You know those phrases that your colleagues use all the time and you're like what on earth do they really mean?
In this episode, let's focus on building your confidence by understanding your colleagues better, and take one more thing off your plate.
Let's crack on, shall we?
Hello and welcome to Confident Business English.
My name is Anna.
I'm a neuro language coach, and this podcast is for senior managers around the world that want to boost their confidence in English.
I remember when I first started training people and one of the things the trainers would always tell us is you need to encourage people to improve their listening skills.
Because understanding is arguably the most important thing, because if you can't understand what people are saying, then how can you respond?
I've got a list of different phrases here that people always ask me about.
And these are small things you probably would have heard them before, but maybe in the past you've been a little bit embarrassed to ask about, because maybe people think it's so obvious but you're still not entirely sure exactly what it means.
That's what this episode is about.
We're going to decode and demystify these everyday business expressions.
Just a heads up, a lot of these are from the perspective of British speakers.
I'm British.
What can I do?
I see the world through that lens.
But if you're not really interested in British English, I guess you could skip it, but you might still take away something useful.
Here we go.
Let's run through the list.
This is going to be quickfire today.
We're going to be moving quickly.
So stay alert.
The first one on the list is cheers.
Cheers.
Have you ever had an email in your inbox that's like can you let me know about the meeting time tomorrow?
Cheers, Anna.
Or maybe you're at the office and you give somebody a document and they're like cheers, thanks for that.
So you're like, okay, it probably means thank you.
But then your colleague leaving the office just as they walk out the door.
They're like cheers then bye.
And you're like, but I didn't do anything.
Why are they saying cheers?
And then you go out to dinner later with your work colleagues.
You're celebrating a team success and your boss is giving a toast and he says cheers to the team.
Well done, everyone.
And everybody suddenly all at the same time says cheers.
What is wrong with these people?
Why are they always saying cheers?
Let's clear this up once and for all.
First things first, we use it as a really informal way to say thank you.
Cheers.
Thanks for that.
You could use it too if you want to, but you absolutely don't have to.
You can just say thank you.
Secondly, it's also something really common.
Sometimes I don't do this, but sometimes people say it when they're leaving, even though they're not really saying thank you for anything.
Cheers then, bye.
I don't say that.
So it's kind of a personal thing.
But also, you know, if people are just leaving a shop, they'll be like, cheers then, bye.
It's not adding anything.
It just is.
Then, of course, the classic, which I'm sure you've probably heard before, is when we're making a toast.
Cheers, which you might find if you go to dinners.
Extra tip.
If you're the one that has to give the toast, it may be the case because you're the senior manager.
You may have a global team.
We would say, let's toast to... then you would say your thing.
Then you wait for everybody to say cheers in unison together.
And of course, you might not want to start that.
You might feel a bit uncomfortable being the first one to speak, but it's perfectly fine to say a big cheers if you are making a toast.
Moving on.
Another informal way to say thank you is simply just to say ta.
This pops up in certain dialects in the UK.
But imagine you're in the office, you give somebody a document, and then they're like, oh, ta.
And you're like, oh, is this somebody new that's working in the office?
Is this a new, very strange business expression that I'm unaware of?
No, it's much more straightforward than that.
They are simply saying thank you.
It's very casual.
It's informal, short, friendly.
But it's just another way to say thank you.
Nothing too scary there.
Now let's look at something a little bit more serious.
A lot of people ask me questions about this.
They'll get an email that will say something like this.
Dear John, please review the terms outlined herein. and confirm your agreement by Friday.
I've had clients come to me before.
They're like, what does here in mean?
Like I get the context, but what does it actually mean?
Am I missing something?
Is there something more complicated behind the scenes?
I'm pleased to tell you, no, it's actually really easy to understand.
It's just a very posh and fancy and formal way of saying included in this document or in this text.
It's formal and it's written, which is why you're going to see it in formal emails and also maybe in legal documents like contracts.
At times, I have seen people use this in day-to-day emails.
Personally, I don't think that's the setting or the tone.
I think people feel like they have to use this because it looks more advanced, but it really is a formal piece of vocabulary.
And goodness me, don't even think about saying it.
It would sound far too formal and would only be reserved for exceptionally serious contexts.
Next, this is a little bit more of a tricky one, and people ask me a lot of questions about this word.
Whereby.
Now, of course, usually they don't say it as slowly as that.
They say it within a sentence, something like this.
As part of the restructuring, we're implementing a new model whereby regional managers have the authority to approve budgets directly.
And breathe.
Let me repeat that just in case you didn't get it the first time.
As part of the restructuring, we're implementing a new model whereby regional managers have the authority to approve budgets directly.
And you're sitting there in the meeting and you're thinking well, I get it restructuring, new model, approve budgets, but am I missing something with the whereby?
Is there like a secret meaning that I am not decoding here?
The great news is, no, it's really actually very straightforward to understand.
But I think the best way to translate it in your mind is that makes it possible for.
Let me show you what I mean by rephrasing some sentences with whereby to this new phrase.
Let's imagine talking about training.
The company created a program whereby staff can study for free.
The company created a programme that makes it possible for staff to study for free.
Then if we were to focus on agreements and negotiation, we've agreed on a plan whereby the work will finish sooner.
We agreed on a plan that makes it possible for the work to finish sooner.
You can't always neatly translate it and implant it like that, but that's the general idea.
