This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 491.
Can you use the word guess at work?
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.
Every holiday shopper's got a list, but Ross shoppers, you've got a mission.
Like a gift run that turns into a disco snow globe, throw pillows, and PJs for the whole family.
Dog included.
At Ross, holiday magic isn't about spending more.
It's about giving more for less.
Ross, work your magic.
Hello there, Michelle.
How are you doing today?
I'm good, Lindsay.
Lindsay, I'm good.
I know you said you're tired, but do you still want to go running with me today?
I guess.
Oh, come on.
You can do it.
All right.
Nice.
Now I feel encouraged and I'm ready to go.
Yes, exactly.
Today we are going to have a lot of fun because we are going to be talking about this word guests and different ways to do it.
Because the word guess, Lindsay, is extremely versatile and it's used all the time, don't you think?
Yeah, it really is.
So we're going to go over some fun expressions, some idioms.
This is natural English at its best, right?
Yes.
You know, this is what native speakers use all of the time.
So I'm excited for this.
Yes guys, make sure you hit the follow button so you never miss anything from the Business English podcast.
So, I mean, some people might assume, Michelle, that guess is too casual for work.
What do we think?
Do we think it is?
I don't think that it's too casual, but I think, if you're always answering oh, I guess I guess right.
You know, people might assume that you're not that confident.
Yes, I agree with that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I don't think it's too casual per se.
Yes.
So we'll go into the nuances of when and how to use it at work today and maybe when and how to use it out in the world of socializing.
Right.
Yeah.
All right.
What is guess?
What does it actually mean?
Let's start there.
Yeah.
Well, guess is to think without knowing.
I mean, right.
For I mean, sometimes have you ever been. at um a fit like a fair and you see a thing with i was recently at some sort of halloween fair and they had um like little uh spider pretend spiders in a jar yeah yeah you have to guess oh guess how many spiders right so um or for example how much money do you think we made today guess Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That happened to me last Halloween.
I was in New England with my parents and this hotel had that set up, but it actually just looked like it was a big jar and it had a bunch of candies in it.
But it just looked like it was a jar where you could reach in and grab candy.
Oh, no.
So me being, you know, in my 40s, I reach in and I start grabbing the candy and the guy's like no no no, it's a game.
It's a game.
That's hysterical.
I'm like a little kid, you know?
That's so cute.
That's cute, Lindsay.
I was actually really embarrassed.
He was kind of mad at me.
I was like, well, I didn't touch that.
I mean, chill out, man, you know?
You could say you assumed.
I assumed.
Guys, we just recorded this really good episode on the All Ears English podcast with the assume and presume.
So yeah um, but that's a really funny story, so so, but we also use guess as a way to just say that we think something yes right, it could be our opinion or our feeling.
It doesn't necessarily have to be like a real guess.
So that's more like that first example, a guess, right?
But Lindsay, in the beginning, I asked you to go running and you said, eh, I guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What was that?
What was that about?
I guess there's some sarcasm there.
There's a lack of enthusiasm.
It doesn't seem like I really wanted to do it.
Right.
I could have also said that.
I guess so.
Do you still wanna go running with me today?
I guess so, but I'm not strapping on my running shoes and running out the door with total enthusiasm, right?
Exactly.
Right.
So if you say, I guess, do you sound super confident in what you're feeling?
I mean, yeah, no, it's more like I am a little negative.
I'm kind of ambivalent is a good word.
I think ambivalent, right?
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
It's different, though, from presenting information at work like.
Right.
You know, it would.
So we're talking about kind of two different ways of using, I guess.
Right, Michelle?
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're going through lots of different ways with it today.
But yeah, that's just another one.
So, you know, if you say, I guess.
Right.
It sounds.
Yeah.
Probably not.
It's almost like when you hear a parent say, you know, a kid asks for something and they say, maybe.
Yeah, for sure.
So when people invite you out, you know if you, if you're excited about going, don't say I guess, I guess I'll go.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's not going to sound too positive.
No.
But let's do some more examples or little role plays here we have.
Okay.
Lindsay, should we open with our statistics?
I guess.
Did you have another idea?
Yeah, because that's planting doubt in your mind as maybe a colleague, right?
Like, okay, it's quite unprofessional, I would say, to say that, you know?
Right.
I mean, of course, if you're in kind of a more casual situation, you're close with your teammates and you say oh yes, you know, I could definitely hear this.
But it also it's that intonation.
You want to say, I guess.
Right.
That would not match at all.
That would be like, wait, what?
