This is the Business English Podcast, episode 320.
Should you say yada yada at work?
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Hey there, Aubrey. So what are you up to today?
Oh, well, after recording, I've got to pick my kids up from school.
Yada, yada, yada. Nothing interesting.
Oh yeah. So et cetera, et cetera is what you say.
What about you? Anything interesting going on there?
Yeah, same thing. I, after I finished working, I'm going to the gym and yada, yada, yada.
It's a typical Monday, Aubrey.
I mean, not every day can be amazing.
It's true, right? Often we just kind of go through the same boring repetitive details of life and that's okay too.
That's okay. That's what I noticed.
We both said yada, yada, yada.
We had a question about this phrase from a listener, Mary Astute listener, and we're going to go into this one and some similar phrases today that perfectly fine for daily conversations, but in some cases you do not want to use them at work.
So this is going to be interesting.
Oh my gosh. Yes. And we love that this listener's question came from YouTube guys.
If you don't know, we have an entire YouTube channel.
So if you'd rather consume content on video, then go over there and search for, for all there's English, right?
So that's where you're going to find it.
Um, I'm going to read the question, Aubrey.
Okay. All right. Hi, Lindsay Michelle, I'm Sophia.
Thank you so much for your fantastic content.
It's been really helpful for me.
I have a question about using phrases like yada, yada.
I recently saw an episode of Seinfeld where characters used to skip over details, but it seemed to come off as disrespectful when overused.
In using phrases like this is using phrases like this considered rude in English.
If so, what are some more polite ways to skip over the details in a conversation?
Oh my gosh. I love this question as a language function, Aubrey as a connection skill.
And this is really interesting because if you're, if we're thinking about is saying, you know, yada, yada, yada, disrespectful or rude, or maybe if it's overused, it's interesting where there is a situation where it would, would potentially be offensive or rude that we're going to dive into.
And that's if you are cutting someone else off and then saying, yada, yada, like you're implying that what they are saying is boring or repetitive.
That is where you would never want to do that, especially at work, at work or with friends, it'd be a way to lose friends quickly.
So I don't want to do that.
Yes, but we're going to go into this phrase and a few related phrases that you definitely can use depending on the context, right?
Yada, yada, yada just means details are being skipped.
Maybe they're boring or repetitive or unnecessary.
It originates from a Hebrew phrase.
I think it was first used on Seinfeld and it's really been incorporated into our vernacular.
I hear it a lot. I mean, we can be even more specific guys.
If you haven't watched Seinfeld, I don't even know what you're doing with your life if you haven't watched an episode of Seinfeld, it's probably the funniest, in my opinion, it's one of the funniest sitcoms in history.
I mean, it's great.
It's, it's a very clever, it's very well written.
Yeah, very well written.
This came out in episode 153 of Seinfeld 19th episode of the eighth season aired on April 24th, 1997.
Go check it out, pull it up in the archives and see how it was used on that show to compliment today's episode.
All right. Yes. And so as far as adding it to your conversation or you're definitely going to start hearing it, I've heard it a few times since planning this episode, since reading this listener's question.
So it's quite common.
You can say it about yourself anytime to indicate that you're skipping details.
You're essentially cutting yourself off, right?
That's what you're doing.
Yeah. And as far as we understand it's not derogatory from our understanding.
It does originate from a Hebrew phrase, as you said, Aubrey.
But we don't, we don't see it as derogatory as far as we know, as of now.
Exactly. Right. You never know.
Something might come out of people express that they're offended.
But as of now, I hear it used a lot.
I've used it. And I would, for example, I might say, you know, I was working on a big case and had to file before a deadline, yada, yada, yada.
Anyway, that's why I'm still here at the office at 8 p .m.
Well, it's kind of true because sometimes, yeah, when some, I, you often get the, say, if you go to, let's say, networking happy hours, events, you'll get the same questions and you kind of get bored with your own response.
And so you need a way to say, I don't really feel like going into these details.
Let me ask you something about you.
Let me come back to you.
Right. Yeah. Right.
But as we said, it can be disrespectful or rude.
If you say it to someone else that you're indicating they should skip details, it implies that they're not boring or what they're saying isn't important.