So I really hope that clears it up for you.
Next on my list, fair enough.
I wanted to choose this phrase because it can be confusing.
It has a little bit of a nuance.
I can say fair enough.
That makes sense, which means I genuinely agree with what you're saying.
I'm not bothered about it.
But at times, I might be saying it with more of a reluctant acceptance.
Like okay well, fair enough.
But It's also important to view this phrase as kind of its own phrase.
It's got nothing to do with the adjective fair and enough.
It's just a weird phrase.
You've got to see it as its own little neat phrase.
Let me show you what I mean.
Imagine you said to me something like...
Anna, actually, I think we will leave it there for today.
I think we've done enough work already and let's pick it up tomorrow.
I'm like, okay, yeah, sure.
Fair enough.
Sounds good.
Probably would be a better idea anyway.
But then imagine if you said to me something like listen Anna, I've actually in the end decided to go with another option.
I respond to you saying, okay, well, fair enough.
But I do think we should review it in the future.
I'm still accepting what you're saying, but there is not as much enthusiasm behind it.
It is bothering me.
I am a little bit reluctant to go ahead with your idea.
You need to pick up on the tone to really sense what your colleague is telling you.
All right.
Next, imagine you're working with one of your colleagues in the UK and you completely forget that you had a call with them.
It wasn't anything important.
It was just a little call.
And you speak to them and you're like, I'm so sorry.
And they're like, no biggie.
It doesn't matter.
And you're like, what?
No biggie.
That doesn't make any sense at all.
Well, let me break it down for you.
It simply means it's not a big deal.
It's not a big problem.
Don't worry about it.
No biggie.
This is why it's really important to train these phrases, because if you know that you don't have to say it, you don't have to use it.
But you know, next time what they're saying is oh, it doesn't matter, it's no problem, and you can respond accordingly.
Moving on, let's do a few communication ones.
Ping me later.
Ping me after the meeting.
Ping me tomorrow.
Everybody is pinging everyone.
What on earth does this silly phrase mean?
Well, actually, the word ping comes from radar.
Something pings on the radar.
So military, navy context or whatever.
And it has, over the last century, been been now adopted as tech slang for message me quickly and often it might be just a way to say get in touch, whether that's through slack, some kind of chat, whatsapp it tends to be those types of things rather than email, but it could also be email.
But i would say if somebody says ping me, it's like a whatsapp message or a slack or a chat or something like this Then what about if somebody says give me a bell, give me a shout later?
You're like, where are all these bells and why is everybody shouting?
It's just a simple way to say, get in touch with me.
Give me a bell specifically means call me on my mobile or my phone and give me a shout.
Could mean send me an email, write me a message, call me.
Whatever it is, just contact me if you need anything.
But of course, don't literally shout.
That would definitely be quite amusing.
Next one on my list, I had to include this one because this is one of my favorites.
Imagine you're talking to one of your colleagues and you're talking about admin and they're like oh, I've got all these things to do, all these forms to fill in.
And it's just so much faff, F-A-F-F-F.
You can probably tell from the context they mean something bad.
Faff is just unnecessary, annoying things.
Faff.
I'm kind of doing a sort of motion with my hands here.
It's very similar to the word hassle if you've heard me speak about that before but it's much more informal.
Faff.
Oh, it's just so much faff.
Admin, bureaucracy, red tape, that type of thing.
Faff.
Oh, I just love that word.
Next, this is a bit of a tricky one that you might not always pick up.
But imagine you're in a meeting and you are explaining a little bit about why the project was delayed and you give your perspective and you say okay, there was a delay with the sign off process.
And in my opinion it's because there's too much red tape and somebody else in the team says yeah, absolutely.
Anna, that's spot on actually.
And you're like, spot on?
Struggling a bit here.
Well, the great news is give yourself a pat on the back, because if somebody says that you are spot on, it means that you are saying something exactly right or perfect.
Your definition or your description of how things are are absolutely spot on.
So it's good.
It's a positive.
Last but not least, I couldn't resist this one.
I've done a little snippet episode on this, 284 if you want to go back to the episodes.
Imagine if you're trying to arrange a meeting with one of your colleagues and they're like Anna.
Could you just pop that in the diary?
You're like, pop?
What on earth am I popping anywhere?
Well, pop, there's two ways to think about pop.
One is put and one is go.
So if I say pop it in the diary, I mean put it in the diary.
If I say I'm going to pop something in my bag, it means I'm going to put something in my bag.
If I say I'm just going to pop to the toilet...
Sure, you might have heard your colleagues say that at a conference, for example.
It just means I'm going to go to the toilet.
Or if you're speaking to me when I'm leaving the office, or maybe at the end of the meeting, and you ask me oh, what are you doing this evening?
And I say, I'm just going to pop into the gym on the way home and then I'll pop into the shop.
I just mean go.
There we go.
That was our entire list of everyday things that you will hear all the time, that you might have had doubts about, but you were too afraid to ask.
That's not a very catchy episode title, but that's what we were doing today.
I hope that helps you feel more confident that next time you hear them, you're like, ah, I get it.
And you know how to respond.
And that's the most important thing.
It's going to help you feel more secure in those moments with your colleagues.
Thanks so much for squeezing in this training session with me today.
Don't forget.
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Have a great rest of your day whatever you're doing and I will see you again very very soon.
Bye-bye.
