This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 201.
Don't over-index in these Business English phrases.
Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.
Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.
For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.
Still translating in your head when you speak English?
It's time to change that. The Connected Communicator course from All Ears English helps you train your ear, speak naturally, and finally connect with real people.
In our tailored study plan, you'll hear unscripted interviews from tattoo artists to entrepreneurs from all across America. and you'll use new AI tools to practice speaking anytime you want.
No more stiff, scripted English. Build confidence, fluency, and cultural insight all in one course.
Plus, get real-life speaking experience at our Open Conversation Club every single week and build community with Allers English teachers and students.
Go to allersenglish.com slash connection to save $50 this week only.
Offer ends August 10th. Lindsay, I have a question for you.
Okay. This is about meetings. Is there anything that you have to do when you're running a business meeting that can create awkwardness or seem critical depending on the language you use?
I mean, definitely moving on when someone goes a little longer than I had budgeted for, right?
So when we plan a meeting, you budget a certain amount of time, but sometimes people have more to share and they're excited about something.
That can be hard as the facilitator when you really have to move on, especially if they're sharing something personal.
It's tough. Yeah. Yes. I think this is one of the most difficult things about running a meeting or even if you're not in charge, if the person who is in charge isn't getting you to move on and maybe you feel like you should say something, this is tricky.
Oh yeah. This is what we're getting into today.
A very high level business skill that's already hard in our native languages.
So for our listeners, guys, this is going to be so useful today.
I'm excited. Yes, we'll share lots of phrases and examples so that you know how to do this without creating awkwardness or criticizing.
This is going to be great. We actually got a really good question from Hanu Rao, which just said, need lots of podcasts regarding meetings.
And you're not alone. We've gotten lots of questions about business meetings.
So I'm excited to give you guys some good tips for meetings today.
Yeah, guys. And you can ask questions over in Spotify now, by the way.
After each episode, you can drop your question right in there.
So if you want to participate and make your voice heard on the show, go over there, leave us your question so we can create great episodes to answer them.
What else can we recommend today? Spotify, right?
Yeah, so the thing is, when it comes to meetings, right, many things that we have to communicate can cause misunderstandings or give offense or create awkwardness if we're using the wrong language or the wrong tone.
And we talked about one of these recently right here on Business English 187.
It was called need to cancel a work appointment.
Don't break the connection with these phrases.
This is one of those instances, right? If you need to cancel an appointment that could create awkwardness.
Yes, 100%. So go and check out that episode, Business English 187.
Just scroll right down in your feed and you'll see it right there.
What else, Aubrey? Do we have something over on All Ears English?
Yes, exactly. We're talking about another one of those today when you need to cut someone off if they're going too long.
But one of our vocabulary phrases is a follow-up to an All Ears English episode.
We talked about corporate speak. Should you minimize your corporate speak?
Bringing corporate jargon down to earth.
This was amazing. And we're going to share a phrase that is sort of corporate speak and some alternatives as well.
That was episode 2087 on All Ears English.
And that one was particularly fun because it was born out of me listening in on a real corporate meeting and just taking notes to what was going on.
And we brought you some of the corporate speak and then we kind of made fun of it.
And we said, here's the place for it. Here's where you should avoid it.
It was a really fun episode. Yes, it was great.
And we promised to follow up with this phrase over index, which needed a little more time.
So guys, make sure that you are following both Business English Podcast and All Ears English so that you get all of our great episodes.
All right. And then so we'll start off right there with that first one, which we promised we'd come back to.
Let's get into it, Aubrey. I'm excited. Yes.
So this is a pretty new phrase that's becoming more popular.
It's sort of been used in a different way in the past, and it's starting to be used to mean that you're saying too much about something or overemphasizing something.
They'll say you're over indexing in that. i still think it's funny but it's it's so common now right it's everywhere for example i don't want to over index in budget restrictions this means that i don't want to say too much again we're in the context of a meeting and i don't want to overdo it on saying my point of view on this thing yes Or if you need to let someone else know that they shouldn't share any more detail about that we need to move on, this could be a great way to do it to say, okay, we're starting to over-index in logo creation.
Let's choose an idea and move forward with that.
So you're not directly criticizing someone and saying you're sharing too much about this.
Instead, you're saying, okay, we're over-indexing in this area.
Let's choose something so that we can move on.
Yeah. And if someone says this to you, don't feel bad, right?
Because especially if you're in a larger company, a lot of departments that are very focused on one thing, right?
Like the design department is just focused on the design of the mobile app, for example.
But at the higher levels, there's more context around all the things that are happening at the company.
