This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 435.
Don't let business vocabulary throw you for a loop.
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 Aubrey.
coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
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Hey there, Aubrey. What's going on today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you? Good. I'm just fresh off a trip to Belgium and London.
And when you travel, there's always curveballs right yes did you have any curveballs thrown at you on your travels yeah that was a weird one and I'm wondering what you think about this because you lived in Belgium so maybe it's not weird it's just normal so we checked in to the hotel the first night in Brussels and we're traveling with my partner's aunt so her 70th birthday and this wasn't true in our room but in her room she had a really weird tub set up so normally I'm used to walking into a bathroom and you have a shower, you have a toilet, you have a sink, all the basics, right?
And usually, there's some kind of like glass on the shower to protect water from going on the floor.
What she had in her room was just a tub in the corner, a wood floor room and a tub in the corner, nothing.
No shower head, just a tub on wood floor and just a normal like wall right behind it, almost like it was taken from the bathroom, placed in the room, in the bedroom.
Is that that normal in Belgium?
Or I feel like that's normal for Europe in general.
I, there were several times where I was sort of surprised by the bathroom set up.
Right. Sometimes it would be like, um, there wouldn't be a bathroom in the room and it was like down the hall.
And I did, I have seen that where it was just sort of like a tub with a shower, um, head and not really anything else.
So you never know. Right.
It was interesting.
I was actually living, um, with a a family it was an au pair for a family who was quite wealthy they were actually um aristocrats right they she was like a baroness so their bathrooms were quite nice but I feel like I do remember you know visiting other nanny friends and you never knew what you were gonna get in in the bathroom yeah it was which also happens in the state sometimes too right you never know I was still worried about the wood floors I was so worried about the wall it was like there was nothing protecting the water from spilling out of the tub, getting all over the bed.
You feel like you have to like dry any water.
Yeah. It was very strange.
So anyways, these experiences are so good.
They're very humbling, right?
That's a curveball.
That was a real curveball because we were getting off the flight—long flight.
You want to shower walls around your shower and that kind of thing.
Yeah. This is interesting.
We had a student ask about curveballs.
This is going to be a great episode.
But it's also a really great connection skill to ask someone about curveballs.
They experience things that were surprising, unexpected on their travels, at work.
There are so many situations where it's an interesting thing to talk about, the unexpected things that happen.
Yep. And we can learn a lot about people, what they expect, what's surprising by talking about curveballs.
So should I go ahead and read the question?
Answer, listen, read.
I choose read. It's clearly Friday afternoon here.
Here we go. Hey, Aubrey, I have a question.
I was looking for an episode about the expression big time and I couldn't find it, but I'm quite certain Allers English covered it.
And there's grammar that I heard a native say, but I think it's wrong.
A twist that threw everyone for a major curveball.
Is the for correct?
I heard both expressions on the Crime Junkie podcast that you recommended years ago, and I've been hooked ever since.
Thank you so much for your help.
Have a good one. Mateos.
I love so many things about this.
First of all, that he started listening to Crime Junkie, which is an amazing podcast, and that he's hearing all of these interesting expressions from listening to that podcast that's for native speakers.
But at your level, everyone out there, you can be listening to podcasts that are made for native English speakers and they're interesting.
Oh, absolutely. A hundred percent.
Great way to improve your listening comprehension.
Guys, go ahead and hit the follow button.
We're going to answer this question today.
And we could also answer your question if you send it in to to support at allersenglish .com, right?
Aubrey, we love those specific questions.
Exactly, right? Or leave us a review and leave a question there.
We love to get your questions.
Thank you, Mateus, for this good one.
To answer the first part of it, it's funny, I think he was searching the Allers English archives, and that episode was right here on Business English.
So he must have listened to the Business English podcast and then thought it was over there.
So be sure to listen to the end.
We'll share what episode that was when we We taught about the expression hit the big time.
And then we're going to answer today the second part of his question.
All right, let's get into it.
So let's answer his question.
What do we need to know?
First of all, we use the idiom, you know, throw someone for a loop.
And we also say we call something a curveball or we say that we were thrown a curveball.
Right. So both are they're very similar.
They both mean something was a surprise.
It was unexpected. something came out of nowhere.
So sometimes this happens that native speakers will combine idioms with similar meanings.
Sometimes it's usually accidentally, right?
This is what Mateos heard on the podcast, right?
That was a combination of throw someone for a loop and something being a curve ball.
This happens, very common error, right?
