This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 464.
With this English, you're a shoo-in.
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Hey there, Michelle, how's it going?
Yeah, I'm doing well, Lindsay.
Lindsay, when is the last time you bought new shoes?
I don't buy new shoes very much.
I bought new running shoes in the spring.
I tend to wear my shoes down to the holes, Michelle.
Oh, I'm terrible too.
Yes, I bought...
Do you ever buy new shoes though, and then you don't want to wear them because you don't want to make them dirty?
Yeah, of course.
I have a special pair of shoes that I only wear at conferences.
They're bright white and I won't wear them anywhere else.
Are they like sneakers?
They're sneakers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's my conference look.
I love it.
Well, today we're going to talk about shoes, or are we so?
This is interesting.
We're gonna talk about a really useful expression for inspiring confidence at work.
Yeah yeah, I'm excited to get into this.
Lindsay and I both learned something new.
You just learned something, and that's that we're not going to be talking about shoes at all.
No.
We're going to be talking about something totally different.
And as you were kind of telling me about this episode that we're going to record, I learned that this expression is spelled differently than I used to think it was because you don't say this expression, right?
And you learned this too, Michelle, right?
As you were planning.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I was writing shoe in S H O E getting ready to talk all about shoes.
Yeah.
Um, and then I write it.
We never write it anywhere.
Right.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah, we don't.
So, um, so a shoe in, that's the expression that we're going to be talking about.
Um, a lot of times you'll hear someone is a shoe in or it's a shoe in.
Yeah.
Um, But it's not spelled like a shoe, like you wear on your foot.
Nope.
How is shoe in spelled?
Yeah.
So that's the important thing to know.
It's spelled S-H-O-O-I-N.
Shoe in.
Like when there's a stray cat or something or I don't know. you might say shoe, shoe, right?
I'd probably invite the cat in and feed the cat.
But some people would say shoe, shoe, go away, right?
I would say, yeah.
To me, it's like shoe fly, right?
You know that song?
Shoe fly.
Shoe fly, don't bother me.
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
That's so funny.
I love it.
So yeah, that's the vibe we're going for today.
Nothing about shoes.
So forget about our conversation about me buying new running shoes.
It's irrelevant.
Forget it.
Forget it.
Forget it.
So, guys, we're going to talk more about this in just a second.
But before we do, make sure that you hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the Business English podcast, so you never miss anything.
Let us come to you.
Make it easy.
So, Michelle, before we go into examples, I think it would help.
You were just reading something about the history of this term shoe in.
Can you tell us how it's related to horse racing?
I think you said.
Right.
So this is from Merriam Webster dot com.
And it's called the shady past of shoe ins.
So it says that.
Yeah.
It's a shoe-in, right?
Well, guys, we'll tell you what it means.
It's used to refer to something I'm quoting that is a certain and easy winner.
But this first came about in the late 1930s.
And from the 1920s onward, it mentions that it was a part of horse racing.
And when you were talking about a race that somebody had tried to fix right, so tried to make it so that a certain horse was the winner.
Mm hmm.
Interesting.
Yeah.
And it does come from that shoe shoe.
Right.
To get something, send it or send something away.
Guys, I'm quoting a little bit.
I'm paraphrasing a little bit from this article.
No, but that's helpful.
So we get the idea here.
It is historically linked to essentially giving someone an artificial edge.
I don't know how they did that.
I don't know how it worked. historically linked to cheating, I guess.
But over time it's kind of been less associated with the concept of cheating or having an unfair.
Fair advantage is just saying you are the likely, you're likely going to get this.
Basically, you're a shoo-in.
Oh, you're going to get this upper.
Oh, yeah.
You're going to be the one they choose, the one they hire, the one they give the promotion to.
OK.
Yeah.
So very interesting things to learn.
Right, Lindsay?
Yeah.
And again, it's usually based on Merit, right?
You're a shoo-in because you've worked so hard in your career, right?
Exactly.
So now let's get through.
I mean, Lindsay, you've been saying really great examples already, but let's give some more.
So with all our hard work, it's a shoo-in that we will win this deal.
So again, it's about merit here.
You're a shoo-in for this job.
I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't be chosen.
Right.
Yes.
And sometimes people just say it's a shoo-in.
So let's do a teeny, teeny tiny role play here, Lindsay.
Here we go.
Do you think Garrett is the best fit?
Oh, he's a shoo-in.
Yeah.
And again, it's great to have ways to say that someone is an obvious candidate for something.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's more about it's winning a spot, a job, an account.
