This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 370.
What Intimidates You at Work?
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hey michelle how's it going today i'm good thanks hey lindsay do you ever find any of your work daunting like is there a task that makes you a little nervous when you get to it yeah a lot of the tasks that i find daunting are more administrative tasks for example you know we have to do something with our
app that's very we have to deal with certain famous tech companies and submitting papers and things like that.
The bureaucratic stuff really is daunting to me.
Yeah. The red tape, Michelle.
The red tape. What about you?
Anything daunting about your work?
I wouldn't say daunting.
No. I don't know. I'm in a good flow, so I wouldn't say anything is too daunting right now.
But today we're going to answer a listener question that is perfect for the business world.
Because it can be used in or out of the business world, which is, you know, what we're here for, right?
We speak English at work.
We're not robots. So we're going to talk about this today.
This is definitely a good one to learn for today.
Guys, if you haven't already hit the follow button on the Business English Podcast, please hit it so you never miss anything from us get all of the episodes straight to you yeah hit that follow button we come in three days a week in dear q hang out with lindsay michelle and aubrey's on here too all
three of us are on here we we filter in and out so make sure you are focusing on your business english at least three times a week with us so michelle this question comes from youtube which we love our youtube listeners and followers subscribers i'm going to go ahead and read the question shall i okay
yes please all right this is from uh shri krishna hi there can you talk about the difference between the adjectives daunting intimidating and petrifying they all seem to share the broad meaning of fear but i would love to learn the different usages and the nuances of them from you guys thank you so much
for your amazing podcast it means the world to me best regards krishna wow thank you thank you krishna that is really nice to hear thank you so much um and also thank you for the great question this is a good one um good one yeah and i chose this for business english because these are three words that sometimes
people used to describe work or their work situation but we hope this isn't the case for you but if it is now you'll know how to talk about it and why do we feel like they're good these words are good for business i mean what is kind of the strategy behind it's a little vulnerable right sharing these
words that you feel this way something is this way to you what is it yeah yeah exactly I mean and a lot of times people might come back from my vacation and see an entire stack of papers piled up or see their email and there's so much so it's something that everybody can relate to really um I mean yeah
like Lindsay said this shows this is good for business because it can show your vulnerability and help you connect to others and also just sharing your feelings put yourself out there and describe things more precisely that you are feeling so um yeah and it can also be used to comfort someone yeah and i
was going to say um from kind of a modern workplace perspective i think a lot of employers want to know if you feel overwhelmed if you feel like uh every monday things are so daunting just signing into your email causes you know sweats or something they they want to know that that's happening, you know,
don't suffer in silence.
So we want to be able to share this.
And maybe that's for another episode another day.
Maybe today is just talking to our colleagues.
We'll have to see. But this is important to be able to share what's going on.
If you know that something is just too much.
Right. Right. Absolutely.
So again, these can all I mean, maybe you guys know these words, but they generally mean scary in some way right just not quite boo scary how you might think of it let's talk about daunting first okay yes i love that so daunting is something that you're afraid of that makes you feel uneasy especially
leading up to it so for example that stack of papers on my desk is completely daunting i can't believe we only have two days to get through it so leading up to it is an important key piece we haven't really started to dig into the stack of papers yet right michelle and that's why yep yep exactly yeah
so that that can feel daunting you can also use um it in this way i'm daunted by the computer systems here yeah that's interesting so i'm glad you said that so i don't personally use daunted very much but you look this up and clearly we can use it as a verb so that's really interesting right yeah yes
exactly um or let's go through intimidating so the intimidating is very similar to daunting.
But this one to me is a little bit more common.
It could be used to describe tasks, people, experiences.
And it's a similar idea to daunting in the way that it's often about a future thing you're anticipating or nervous about.
But intimidating can be used, I think, more frequently and describe people as well.
What do you think? Yeah, I think both.
I think both and the fact that we haven't approached this thing or gotten started with this thing means it's like looking ahead.
That's kind of the common aspect of these words today.
It's not something we're in the middle of tackling or attacking, right?
It's something that we have to do in the future a little bit that makes it so intimidating or so daunting, right?
So yeah, so again, say this again, this assignment is really intimidating Can you help me out?
So that means I haven't started this assignment yet.
Right, right, right.
Exactly. Or as I mentioned, it can be used to describe people.
So you could say, my boss is really intimidating.
I really wish she would be a little more friendly.
Yeah. And sometimes that's just because you haven't gotten to know the person yet.
I mean, some people are just intimidating and they always are just in general.
They're just kind of not very relatable and they don't try to reach out or relate to you.
But some people, they just seem intimidating because you've never had a real conversation with them, right?
Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Exactly. So, um, let's move on to the next one.
Sorry. I lost my place a little bit.
Ah, there was one more.
That was a good one for answering the phones.
So answering the phones completely intimidates me.
Ooh, I love that. It intimidates me.
How do you feel about getting on the phone.
I don't mind getting on the phone.
I don't mind it, but my partner really doesn't like to get on the phone.
I don't know why. So I always have to make the calls to even just to the plumber or something.
I don't know. That's how my mom is.
That's how my mom is.
She hates getting on the phone.
Interesting. No, I don't.
I don't. I don't feel that way.
I'd rather get on the phone than try to send an email and wait to hear back.
I'd rather just talk to the person right away.
You know? Yeah. So all right.
Quick break. As an adult professional, you're good at your job.
You know what you're doing.
In fact, you sound confident when you talk about your job in English.
However, in conversations with co -workers about daily topics and informal chats with clients on the phone, you struggle.
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with us on the all ears english podcast all right michelle we are back so petrifying is the most unique interesting one of today i think Yeah.
Yeah. To me, I mean, this one's a little bit more intense, don't you think?
