This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 227.
Achieve success at work by avoiding these holdups.
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Hey there, Aubrey. How's it going? Hi, I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you? I'm doing well. I'm doing well.
I have a question for you though today. Awesome.
Let's hear it. So have you experienced lately any holdups maybe in your life or at work, in your community, anything going on?
Yes. My second daughter is 15. She wants to get a job, but almost everywhere here hires at 16.
So she's not quite old enough. So we've been experiencing this holdup.
We're sort of in limbo where she just needs to wait to turn 16 to be able to just get a little part-time job.
Yeah. I get that. I kind of, in my mind, I'm like, oh, you have your whole life to work.
Right. But also she wants like some spending cash.
Right. And I don't want to have to be giving it to her if it's, you know, she'll, she'll ask for something she wants.
Right. I don't really care if she has it or not.
So I'm like, well, yeah, I had a job. That's what I would do too.
I think that's a great lesson for kids. Right.
They have to work for what they want. Yeah.
Okay. I see where the holdup is then there.
Yeah. And this is an interesting noun that's also used as a phrasal verb, which can be confusing, right?
We experience holdups a lot at work. This means that something is holding us up and there we're using that phrasal verb.
Something's creating a delay. Yes. I think a lot of things can in terms of communication.
I mean, we've shared on the show, we were just onboarding onto monday.com now as a task management system.
And if communication isn't there, if something's been completed and someone else doesn't know, there can be a real hold up.
Right. In terms of the workflow. Yeah. Or if a task that you need to complete depends on someone finishing something else, you can experience a holdup where you're waiting for someone else to finish and let you know.
So like you said, communication breakdowns.
Other, if someone else gets sick and isn't able to do something on time, yeah, that can create a holdup.
Yeah, dependencies. We're not working in isolation here.
We never are. We're always on teams, right?
So that is a reality. Aubrey, this reminds me a little bit of an episode that we did last week on All Ears English.
Are we doing a series here? This is exciting.
That's because this is part of a three-part series that goes across all three of our shows.
This is very exciting. So part one was on the All Ears English podcast last week, episode 2158, Vocabulary Tips That Hold Up.
And we shared that the phrasal verb hold up and the verb and noun hold, there are so many meanings and they can cause problems.
There are common errors that are created.
So we taught one meaning of each to help you avoid a common error.
So if you missed that one, go check it out.
Yeah. And because this word hold up is so diverse, we're not repeating anything today, guys, on Business English.
We're teaching you new ways to use this and showing it to you in the business context.
So this is part two. And then part three is over on our IELTS Energy podcast.
What are you and Jessica going to talk about over there next week?
Yes. There are hundreds of idioms that have the word hold.
We're going to choose the three that we use the most, but that are all very interesting.
And these are super useful for the IELTS exam, but also for anyone learning English.
We use them at work all the time. So we'll have that one next week, March 19th.
You can look forward to that one as well.
Oh my gosh. Amazing. And again, no repetition.
These are all brand new things you're learning on each of these shows, guys.
So go ahead and open your search bar now and just type in All Ears English.
You should see all three podcasts. They're all yellow.
Open them up, hit follow on each one, and then you'll make sure you don't miss this series.
Yes. Awesome. Okay. So let's dive in. Our first one we used here at the top of the episode, right?
This is a noun hyphenated holdup, which is a situation that causes a delay.
Which is what we talked about at the top of the episode, right Aubrey?
Exactly. So for example, you might say the contract hasn't been finalized, which has caused a holdup or it's caused a holdup of our progress.
Right. Or this is really common, conversational too.
So our listeners, you guys are going to want to write this down.
What's the holdup? What's going on? Right.
Maybe you walk into a meeting and it hasn't started and you expected it to have started by now.
So you might say this because it's pretty friendly, really be like, what's the holdup?
For sure. Or a different kind of business context would be when you hire, let's say you hire a contractor for your home, right?
It is working with a company. Notoriously, sometimes contracts take longer than we think.
When there's contracting happening, maybe you're designing, you're redesigning your home, right?
You want to be careful, make sure you're polite, but I could see potentially, what's going on?
What's the holdup? What are we waiting for?
If you're starting to get impatient, this might sound a little more impatient, but it would apply there depending on your mood, I think.
That's true. And the answer is always permits.
I feel like the contractor is going to say, well, we haven't gotten the permit yet.
We're waiting to get the permit. Yeah. Red tape, in other words.
Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, this one's so useful, especially at work.
If there is a hold up, you need to find out like we need to dive down, find out the root of the problem.
Like you were saying, often it's something that can be fixed if there's sort of a cog in the wheels.
We say like, you know, a hold up, something that's creating a problem.
Often with communication, you could prevent that from happening in the future.
Yeah. Some kind of a bottleneck is going on.
We have to get to the bottom of it. Okay.
So that's a totally new context and meaning than what we learned over on All Ears English last week.
So how about number two, Aubrey? What else?
All right. So this is one of the meanings of the phrasal verb hold up, different than what was in part one.
This one means to delay or block the movement or progress of someone or something.
So it's related to the noun, right? This verb... causes the holdup, right?
Something is being held up. We are holding up the progress somehow, or something is holding up our progress.
Okay. So it's kind of the same thing, but it's different.
It's being used in a different way, right?
Exactly. So let's talk about what is holding up the project, right?
Or... You could even say, let's talk about what is holding up the project.
