This is the Business English Podcast Episode 468, Laundry in English Part 2.
What's on your to-do list?
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This is Real Business English, with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.
Language isn't just about grammar and words.
It's about how people see you.
Maybe in your own language, you're funny, bold, outspoken.
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Hey, Michelle.
How are you today?
I'm doing well, Lindsay.
I'm doing well.
Lindsay, what is your to-do list like for the rest of this week?
Oh my gosh, Michelle.
I have a laundry list of things to do.
We're working on bringing on a new marketer onto our team.
So I'm interviewing, actually, and that's exciting.
Geez, I could go on.
It's a whole laundry list. but I'll spare you the details.
Yeah.
So Michelle, what is this episode about today?
And is it linked to any other episodes?
Yes.
Lindsay, we're doing part two of a series, a really fun series that we are doing about laundry.
Um, so we actually, this is the second part and we did part one over on the all ears English podcast, which is another one of our podcasts. it's uh it's the big one it's if you haven't listened they're all big but uh if you haven't listened to all ears english you are definitely missing out this has been going on for over 10 years um it is very popular and we would love to have you listen to it so if you haven't yet done that Go on over, find All Ears English wherever you listen to your podcasts and hit the follow button and check out episode one of this series.
And what was that episode number and name?
Yes, the number is 2478 Laundry in English part one.
Don't shrink your clothes.
So we show you all about the vocabulary building blocks that you will need to eventually have connected conversations afterwards the laundromat or around laundry about your laundry style.
We all have our habits.
Everyone has to wash their clothes at some point.
And so this is an everyday connection topic.
So go over and listen to it.
Okay.
Perfect.
Love it.
Okay.
So today we're going to talk about a fun and useful expression to talk about tasks in English.
Super good for business.
And this is Laundry List.
Yeah.
Lindsay, do you say this?
You said it earlier in the episode.
I did.
It's kind of fun.
And you know the connotation there is.
Just it's a little arduous, kind of what's on my list, right?
It's not a simple, easy, check the box list.
It's not light.
I like the expression heavy lifting.
It's heavy lifting, but we have to get done.
A laundry list.
Yeah, but does it have anything to do with laundry?
No, no, I'm not doing laundry at work now.
Nope, nope.
Yeah, a laundry list.
Yeah, it's a long list.
It could be of things that need to get done.
Feedback, assignments, really anything.
It's just a long list.
And yeah, Lindsay, I like that word you used, arduous.
Yeah, there's heavy lifting to it.
There's a lot to it.
Let's give some examples of how this would sound, Lindsay.
What's the first one?
All right.
I have a laundry list of tasks built up on our database.
I'm a little stressed out.
Too much, too much.
Yeah, too much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or my one-on-one went well.
He gave me a laundry list of things he wants me to improve, but overall it was amicable and I'm fine with it.
Nice.
Or he went over his laundry list of tips for us during the customer service workshop.
Okay.
Yes.
Yeah.
I really like this and it sounds like we both use it.
And I think I would even like to say it more, because to me it's very natural sounding and even a little confident sounding.
Kind of fun, quirky.
The fact that you're saying, oh, laundry list.
It's different than to-do list.
It has a little bit more character.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we're such a culture of lists, right?
We're such a list making culture, American culture.
We're such a task oriented culture.
So it fits well, I think, in American English.
And yeah, I see what you mean.
It sounds confident because you're kind of innovating on what you're saying.
You're kind of using a fun expression instead of just I have a long to do list.
It's it's more more interesting.
Yeah, more interesting.
I mean Lindsay, when you have a laundry list of things to do, which is probably all the time, do you get overwhelmed or you just take it one at a time?
I do get overwhelmed.
And then sometimes I hit a wall of overwhelm where I can no longer get any more overwhelmed than i am.
So i just just say, like it's just not all gonna get done and that's it.
I have to take a weekend.
You know, i gotta finish up work in the evening.
It's just how it is.
There's only so much overwhelm we can take until we just say well, this will have to wait.
You know yeah yeah uh, it's hard, it's definitely hard.
I can.
I can also get overwhelmed when i have a laundry list of things to do.
Um um, but you know, that's life, that's life for sure.
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All right.
All right.
All right.
So Michelle, there are other things we could say if we're trying to express that we have this long list of tasks.
And what are they, Michelle?