Because you're right.
Mateos is like, that doesn't sound right.
Idioms do need to be used word for word. So we don't usually say throw someone for a curveball.
Yes, I do this all the time, make mistakes with my idioms. I add the wrong preposition or I combine two idioms. It's kind of fun, actually.
But usually, you know, people know what you're saying and it's OK, but we do want to aspire to say it correctly.
I agree, Aubrey. Yeah.
But the good news is, right, native speakers do it, too.
The Crime Junkie podcast is two native speakers from the Midwest. Right.
So it happens. Right.
We make mistakes. Not something thing to stress out about, but I am excited to teach these idioms today.
We use them all the time at work, especially.
So let's go into the first one to throw someone a curve ball.
Where does this come from?
Baseball, of course.
Right. I think in, I don't know, I guess in baseball, you have like the knuckle ball, the curve ball.
What else, Aubrey, do you know?
Spitball, fastball.
I actually know a friend, my friend is engaged to a pitcher for, he was a a pitcher at UNLV.
So he's like a D1 athlete.
He wasn't recruited to like the majors, but he is such a good baseball player.
It's so fun to play with him.
It just goes like 500 yards.
Do you play with him?
Wow. Impressive. We play sometimes, yeah, but he doesn't pitch like regular baseball pitches.
He actually was highlighted on this YouTube thing recently.
He can pitch like 97 miles an hour.
It's crazy. His fastball is really fast. That's fun.
Well, pitching to me seems very scary because you could easily get it right back in your face right i would be so afraid i would pitch and then cover my face that happens a lot right when they hit it and it comes straight back at the picture i'm always amazed when they catch it but if they get hit yeah yeah so let's give some examples here aubry yeah and this is usually something negative right a curve ball is not going to be something positive like i got a raise it was a real curveball no it's usually something a little bit negative so for example example, you know, I felt like I was prepared
for the interview, but I was thrown a curveball with a question about handling layoffs, right?
It's something that is a little bit negative, like not a curveballs are usually not great to get.
Yeah, surprising things that you don't expect, and they're sort of weird. You don't know how to handle them or they're challenging, right?
The supplier throws a curveball by increasing the price at the last minute.
Yes, right. And we also just call a surprise a curveball.
So we don't have to always say I was thrown a curveball right you might say when the VP didn't show up on time for her presentation It was quite the curveball.
I had to step in and cover for her mm -hmm love that good example Okay, so that is curveball and then the other idiom that means something similar is to throw someone for a loop Yeah, and I haven't thought about this.
I wanted to know where this one comes from not baseball It's from either aviation where a plane will do a loop -de -loop where they like go all the way around upside down, which interestingly, I saw it written like loop -the -loop.
And I've always said loop -de -loop, like it's written D -E between, what do you say?
Loop -de -loop or loop -the -loop?
What do you say? I don't know if I talk about that.
I don't know if I would know what to say.
It's also like when a roller coaster goes all the way upside down, right?
It's also a loop -de -loop.
probably loop -de -loop also it's kind of hard to say right I look up and you see both here both they're both there I grew up saying loop -de -loop very funny oh roller coaster that's a very scary moment when it goes like that upside down yes there's but there's a an amusement park near my hometown named Lagoon and there's a new ride where it comes out and then it kind of drops you negative like you're you're going sort of backwards on yourself and it pauses there They're just long enough to really freak you out before it goes.
Oh my gosh. The new ones are so much worse.
Too much, too much. All right.
What would be a sample sentence here, Aubrey?
Okay. Because yeah, same similar meaning here, right?
To throw someone for a loop, a negative, something unexpected happened, which has some kind of negative effect.
So for example, the negative feedback from our top client through the whole team for a loop.
Yes, exactly. So you were surprised, right?
Right. You didn't quite know what to do or to write it threw us off.
That's another way we say it just really threw us off.
Or the new government regulations through our expansion plans for a loop.
Yeah. So this is like it created an effect, maybe a ripple effect where things need to be changed.
Right. If you're thrown for a loop, that means whatever the plan was before is going to need to be adjusted.
And we also say a wrench was thrown in, like something threw a wrench in.
and now we're having to make adjustments yes and then the next one i love it because we're coming back to baseball we can't get away um come out of left field when something comes out of left field it is what a brie yeah it means it's unexpected right it comes out of nowhere we'll also say for example the criticism from the board came out of left field we thought the project was on track exactly totally unexpected or we weren't looking to sell to sell, so the acquisition offer really came out of left field.