There's a holdup somewhere, right? It's funny where if we'll use it as a noun and a verb, sometimes we don't even realize we'll use it in the same sentence.
Oh, for sure. This holdup is being caused by, you know, who's holding up this project?
There's a holdup somewhere. Yeah, for sure.
Or plans were held up when the permits weren't approved.
You said that permits are often the problem.
Exactly. And here you have it in the passive, right?
Plans were held up. So it's the same, this phrasal verb hold up.
We often will say something was held up past tense.
And you guys, right, our listeners know that when we have a phrasal verb, we're going to go ahead and conjugate that verb, right?
Exactly. Plans were held up. Yes. Love it.
What else? Yeah. And then just that same question, instead of what's the holdup, you might say, what's holding you up, right?
If you see someone's sharing with you, I'm stuck on this task and you say, okay, what's holding you up?
Let's try and solve the problem. Would you also use this, like, let's say you're coming home from work.
It's not a business example, but you're coming home from work and your partner is still in traffic.
I say, what's holding you up? Why is it taking you so long to get home?
What's going on? Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
Same meaning a delay, right? Or you might get home and say, sorry, I was held up by traffic.
Right. Meaning it's like I was delayed. Yes.
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The third use is another phrasal verb, right?
And what is it? And this just means wait.
And we often will just say it on its own, right?
Hold up. I have an idea. It's just another way of saying wait.
Wow. Okay. This episode is new at really high level for our listeners.
I love it. Or let's hold up for just a moment.
Mark will be here any second. I love the use of hold up.
Wait a minute. Hold up. Right. It's very conversational, very native and natural.
Don't you think? Absolutely. I say this all the time.
Instead of wait, wait feels a little more, I don't know, forceful.
Blunt whereas, oh, hold up a second, is less blunt maybe, right?
Less forceful. Yeah. I think so. I think anytime, I guess when we use a phrasal verb or something a little more slangy, it's a little more slangy.
It takes some pressure off of things. Right.
Like imagine someone's in an elevator and the doors are about to close.
If you say, wait, like you sound panicked.
It sounds forceful. But if you say, hold up.
Oh, that's friendly. It's a lot more, hey, friendly.
You're asking me to wait. It's hard to explain, but I think our listeners know exactly what we're talking about.
Okay. Should we do a role play then? Yeah.
So in this role play, you are about to exit an office building.
I'll start us out. Okay. Hold up. All right.
Oh, hey, Aubrey. Sorry to hold you up, but I have a quick question.
No problem. What's up? I know my proposal is due tomorrow, but I'm not going to have it in on time.
Oh, no. What's the holdup? I'm waiting on a report from accounting.
I'm not sure why it's been held up. Okay, we've got a lot of hold up in here, but it all makes sense, right?
I mean, maybe we wouldn't necessarily use it so much in that conversation.
We're showing it to you guys here to teach you, but it all makes sense.
It's very natural. Yeah, very natural, really.
And we might not even notice. We might use all these and not even realize it.
It is so true. All right, so you used it.
So yeah, the first one, I said, hold up, meaning wait, right?
You're exiting through a door. And if you didn't see me, I would probably say like, hold up, Lindsay.
But maybe you're looking at me as you leave.
Hold up. Right. Maybe I'm waving and I'm like, I'm going home.
Right. Oh, hold up. Yeah. Very casual, not intimidating or formal in any way.
And I said, oh, hey, Aubrey. And then you said, I said, sorry to hold you up, but I have a question.
So this is means the same as sorry to delay you.
But that sounds quite formal as you're chatting with someone as you're about to leave.
Sorry to delay you. I would say this instead of sorry to hold you up.
I love that. And then you said, I know my proposal is due tomorrow, but I'm not going to have it in on time.
Yeah. So you said, oh no, what's the holdup?
And then you, okay, so you have a dependency, right?
So you said, I'm waiting on a report from accounting. right?
And then I said, I'm not sure why it's been held up.
So here in the past, right? I'm not sure what the delay is.
I'm not sure why it's been held up. And this is interesting because the one that you said, what's the holdup?
This is the one that's a little tricky where it could sound accusatory if you're not careful, right?
I might say instead, oh no, what's the problem?
Or, oh no, what's happening? Because what's the holdup almost sounds like you're accusing me a little bit.
And then I explained that, okay, it's not my problem.
I have a dependency. I'm waiting on something else.
But it would depend on the tone too, right?
You said it really friendly. Oh no, what's the holdup?
Right. It depends on the tone. The tone that I used was collaborative, conversational, like investigating, oh, what's going on?
How can I help? So, so much depends on your tone.
Okay. Yes, exactly. All right. What's the takeaway for our listeners then for today?
Yeah. Well, we all experience delays at work, right?
Hold ups. And it's vital to be able to talk about it, try to determine what held it up, what was the problem so we can improve processes going forward.
But it's like we were talking about just sometimes it's better to be a little more informal.
Use the phrasal verb. Oh my gosh. I almost feel like we need to put all three of these episodes into a course for our listeners because just about the word hold up.
So guys, make sure you cover the entire series.
Last week's episode on All Ears English 2158 today, and then wait for the episode on, we said March 19th.
Is that right, Aubrey? Exactly. Next week, you'll be able to hear that one on IELTS Energy.
IELTS Energy. Good stuff. But in the meantime, make sure you're following.
And Aubrey, thanks for coming on the show today.
Good stuff. Thanks, Lindsay. See you next time.
Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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