Oh, yeah. And more rare.
So if you're taking the IELTS exam, well, if you're taking the IELTS exam, go over and check out our other podcast for sure, IELTS Energy.
But throwing this one into your IELTS speaking test or maybe your writing test in some way would be fantastic.
Yeah, exactly. So petrifying.
I mean, yeah, a scary movie can be petrifying.
A person can be petrifying but that would be really extreme but it could still be used but here here's some ways that you you might hear it so you could say to me public speaking is petrifying yeah roller coasters are petrifying and i agree completely especially when you get to the very top oh my gosh
so that moment yeah okay um or you could use it in this way the boss petrified him when he said they may be laying people off this year yeah just really scared him right um so michelle are there any other key differences between these three words that we should think about for our listeners i mean to
me i i think we have to think about how common they are um how intense they are and what they might be for so yeah what we went over today to me intimidating is the most common um and i think what's important here is intimate like i don't think daunting is used very often for people whereas i think
intimidating or maybe petrifying good yeah no yeah i agree we wouldn't say that person is daunting that actually makes no sense right no no no um but petrifying um could be used to describe a person not that not as frequently and that would be very extreme but daunting and whereas here's another difference
I think daunting and intimidating are more about for tasks that you haven't started petrifying it doesn't have to be that way it's not as much about anticipating something what do you think yeah exactly so for example if you know that your house is haunted or let's say your friend's house and you go
over to stay over you could be petrified every time you walk in after leaving you could still be petrified.
It's not a task that's coming up in the future.
Right. So these are slightly different for sure, I would say.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
I agree. So, Lindsay, what is something that you find daunting or intimidating or petrifying?
As I said, any kind of red tape in our business is very dealing with state.
It's not a very sexy answer, but dealing with state agencies the agencies where we pay you know state taxes through our payroll that's daunting anytime there's a problem calling state agencies is kind of daunting that's my answer no i think that that's fair it doesn't need to be a sexy answer lindsay
um um yeah so all right should we do a role play all right let's do it so here we go you are on your first day at a new job and i am showing you around so i've been here for a while maybe let's say okay okay here we go i'm so excited what does this machine do oh man this machine is daunting i feel like
it stares me down when i walk by it's just for creating the ids i don't think you'll need to use it oh sounds intimidating nothing petrifies me more than tech same here well my kids intimidate me sometimes.
Good ha. Good ha. Good ha.
Lots of energy behind that ha.
We'll do an episode on how to say ha for sure another day.
Oh my gosh. All right, Michelle.
So first day you're taking me on, I'm taking you on a tour and you asked me about this machine and I said, Oh man, this machine is daunting.
So it means I haven't approached it yet.
I may never approach it.
it's just this thing that's kind of sitting there and seems scary.
Right. Right. Right.
Right. Exactly. Yeah.
And then I said, sounds intimidating.
I'm just kind of echoing you in a similar word.
Right. And then I said, nothing petrifies me more than tech.
Right. And this is truly scares you.
And also the word petrify could be in a different episode about how to say something is scary too.
Right. It's, it's again, more in the category of something is scary and you're afraid of it.
Right. Okay. Right.
Right. Like, I'm not afraid.
You're not afraid of that machine, but it's very daunting and you never want to have to use it.
But you could be literally terrified of a ghost in someone's house.
Right. Right. Those are two different ways, two different ways to be scared.
Right. Sometimes we use those kinds of words to talk about things that are actually going to make you scream and run away.
But sometimes that's just more, more symbolic.
You're not actually petrified.
We're going to run away and start crying.
I don't know, maybe you are.
Michelle, do you believe in ghosts?
Are you a ghost? Plus plus.
That's great. We're going to do great things on this team.
I'm still a total newbie when it comes to AI.
So I can't wait to learn from you.
Nice. Awesome. Yeah.
Yeah. And I left out something in our role play.
It should be, I'm in the very early stages, right?
I'm in the very early stages.
Yes. Right. It is interesting.
The prepositions that are needed, right?
What stories? So yeah, I'm a believer.
I've never seen one and I hope never to, but I'd say I'm a believer.
Yeah. Oh, okay. I'm like, uh, I'm on, on the fence.
I don't think I do, but I don't know.
Got it. Interesting.
Um, and then I said, well, my kids intimidate me sometimes.
So I'm just trying to make a joke.
Yeah. It's kind of fun.
Maybe. Yeah, exactly.
You're just joking around here.
I love it. So good.
Michelle, what's another episode our listeners should go to?
Guys, head on over and listen to episode 359.
That was, should you call a business colleague a piece of work?
I think you did that with Aubrey.
Sounds fun. Yeah, that was fun.
Go check that episode out.
And where should we leave our listeners today for a takeaway?
Yeah, well, these are all very useful for work.
You don't want to overuse them.
Don't make it seem like you're an extremely scared person at work.
You don't want to kind of give off that vibe for everything, but it can actually be used to really connect over things, uh, at work and kind of show your human side.
Yeah. Show your human side.
But I agree with you, Michelle, don't use it for everything because then people are going to think that you can't do anything at work, right?
You need to just, you're scared for certain select things that aren't necessarily in your work duties right yeah like it's not your duty to print out people's ids that's HR so you work in tech so you're maybe you're that's daunting to you right but something that is in your work duties you probably
don't want to say those things are daunting right right and I think that is a very good point yeah that we often have to sometimes we can kind of give credit to other people by saying oh I could never do what you do or you know I'm like I don't think that way you're set you know that that's good to
use these for those kinds of situations as well yeah i love it people exactly all right great episode thank you to our listener for asking this question it was a fantastic question and don't forget guys send your questions to support at allersenglish .com all right thanks all right take care michelle
bye bye Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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