What's one of them?
So we already talked about this one, the to-do list, right?
This one to me is very neutral.
And we said, you know, laundry list has a little bit more behind it.
This is a little more neutral.
So I have a to-do list that I need to get through before I leave for vacation. yes i like actually that's true for me because i'm going on vacation soon excuse me yes i know i know i'm so excited for your vacation where are you going by the way taking a family cruise to bermuda wow that is gonna be cool oh my gosh yeah so i'm gonna have to make a lot of lists to get ready packing lists oh for sure it's gonna be wild um because yeah when you're on a cruise you know you're on that boat and you're on you know we yeah we actually actually i'm stressed because we can't do laundry um you can't there's no laundry on the on the cruise i think you can pay for it but it's one of those you know things yeah no we're not to do it yeah we will if we have to but you know with the two kids it's just uh there's a lot of laundry so we will see how that goes Nice.
Well, that'll be a fun vacation.
Come back with stories for us, Michelle.
I will.
I will.
Good.
Yes.
And then endless list is another thing you could say.
They have an endless list of complaints.
I don't appreciate the attitude.
This might be a customer.
You're complaining about a customer or something like that.
Yeah, could be.
Could be.
Or just a long list.
We have a long list of client requests we have to go through.
So...
You can basically plug in your adjective with the word list meaning.
The meaning will change, of course.
So an overwhelming list, an extensive list, a long list, an endless list.
Um, so you know and we have talked about lists before, about how we, how you and I both make lists, and I have a color code for my list.
And sometimes my favorite thing is to add something to the list when I do it, even if it wasn't on the list, because I get that dopamine hit.
Of course.
Of course.
Do you still do the color code?
Is that or is that just for the big lists?
Yeah.
Green is for I did it.
Yellow is for I almost did it.
So like a traffic light.
I love it.
I love it.
Everyone has their own style, right?
Love it.
Yes, exactly.
So guys, remember, we already did episode one of the series.
So again, if you haven't listened to that, head on over to All Ears English and hit follow while you're there.
Episode 2478, Laundry in English Part One, Don't Shrink Your Clothes.
So this is the second part.
And then actually we're gonna have part three back over at All Ears English.
So definitely hit follow because that one is going to be coming out soon.
That's about connection and connection topics over the laundry, which can also be used at work.
So really, really helpful.
Um, so look out for that episode.
All right michelle, shall we do the role play before we finish up today?
Do it.
So, all right, here we are colleagues, here we go, let's do it okay, okay.
So i feel like i have an endless list of list of stuff to do today.
Okay, don't be overwhelmed, i will help you, but you have such a long to-do list as well, i don't want to stress you out.
Well, don't give me a whole laundry list, but I can take on a few things.
Okay.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
That can be tough.
I mean, there are times when you see that your co-worker is overwhelmed and you want to help, right?
So knowing which things to take off their plate.
We do that here at All Ears English, sometimes just to help each other out a little bit, especially depending on if something's going on in one of our lives, right.
Yeah.
Definitely.
So we didn't use all of them today, but we used a few, including laundry list.
I said, I feel like I have an endless list of stuff to do today.
Yes.
And then you said, but you have such a long to do list as well.
So I offered to help.
And they said, but you have such a long to do list as well.
Yeah.
So I'm like, oh, I don't want to make you nervous.
Right.
And then you said, well, don't give me a whole laundry list, but I can take on a few extra things.
Right.
So you're the laundry list, kind of that big list.
Yes, love it, love it.
Michelle, what's the final takeaway for our listeners today?
I mean.
One interesting takeaway that I can think of is think about what kind of culture you're working in.
Like if you've relocated to the US or the UK from somewhere else in the world.
Are you working in a task-based culture or a more relationship-based culture?
And now there are a lot of shades of gray in between the two.
There are personalities, there are company cultures, there's a lot of complicating factors.
But this is one of the indices that we've seen culturally.
Is a culture focused on tasks or is it focused on relationship building?
I find that really interesting.
And think about your home culture and the culture you're working in.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
So much to think about here.
So, yeah, guys, thank you so much for listening.
And remember to check out part one and part three coming up on the All Ears English podcast.
I will see you soon.
All right, Michelle.
Can't wait for that part three.
We'll be into all about connection.
Good stuff.
We'll see you there.
Take care.
Bye.
Bye.
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