Right.
It doesn't make sense at all.
I guess.
Yeah.
Because like we said, when you're saying, I guess you're saying I'm ambivalent.
So you would never express such enthusiasm.
Right.
Right.
Or let's do another one.
Okay.
Did you want to book the flight?
I guess so.
Oh, no.
What?
I'm having doubts.
Oh, you're thinking about taking a trip and it's time to pull the trigger and go ahead and book the flight, and you're just not sure.
So ambivalence.
Right.
Right.
You can tell that, you know, by by what I'm saying and how I'm saying that.
I'm not sure.
Right.
And it can be used more like I suppose or I believe, Michelle.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
So in another way, you know, this is just kind of another way you can use it.
I guess we should get started.
Mm hmm.
Or I guess she's not coming.
Right.
Mm hmm.
Um, or if we don't get any bites by Christmas, I guess we should reconsider.
Yeah.
What do we mean by bites?
Yeah.
Are we talking about mosquito bites?
I mean, yeah.
Um, it, no, not mosquito bites.
Um, any takers, like maybe you're selling something yeah um yeah, to get, to get any bites, any interest.
It's like imagine you're fishing and you can, you know you go fishing sometimes you can, you can feel the fish nipping, or like expressing a little interest, coming up to your bait and kind of like pushing it or something.
That would be the equivalent of maybe you're selling your house and someone's calling you asking for information.
That's kind of a bite, right?
Yeah, that was in Father of the Bride Part 2.
Yeah, sounds familiar.
Sounds familiar.
If we don't get any bites.
And it's so sad that Diane Keaton just passed away.
Oh, Lindsay, I've been upset about it all week.
I should have texted you.
It's sad.
Yeah, you know that that's my favorite.
She's so wonderful.
And she was so great in that movie, too.
Oh, my gosh.
Already.
Just the other day, my son I guess it was somehow like on our TV as, like you know, recently watched, or whatever.
And she had just died.
And my son was like, oh, can we brought Father of the Bride part two?
And he didn't even know about it.
And I'm like, oh, no.
Yeah.
Anyways, it's hard to pass away, you know, cause we, we identify with them.
It's a sense of nostalgia from the movies from our childhood, you know?
Oh my God.
And I've watched father of the bride part one and two, but probably 700 times are great.
But if you haven't seen father of the bride guys, you got to check it out.
All right.
Yeah.
Anyway.
All right.
We'll take a quick break and then we'll be right back.
We'll be right back coffee, hot or iced, at the click of a button and celebrate the season with Nespresso's limited edition coffee flavors sweet almond and hibiscus, cinnamon and candy tamarind and festive double espresso magic in the making shop.
The holiday gift collection exclusively at Nespressocom.
Okay, Michelle.
So what are some other ways if we don't want to use guess, because clearly guess is a little risky in different places at different times?
So what could we say instead?
Well, so these are not it's not necessarily like totally in place.
These are expressions.
Oh, OK.
Yes.
Got it.
But these are also, you know, kind of professional sounding, to kind of round them out instead of just saying I guess.
Right.
Yeah.
So the first one is to well, you say make a guess or take a guess.
Right.
Any idea the difference here, Lindsay?
Make a guess.
I would say it's exactly the same as far as I'm concerned.
I mean, yeah, I think for our listeners, functionally speaking, we could say both.
Like I'm going to take I'm going to make a guess here.
I think 200 people will show up.
Or, come on, take a guess.
It doesn't matter if you're wrong.
Yes, yes.
So, yeah, when I researched this, it said take is a little more casual or interactive.
I suppose.
But I don't think it's nothing to worry about.
Yeah, I wouldn't lose any sleep over that one.
Yeah, yeah.
Venture a guess, though.
I like this one because this is more fun.
You could say it socially, but it's also maybe potentially more professional.
I'm going to venture a guess and say the team building activity will be a huge success.
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
Yeah, I like that one as well.
So guys, this one is a really good one for business.
Very professional sounding, I would say.
Yeah.
And then there's a wild guess.
So this is more emphatic about a guess, right?
It's completely unknown, right?
So how would that sound?
Okay, this is just a wild guess, but I think we'll be done with this by 2.30pm.
Yeah, or you might challenge someone to take a wild guess, you know?
Right, take a wild guess.
Right, if you ask somebody, oh, what do you think?
Maybe you're starting a presentation and you say, what do you think the leading cause of... Yeah.
Yeah.
Car accidents or whatever it is.
And everybody's just kind of looking around.
