Okay, we have one more.
No, we have two more. Oh my gosh. Yes, this one, number three is touch base.
And Chun shared this one. It means to communicate about something.
Super common. And I think we've probably shared this before in another Business English episode, but we love this.
Let's touch base tomorrow about our plan. yes or did you touch base with the vp about next steps this is feels so much more native and natural rather than saying like did you contact the vp did you email that like we say touch right yeah yeah it's a really nice catch-all term that works for so many different ways of saying communicate it just means communicate did you communicate with yeah And then the last one, Kathy shared this one, hit a home run, which means to achieve success.
And this is another funny one where it's so clearly from baseball, right?
In baseball, you're trying to hit a home run.
But it's still when we use it in business English, I don't think of baseball.
I just think, oh, yeah, I was successful.
I hit a home run. we love a good baseball game when there are tons of home runs the game that i went to this summer um the rockies game they just nailed so many home runs but i think it was actually the other team but luckily i don't care that much if we want and so i was loving seeing because it's amazing the lift the ball gets the feeling you get the crowd just stands up and it's like whoa people the crack of the bat i love it i know i'm the same pitchers don't love all the home runs, right?
They're trained to, there's nothing worse than a no hitter.
When like a pitcher throws all these and nobody hits, that's so boring for the audience.
So this game was the polar opposite of that.
And it was, I had to say it was really cool.
It was really cool. So fun. I love it. Yeah.
So examples, right? We hit a home run on this project or let's make sure we hit a home run this month.
We'll say that just meaning like, let's make sure we do the best we can.
Let's make sure we're successful. Yeah. Maybe you set a financial goal, you hit it or you exceeded it.
You were efficient and you work together well, that would be a home run.
Okay. Yes. And this verb hit, oh, it's so tricky, the grammar there.
And we say, we hit a home run on this project last month.
This is one of those tricky verbs where it's the same, present tense or past, it's just we hit.
You don't say we hitted. So tricky, those irregular grammar verbs.
Yeah. Aubrey, I could see a great episode, right?
Because we do use the verb hit a lot in business.
We hit our numbers, we hit our goals. I think we could do a great episode on this show for our listeners just using hit.
I love that idea. yes hit follow yeah if you didn't hit follow in the past hit follow now all right so in this role play we are discussing a new account that i just landed like yes i'll start nice job landing that account you hit a home run with that one well thank you it was definitely a team effort though margaret made sure we covered all our bases nice i've been meaning to touch base with her about a task we're working on together where are you going now i was thinking we could grab lunch oh rain check sounds good okay nice and i love this where i can just do that's kind of like a verb and noun or i'm just saying rain check that's it and also you know i mean can i get a rain check yeah we didn't mention that before but that's another great way to do it right just drop everything else yeah i love it so here we said you said nice job landing that account you hit a home run with that one with that and i just mean like great job you were successful it's exciting but this is so fun to use it idiomatically be like oh man you hit a home run with that account Yes.
What else? And then you said, well, it's a team effort.
Margaret made sure we covered all our bases.
I love this too as just like a tip for business English.
Often someone will give you praise for something that was a team effort.
And it might be tempting to take all the credit because then you're thinking, oh, this is going to be good for me.
Maybe it'll help me get that promotion. But this I think is very admirable to give credit where credit is due.
100%. So important to do this because you know it comes back to you either way.
Right. It comes back to you. If you do take all the credit, that'll come back to bite you.
And so we could do another episode on how to give credit to others, how to share the credit and how to turn people's attention to who else participated in getting this goal accomplished.
Yes. Praises for doing that. Like the one you used here, it was definitely a team effort.
And then you're going to share what Margaret did.
She made sure we covered all our bases. And this is you're saying she was really good about making sure we got all of the minor details.
We got everything on the to-do list accomplished.
Yeah. And this is nice for the team, for Margaret too, because now you're remembering that you wanted to touch base with her about something else.
And that's pulling her back in, right? Some people are really hard workers, but maybe they don't advocate for themselves.
So if you are a verbal person at work, it's nice if you can advocate for people who are doing great work.
They're just not singing about it. Yes.
Good point. Right. Margaret, maybe, you know, Margaret's never going to tell anyone, you know, the part she played on this project and she should get credit for it.
So you're doing it for her. Maybe she's very quiet.
I love that. Yeah. So you said I've been, oh, Margaret, right.
I've been meaning to touch base with her about a task we're working on together.
So it comes back to her. I love it. So good.
Yeah. And that just means, you know, communicate with her.
And that might mean sending an email or text or speaking with her in person.
Touch base is more general just to mean communicate in some way.
Communicate. I think communicate is the best word to use there.
Yeah. And then I said, are you going now?
Oh, I was thinking we could grab lunch. And you said- So then I just say, rain check.
Right. Because yeah, there's so much implied there.
I'm saying, yes, I got to go talk to her now.
So I can't go to lunch, but I'd love to.
Let's do it later. And I can say all of that by just saying, oh, rain check.
Totally. And guys, again, our philosophy on business English is that we are human beings at work, right?
You don't become a robot as soon as you walk into your workplace and scan your card and go upstairs.
No, we're human beings. And so it is okay to be casual like that in many scenarios.
Right, rain check. That's something you would probably say at home as well.
So there are many moments when you do need to be casual with your coworkers.
This is one of them. Absolutely, right? And at work, we're still using idioms and phrasal verbs.
We use so many baseball idioms in business English.
This will make you sound native and natural because natives are going to use them.
You can use them also to connect with coworkers.
I love it, Aubrey. Thanks for talking about baseball today.
It made me excited. Too bad we're, well, I don't know.
Is the World Series coming up soon? I have no idea.
I am the wrong person to ask. It's hilarious how little we know about professional baseball.
It's pretty hilarious. So guys, check it out.
Check out the World Series. If not, be ready for spring training in March, April.
And there's always good early games you can check out.
Yes. Whenever you're visiting Arizona, where I'm from, we have spring training games and it's fun because they're cheap, but it's still like professional teams, right?
The Giants play not that far from here. And especially if you're like sitting on the grass way outfield, it's like $5 to go see a game.
It's so fun. Fun. So if you're living in California, Nevada, Arizona, jump on a plane for a weekend.
It's a great idea to hang out with your friends.
I also want to say minor league baseball, at least on the Northeast, is a great use of your time.
So if you ever go to Cape Cod in the summer, book a minor league baseball ticket.
Check out minor league ball. It's really fun to watch as well.
Yes. I went to an amazing game when I was in Lancaster, but I think it's pronounced like Lancashire.
Pennsylvania? It was the Lancashire Barnstormers.
It was a minor league team and it was so much fun.
A lot more hits, a lot more home runs. Minor league is really fun.
I went to a great one in North Carolina a couple summers ago.
So if you don't have the money to go into a major league baseball game or just don't feel like dealing with the city, the traffic, try a minor league game in the States.
Really cool way to spend an evening. All right, good stuff.
Now that's a pro tip. Minor league baseball.
That's a pro tip. All right, Avra, you have a nice day.
I'll talk to you soon. Take care. Awesome.
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