It's not we don't really say, oh, it's a shoe in that we will get somewhere on time.
Right.
It's more about being a candidate, as you mentioned.
I think that's a good point.
No, that's really important, Michelle.
We have other ways to say we're definitely going to arrive on time.
Right.
And we could do that another day.
But this is about a person. and their prospects, right?
Their chances of success, whatever they're going for, okay?
Right.
And I like this because to me, it sounds kind of breezy and confident showing.
Also, if you say someone's a shoe and it's showing your confidence in them.
Yes.
So so I really I really like this expression.
It's very common.
You'll hear it a lot.
Mm hmm.
For sure.
Love it.
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Okay, Michelle.
Now, there are other things we could say.
For example, sure thing.
Sure thing.
So once we get past the interview, it's a sure thing in my opinion.
Okay.
Or just 100%.
So we will be 100% be taking in a profit this month if we can get this deal.
Good.
Or a definite.
If we pull in this account, it's a definite that will increase our presence in the industry.
So these are all good ways, but it's kind of fun when expressions come back to a certain period in history.
I don't know.
I just think it's fun to like learn about the roaring twenties, the economy.
Well, the great depression was part around that time too.
Just, I don't know.
We can learn a lot from history.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I mean, and it's interesting because Lindsay, how many native English speakers do you think are walking around thinking that it's about shoes and S-H-O-E?
Do you think everyone?
I'm going to hope it's a lot of people, because it was me for the first 43 years of my life until today.
I was today years old.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
So, but yeah, these are, I mean, sure thing.
100% a definite.
They're a little bit different.
Yeah.
Um, because they, I think they are a little bit more, um, broad.
I think shoe-in is more specific to that candidate or to a winner.
These ones are a little bit, it could be about that, but also about other things.
Yeah.
So for example, you mentioned arriving on time.
Right.
Oh, it's a definite that will arrive on time.
One hundred percent will arrive on time.
It's a sure thing that will arrive on time.
These work in broader scenarios.
I agree.
Yeah.
Yes.
So should we put them together?
Let's do it.
We love our role plays.
So here we are working together to find a job candidate.
So interviewing.
Right.
Good.
Yes.
All right.
Here we go.
Okay, so as far as I'm concerned, she's a shoo-in.
She's great, but I'm not 100%.
No?
Why?
I just think we should keep our options open, Lindsay.
If we don't find anyone, she's a sure thing.
We can look until we find a definite.
Nice.
So having a little bit of a disagreement here.
All right, good.
So here we go.
Talking about the person's prospects, right?
As far as I'm concerned, she's a shoo-in, meaning she's the obvious choice.
She's the one we should go with.
And you're so confident about that.
But then I said, I'm not 100%.
Yeah, yeah, fair.
And then you said, I just think we should keep our options open.
If we don't find anyone, she's a sure thing.
So we're going to wait.
And if no one else better comes along, then we'll definitely hire her.
And then you agree and you said we can look until we find a definite.
Yeah, sometimes you need this compromise.
It's hard when one person feels so strongly about something and then the other one kind of blows it down.
But yeah, that is hard.
That's hard because yeah, that's tough when you're interviewing and you involve other people in the company.
Sometimes there can be like personality clashes, but ultimately you don't want a personality clash in your company, right?
Right.
That can happen too.
Is there another episode we should go to?
Check out episode 457.
That was all sorts of great English expressions.
Excellent.
What's our takeaway for today?
Well, don't, you know, not everything is as it seems, right?
You might learn something about how something is spelled.
Maybe even in your own first language.
Maybe there's something where you've experienced this or you realize oh wait, I always thought it was this, but it's that.
It's kind of fun, right?
It's a fun moment.
It is.
So sort of enjoy that moment. and be inspired by our mistakes.
You know, we've been going along living our lives thinking it was shoo-in, but it's shoo-in.
You know what?
Another.
Another fun episode would be um, you know how to share with someone like something surprising you learned.
Like I can imagine myself then going to Dan later and being like did you know that you?
Yeah, I'm going to have to ask people too.
I'm going to have to take a survey of all my friends and family.
Yeah, let me know what they said.
No, that's a great idea.
But that's a good skill.
That's a good skill because then you introduce something surprising that everyone can be like, well.
Yeah.
So guys hit the follow button now so you can get that episode.
I think we'll have that episode at some point coming up in the next couple of weeks.
Right, Michelle?
Yes.
Excellent.
Absolutely.
Good stuff.
All right.
We'll see you soon.
Have a good day.
All right.
You too.
Bye guys.
Bye.
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