You might say, oh, come on, take a wild guess.
Exactly.
So it's just reemphasizing that you want someone to take a guess, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Lindsay, are you a good guesser?
No, because I would rather eat the candy.
I was just going to...
I would rather eat the candy in the jar.
You eat the thing.
Um well, do you?
Did you ever play the game guess who?
When you were a kid?
Yeah, that sounds really familiar, but I can't remember how it went.
Actually, I forgot.
It's the it has you have to look it up, Lindsay.
It's the one where you have a bunch of people's faces and you say you ask yes or no questions.
Oh, yeah.
Your person is your person, a man.
Does your person have blue eyes?
Right.
Yeah.
You knock them down.
Yeah.
That's a fun game.
Yeah.
This word guess, it's all over our language.
It's all over the language.
Oh, all the time.
Yeah.
I mean, but why for business?
I mean.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, I think that there's a lot of uncertainty in business.
You know, a lot of times we can use fancy words, but in the end, we're just guessing.
Yeah.
You know, that's why I always struggle with making projections.
We make projections for All Ears English.
But every time we do it, I'm thinking, these are just guesses.
You know, what is this even based on?
It's based on last year's results, but really, I don't know what's going to happen.
A lot of things can happen in the economy.
A lot of things can happen in general.
So we're making a lot of guesses at work that often we don't like to call guesses because it doesn't seem professional, that's true.
That's funny, like we are always uh, using uh euphemisms for guesses or something yeah.
So, but yeah these, i mean these are ways to connect.
They show you're not perfect and you're not afraid to guess right, you're not afraid to take a wild guess, and just, you know, try things um.
So it could be good for the spirit as well.
I agree, especially socially.
You know, come on, take a wild guess.
What do you think?
X, Y, Z. It's kind of fun.
Right.
So let's do a little role play.
We are at work here preparing a report.
OK.
Yes.
All right.
OK.
So should we put the graph on this page?
I guess.
No.
No.
I think it's fine.
I don't have any better ideas.
Okay, I guess we should just go with that then.
Great.
Lindsay, do you know how many hours we have worked on this?
No idea.
Take a wild guess.
I can venture a guess, but I don't know.
Five hours, maybe?
Way more.
Fifteen.
No way.
So you're tapping out on the project.
You're done.
You're done.
Yeah, I'm done.
I'm like, we're good.
This is good.
I don't care where you put the graph, you know.
Right.
Yeah, it's true.
So I said, should we put the graph on this page or this page?
And I'm still worried about these details.
And you say.
I guess.
I mean, and you know it could be, I guess, like I'm having doubts, but in this way it's more that ambivalence or like the like, whatever.
Like, sure, I guess.
I don't know.
You don't care at this point.
You can put 15 hours into a project.
You're done.
And then you repeat on that same tone.
I think it's fine.
I don't have any better ideas.
Right?
Right.
Yeah.
And what's funny is that you picked up on my tone with I guess, right?
Because I said, I guess.
And then you just said, no, no, I can tell that you're not sure.
And then I said, OK, I guess we should just go with that then.
Great.
And I wasn't sure if my tone there should have been a little negative towards you or just like whatever you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're probably picking up on my tone feelings and you're just like okay, let's do that great okay yeah uh-huh, and then what else?
And then I said do you know how many hours we have worked on this?
And you said, no idea.
So I said, take a wild guess.
And I said, I can venture a guess, but I don't know, five hours.
And then I said, way more, 15.
All right.
So we've been working hard and we're showing our ambivalence at this point.
Michelle, what's another episode our listeners could check out?
Yeah, guys, we did episode 486.
Here we're talking about projections, forecasts.
This may have even been where this episode idea came from.
I think so.
Um, it's we forecast.
So episode 486 we forecast an improvement in your english.
Yep, we talked about projections there and all the other forecast projection.
All sorts of words um, that are really just guesses.
So michelle, what's our takeaway?
Yeah, really interesting word that you're going to hear all the time in and out of business.
And we've talked about you know different ways where it can make you sound either ambivalent or that you don't really like something, or you're not that confident.
But at the same time, it can be used to interact with people.
Make a guess, take a guess, venture a guess, right?
And on this show and all of our shows at All Ears English, it's always about connection.
So anytime we can find that connection, let's see, let's dig into that.
Let's use that phrase to connect.
Okay.
Perfect.
All right.
Well, this was fun.
Yeah.
Really good stuff, Michelle.
We'll talk to you very soon.
You have a good day.
All right.
All right.
You too.
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.