Yeah, you didn't see it coming.
This is also from baseball.
I guess if someone catches a ball in left field and throws it in, that would come out of left field, I guess that was what that would mean.
Maybe if you were able to throw from left field to catcher and throw someone out, that would be surprising.
Yeah, exactly. I love it.
I love how much baseball there is in the English language.
so many baseball idioms it's so true so true when you hear lulu lemon you probably think of a line yoga pants weightlessly soft like you're wearing next to nothing that's why you see them in class at the grocery store and in the park but did you know about skirts with built -in liner shorts so you can still jump for the frisbee and tanks and body suit with a line's iconic stretch you won't want to take it off and with endless style options you don't have to shop in store or online at lululemon .com okay aubry our listeners love our signature role plays so let's do it uh you are a project manager here
discussing a recent curveball with me and i am a marketing director you want to start us out yes thanks for jumping on this call i wanted to go over yesterday's product product launch. There were a few moments that threw me for a loop.
I'm right there with you.
The last minute app issue really threw us off.
We had everything lined up and then experienced unexpected technical problems. Exactly.
And then the media questions during the press briefing, one reporter threw me a curveball asking about our long -term data privacy strategy.
We weren't expecting that.
Yes, that definitely came out of left field.
We had prepped for questions about features and user experience, not privacy compliance.
Oh, that's not good.
This is never great.
I have a feeling that everyone out there listening has solidarity.
We've all been there where just something unexpected happens.
You're asked a question you weren't expecting.
Something throws you for a loop, right?
It happens. We have to know how to adjust what to do when something unexpected happens.
It's true. It reminds me of that expression.
What is that expression?
Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
Will go wrong. It's so true.
You prepare everything.
all your ducks in a row and then this other thing comes out of nowhere you hadn't even thought about it yeah exactly right we can plan for everything as much as possible they're still going to be something unexpected that you just have to be ready to roll with the punches exactly so here I said thanks for jumping on the call I wanted to go over yesterday's product launch there were a few moments that threw me for a loop so I got really flustered or confused right yeah something it was unexpected Unexpected, surprising.
Exactly. And then I say, Oh, I'm right there with you.
The last minute app issue really threw us off.
So we didn't see it coming.
We weren't expecting it.
And it caused some kind of negative effect, right?
There was some kind of consequence as far as us, you know, having a hard time adjusting.
Yeah. That's why they do, you know, beta launches for apps and things like that.
Products when there's software involved, it probably won't be perfect in the beginning.
So, difficult. And then I said, and then the media questions during the press briefing, one reporter threw me a curveball asking about our long -term data strategy.
Data privacy. This is interesting to think about, especially like press briefings.
Often, the highlights that we see are reporters throwing someone a curveball, right?
They have planned to try and throw someone off.
To try and give them a curveball to hopefully get them to say something they weren't prepared to answer.
Yeah. Oh, difficult.
I would never want to be kind of a press briefing person, the person that stands up there and represents someone or a company, right?
Then you end up in a soundbite.
Oh, gosh. Can I prepare this answer and come back to you?
Right, right, right.
Right. And then what, Aubrey?
You said that definitely?
Came out of left field.
Right. So we weren't expecting it.
Right. We had prepped for questions about features and user experience.
We weren't expecting anything about privacy compliance.
So that came out of left field.
We didn't expect it.
Yes. There's a lot of unexpected things that happen in business.
So this is a great episode today.
Guys, go to Business English 366.
Hit the big time with your business English.
Go check that one out next if you're looking for something else to listen to.
Yes, and this is the one that I was able to share with Mateus that was here on Business English rather than All Ears English.
And that's an awesome phrase, hit the big time.
So don't miss that one and be sure to hit follow.
If you did miss it, that means you're likely missing a lot of amazing episodes.
Yeah, don't miss a single episode of Business English.
We publish three days a week.
Where should we leave our listeners?
What is the, what is this matter for connection, operate human connection in business?
It is inevitable that you will be be thrown curveballs at work, right?
We all experience this.
So it's actually a great topic for connection, right?
Share when, like Lindsay shared about the curveball traveling, anything that happens at work, you can create a connection with anyone who has also experienced something similar, right?
It's a great topic for conversation.
Exactly. Connection is not just outside of work.
We're dealing with human beings at work.
And so there is space for human connection, right?
Love it. So good. Aubrey, I'll see you next time.
All right. See you guys next time.
Take care. Bye. Bye.
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