So you can see why you really want to avoid using this about what someone else is saying.
Yeah. So I can't wait to show this to our listeners in a role play, which we're going to do right now, what not to do.
You want to start us out, Lindsay?
So I closed the deal, but it almost didn't happen because they rescheduled the meeting.
And then, yada, yada, yada.
What matters is you close the deal.
Congratulations. Oh, but I wanted to tell you more.
I wanted to give you more context.
It's so rude. It feels so rude doing it.
Even though I want to congratulate you, I'm excited for you, but to cut you off like that and not let you share the details, at least in US business culture, don't do it.
It's very rude. And it's double bad, especially bad if you then are just trying to finish so you can say something about your own accomplishments.
Oh, that would be a bit worse than I say.
I share. I closed the deal too.
And there is something here, you know, you may be misguidedly trying to, um, so you get rid of having to share the details, maybe, or just like, sometimes, you know, how people will say, I did something great, but I, I got lucky or I, you know, this only happened because you could be trying to do that.
But there are other ways to say, it doesn't matter either way.
You got the deal. That's what matters.
That's for another day, another episode for another day, right?
You might want to be sharing like, no, the downplaying, what they're saying, if they're saying something negative, I still wouldn't use yada yada, yada.
Right? This means exactly very much like skip the details you're saying right now.
It's not important or it's boring.
And it's also just a weird way to do it because you're celebrating with me.
But then you're saying, don't give me more.
Don't do it. Yeah, don't do it.
We have a second one.
So what's number two?
So there's another thing we could say here.
Yeah. I feel like before this came up on Seinfeld, this is what we would have said would say, blah, blah, blah, which is the same meaning equally as rude and disrespectful to say it about what someone else is saying, but you can just like yada, yada, yada, you can use it to cut yourself off and let
someone know that there are more details here that I'm skipping.
Yes. So for example, I had to run so many errands for the VP today.
I gave him a ride to the airport and then printed a bunch of things for him, blah, blah, blah, but I got it all done.
So I'm bored by giving you all those details.
I'm just going to cut it off.
Exactly. Right. And it's kind of a fun way.
You know, there are so many ways you could say this.
You'd be like, you know, there are a bunch of other things too, but I'm not going to share all of that.
Hey, that takes more time to say.
And this is just sort of a more fun, playful way to do it.
Be like, blah, blah, blah, you get the picture.
This is another, we'll sometimes use that chunk and be like, you get the picture.
And it's also just so powerful to share less and have each word take on more weight of what you're actually saying, what you're sharing.
And it saves time. Yeah, for sure.
Okay. A what not to do role play.
A mini role play of what not to do.
I would not want to use blah, blah, blah to cut someone off.
Right. I'll start us out.
I'm shocked. I got the job.
I showed up to the interview late and was so flustered.
I feel like a lot of my answers were terrible, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
At least you got the job.
Congratulations. Oh my gosh.
Same thing. Same idea.
It would be the same if you're like, yada, yada, yada.
And it's sort of like you said, Lindsay, maybe someone is thinking, oh, I'm going to save them from saying these negative things about themselves.
So I'll cut them off.
That's not the way to the block.
Congratulations. But don't do it with this phrase because it really implies that the details being shared are boring and unnecessary, irrelevant, irrelevant, which is uncut.
So these two role plays so far have been what not to do.
Just to keep that in mind, guys.
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Thank you. Okay. So let's go on to what would be a more profession.
Let's imagine this happened at the office.
Um, what would we say?
So I feel like though you can say yada, yada, yada, and blah, blah, blah.
At work, they're very informal.
I would reserve these for the most part for casual daily conversations.
Sure. There are times at work when we're that casual you're in the break room, you're at happy hour, but for the most part at work, I feel like there are phrases we use more often that aren't so informal.
Yeah. So this number three, I like it, right?
So on and so forth.
And this one definitely I could use in my daily life too.
Absolutely right. These aren't so formal.
You can only use them at work.
We use them all the time.
It's same thing. It just implies that unnecessary details are being omitted, um, or maybe a list would continue.
We could use it in the same way, but it doesn't have that implication that something's boring.