And you may not have a sense of... what the priorities are or you know what i mean so it's okay like it's not a personal attack if someone says it to you absolutely don't take it personally just understand and i think it's common yes that you you maybe don't have a time limit you're sort of given something you need to cover and you're providing all the detail and sometimes you don't have very clear direction on how much detail to provide or how much time to take so i love that advice lindsay like at some point you you may be stopped and instead of being offended like okay perfect i heard everything i need to share Yeah.
You just do your best and it's good. It's good if you have too much to share, right?
In a way, sometimes it's good because it means you're doing your job.
You're doing it well. You care about what you're doing.
Just be ready to pivot. And there's another one of those buzzwords.
Okay. What's next, Sabri? Abercrombie is known for their denim.
With 30-50% off all jeans, find out how denim should feel.
Shop the viral denim sale in the Abercrombie app, online or in stores.
Valid in stores and online through August 11, 2025 in US and Canada.
Excludes clearance, price reflects discount.
Code valid in US and Canada through August 11, 2025.
Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, so the next, it's a similar meeting, but a much more formal word, belabor.
And it means to elaborate in excessive detail.
So this is a very professional, polished way that you could ask someone instead of just saying, okay, TMI, you're sharing too much information.
You could say, okay, let's not belabor the point.
Let's move on. Yeah. Let's not belabor.
I don't want to belabor this, right? Or we should move on.
We don't want to belabor these statistics.
Now, TMI, that's interesting that you said that one.
That's a little bit of a bonus today. What does it mean?
What does it stand for? Yes. It means too much information, but it's very informal, right?
So this is sort of the opposite extreme to say TMI, and then to say, let's not belabor this point.
Those are like, they mean the same thing, the two most opposite extremes. yeah i also think tmi has a bit is more in your social life and it kind of has a bit more of a connotation of you're telling me something i shouldn't know or it's private and you're over sharing don't you think rather than just saying you use it that way a lot yeah yeah so if you said that to a colleague in the business space they would get that you're not saying oh my god you're sharing a secret i don't want to hear they would get you're just trying to say don't belabor it But save it for your personal life and save it for when someone is oversharing in that awkward way.
Yes, I agree. Right. We use that a lot more socially to be like, okay, I don't need to know all of those personal details in sort of a fun, playful way.
It's pretty funny. Yeah. overdo it would be the next one number three um which is a bit less formal right yeah it's a phrasal verb so it's a bit less formal you might say let's not overdo it with the budget discussion right this is instead of saying stop talking about that right we're just sort of using vocabulary to be a little less forward a little less direct okay or we should move on we don't want to overdo it Yeah.
And people say, Lindsay, would you say this in a business meeting to, to encourage someone to move on to the next step?
Probably. It's interesting how we have all these phrases that sort of mean the same thing, but like which are best for business meetings.
Yeah. I probably wouldn't be my go-to. Um, I like the labor, but it's formal.
I actually think I would say something like, um, this is great.
We need to move on right now at this point.
Right. We need to move on right now. Right.
Just kind of a bit more actionable language.
You know, we need to move on. is probably what I would use.
You make a really good point that often the question is, do you need to make a comment about the fact that someone is going too long or would it be better to not comment on it and just directly say, okay, let's move on to the next thing.
We need to move on. Yeah. Sometimes you have to say things in more than one way if people keep going, if they keep talking.
Or, let me just say this one more thing.
Oh, and I have to get this in. Right. That's a good point.
You might say that. And then if they keep talking, then it might be a good time to use one of these and say, okay, we don't want to belabor this point.
And then eventually you'll get them to move on.
Yeah. Maybe these are our last resorts. It's good to have those language resources.
Right. Especially if you're in a leadership position leading a meeting, guys, you want to have these resources, these vocabulary options.
Right, Aubrey? Yes, absolutely. okay ready for number four all right this is the most informal you will hear this at work but it's beat to death very idiomatic when anyone says this they're not actually thinking of the literal meaning we might say okay let's not beat this to death moving on to the next thing you will i hear this at work i hear this in meetings because we're not thinking right we're just it's very idiomatic it's very automatic for sure or okay i feel like i'm beating this to death let's move on Right.
It just means I feel like I'm sharing too much detail, too much information.
Let's move on. Yeah. And you know when that happens, right?
Because the topic starts to become flat in your mind, kind of.
It starts to become sort of flat and it's like been talked about too much.
You get tired of it. Right, or people, you know, someone's eyes are glazing over and you're like, okay, we need to move on to the next point here.
Yeah, for sure. All right, let's put this into a role play.
So here you and I are in a meeting, all right?
Okay, perfect. You want to spread us out?
Oh, I feel like we're over-indexing and possible drawbacks here.
I agree. We don't want to belabor everything that could go wrong.
Before we overdo it, let's move on to talk about potential benefits.
Good idea. Sorry, I was kind of beating that to death.