Yeah, exactly. So for example, we have so many events to look forward to the conferences next week, the holiday parties right after that, then the new equipment is arriving and so on and so forth.
It's an exciting month.
Oh geez. Yes. You have to stop giving details.
Exactly. I or cave there's too much here and you could say yada, yada, yada.
It's an exciting month, but that's so much more informal that I feel like I would be more likely to say this so on and so forth.
Yeah. It's to it's very informal.
Just around your close friends, cutting yourself off right.
I break. Yes, absolutely.
And then number four is et cetera, right?
Same meaning just that a list is tedious.
We're not going to give the full thing.
We're letting people know there's more here that we're not sharing.
This is the one I use the most personally.
Et cetera. Right. So what's an example?
I might say everyone needs to check in, get their name tag, pick up an itinerary, et cetera.
So you're kind of letting people know there are more little things here, but it's understood everyone knows what they should do.
Yeah. And just like, uh, so on and so forth, I, you, sorry, not just like it, but uniquely you can repeat, et cetera, et cetera.
You could say it twice.
That's true. Yes. Yeah, just like blah, blah, blah.
You want to, exactly.
All right. So let's do a role play of what we should do, right?
I'll bring us at work.
Let's do it. So you and I are just coworkers in a meeting here.
I'll start us out. Okay.
We've got a lot to get through.
We need to assign roles for the new project, figure out who's submitting the pro pro the proposal and so on and so forth.
I'd love to take the lead on this.
I have a little extra bandwidth this week.
Perfect. Thank you.
We'll need you to choose a team and then submit a plan, et cetera.
Okay. All right. So it's kind of like, you're not going to go into that here and now, maybe we'll follow up later.
Right. Yeah. And when I'm preparing this role play for work, I initially thought, okay, I'll put yada, yada, yada, or blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, no, I just feel like I personally wouldn't use these at work very often, right?
Cause it's just, except in those situations where you're having a very casual conversation with coworkers that are really close friends for the most part, these other options are better.
I think yada, yada, yada, and blah, blah, blah, have a blasé feeling to them.
Like I really don't care.
And yeah, and we've probably avoid saying that about us when we're saying things like that, right?
And so the first thing that you said, Aubrey, um, you said we need to assign roles for the new project figure out who's submitting the proposal and so on.
And so forth. Again, you're not going to keep going through all the things we have to talk about today.
Exactly. We know like maybe there's a whole agenda.
We realize there are a bunch of things.
So I'm going to cut myself off by saying so on and so forth in playing that there's more to this list.
Yes, I love it. And we already talked about the, et cetera, at the end of the last phrase, right?
Um, anything else to go through around this role play today, Aubrey?
Yeah, I know. Just that end, right?
Oh, submit a plan, et cetera.
These, like you said, Lindsay, I agree.
I think I say that more often, probably just because so on and so forth is longer takes longer to say, and et cetera just rolls off the tongue in a really fun way.
Yeah. So on and so forth, I would say is the most formal for me in my mind.
Yeah, for sure. But it doesn't mean it can't be, it could also be used in your social life.
So there's a lot of options here, guys.
Just avoid sounding like you don't care at work.
I think that's the key takeaway or anytime, right?
That's never use these to cut someone off.
Yes. You can use them to cut yourself off to share that you're eliminating some details.
This is an important takeaway.
We have to think about how the language we use, um, implies how there's a lot of implication to it and these phrases definitely have this implication of the details that are being skipped are boring and unnecessary.
And guys, your action after today's episode is go check out Seinfeld.
We actually did, I believe we did an episode with Michelle on, uh, inside jokes on Seinfeld that everyone knows they're not inside jokes.
They're like society wide jokes.
So go check it out.
Come back to our website, type in Seinfeld.
See if you can find that episode.
Yes. Follow if you missed it because that was a great episode.
You never know when Seinfeld is going to come up again.
Cause it's such a big part of the culture here.
And it'll come back for as long as you know, this generation is around and Gen X and baby boomers, it'll come back.
Yeah, for sure. All right, offer you have a good day.
I'll talk to you soon.
It's you. Bye guys.
Bye. Thank you for listening to business English, a podcast just for you.
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