This is something more likely that I would say about myself, like, oh, shoot, I'm beating this to death.
Sorry, I was beating that to death. Okay.
Do you have a tendency to do that, Aubrey?
Do you go like deep into things? People, it's just the way their mind works, you know?
Nothing wrong with it. Sometimes. Yeah. Interesting.
Interesting. I do think I, in general, I have a pretty good idea of how much detail to share and then let's move on.
But you never know. Sometimes you get really excited about something and you might share more detail than is needed just because that's when I would tend to do it as if I were excited about something.
Do you have anyone on the social side? Do you have anyone in your life who's known for super drawn out stories?
Once they start their story, you have to cozy up with a cup of coffee because it's going to go on.
Absolutely. Yes. Or even not that the story would go so long, but that there will be a lot of tangential details.
Yeah, right. And I just have to be prepared for that, knowing they will come back eventually to the main point.
It just happens. Yeah. yeah i don't know if it's good storytelling or bad storytelling or what it is it's quirky storytelling is what it is um i know someone like that too and she's infamous for it for sure funny teaser about it yeah yeah she gets teased for sure okay let's go through our role play so i said i feel like we're over indexing impossible drawbacks so what i'm saying here just to review i'm saying i think we're saying too much about drawbacks Yes, exactly.
And then I agreed. I said, yep, let's not belabor everything that could go wrong.
And this is that very formal, impressive word that means let's not share too much information about the drawbacks.
Yeah. Or you might hear a lot, I don't want to belabor this, but right, that's probably the most common chunk you would hear, right?
Yes, exactly. And then I said, before we overdo it, let's move on to talk about potential benefits.
Yep. And then I said, Oh, yeah, sorry, I was kind of beating that to death.
And this is something this is, I think, a lot of people do this, I definitely do this, where if I recognize that, you know, I'm the one that was sharing too much information, and someone told, you know, had to share these phrases, I would do this to eliminate the awkwardness myself, right?
I'm like, Oh, yeah, I was kind of beating that to death.
You're right. Let's move on. Oh, that'd be a good episode idea to go into another day when someone calls you out on something, even lightly, whether it's a meeting or just a conversation at work, how can you acknowledge that?
Yeah, you were doing that, whatever it was giving too little detail, too much detail.
I don't know. In a way that's fun and lighthearted and Because there's a little bit of awkwardness anytime anyone has to correct or criticize.
They're trying not to, but sometimes we have to move on.
And there is a lot that you can do to eliminate that awkwardness as well.
Right. And that's what we always talk about is human connection here.
When you hear yourself make a mistake, whether it's a grammar mistake or this kind of mistake, you've belabored a point for way too long.
What do you do? And someone calls you out.
What do you do? Do you curl up and kind of get annoyed or offended?
Or do you just say, oh yeah, you're right.
I was doing that. My bad. Now let's move on.
And I know there's sort of a school of thought against apologizing.
So there are, if you don't want to apologize, you feel like I didn't do anything wrong.
I shouldn't apologize. There are so many phrases.
I could have said this without the sorry, right?
Good idea. I was kind of beating that to death.
And then you're sort of making a joke and you don't need the apology.
I think we should go into that another day.
What do you think? Let's do it. Yeah. Okay.
So you don't miss it. It's going to be an awesome episode.
What's the takeaway for today's episode, Aubrey?
Yeah, this is a vital skill in a meeting.
If you need to let someone know that they're providing too much information, that we need to move on, it can seem critical.
It can feel, it could cause embarrassment or offense.
So today's phrases will help you eliminate that, help you do it in a way that's respectful and avoid that awkwardness. yeah and guys you know this came out of a comment from a student in spotify who said they want more help with meetings if that's what you want let us know you know we could create a new course based on business meetings there's so much we could do about meetings and i think aubry meetings are a key place where our english becomes very important and we notice what we haven't worked on right we notice our weaknesses very quickly Yes, absolutely.
Right. There's so much that goes into it.
There's the small talk before creating those connections.
There's leading a meeting. There's how to participate in a meeting, giving presentations.
Yeah, there's so much. Just meeting are kind of a little micro environment, the environment of the meeting that we could talk a lot more about.
So guys, if you want that, let us know. All right.
And we will go into it deeper this year in 2024.
Good stuff. Love it. Thanks, Lindsay. This is a fun one.
All right. Take care, Aubrey. Bye. Bye-bye.
Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
Want more from All Ears English? Don't miss our biggest and best podcast with 8 million monthly downloads.
Just search for the All Ears English podcast and hit follow to get four new episodes per week on fluency, American culture, grammar, and so much more.
Or tap the link in the show notes. Remember, we believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Follow the All Ears English podcast now.
