Hello, English learners.
Welcome back to another advanced lesson here at EnglishPod.
My name is Marco.
And I'm Erica.
And today we're going to be back in the office.
That's right.
We are listening in as somebody gets a little bit of trouble from their boss for being a bit late on a project.
All right.
So we're going to be at the office.
Somebody misses a deadline.
And so, well, how do you handle the situation?
What can you do to explain yourself?
And what language can you actually use to talk about missed deadlines and late work?
All right, so let's see why this person missed the deadline, and let's find out what happens.
And so I just wanted to check in with you and find out where we are with this project.
As you know, you've missed a fairly significant deadline last week, and this will negatively impact the team's ability to move forward with the next stages of this project.
I know.
I'm really sorry that I missed the deadline, but really, it wasn't my fault.
You see, we had all of these unexpected technical problems at the last minute and I couldn't get into the database and extract the kind of information that I needed for the data analysis.
You know, if the tech guys would have done their job and kept the CRM stable, then I wouldn't have missed my deadline.
Oh, come on.
An excuse like that is tantamount to lying.
You're essentially blaming the tech team for your time management issues, rather than accepting responsibility for the fact that you were procrastinating for the past two weeks.
No, I'm not trying to pass the buck here.
I know it was me who was ultimately responsible for getting this done, but the thing is...
I could have finished on time if the system hadn't gone down.
And you know, with everything I've got going on now, I can't afford to waste time dealing with technical problems.
I've got a lot on my plate, and there are only 24 hours in a day.
I'm not going to accept this excuse.
You're using these small technical glitches as a crutch and trying to rationalize the fact that you've missed your deadline.
Look, we have standards and I expect you to live up to those standards.
No more phony excuses.
If you're in over your head, you tell me.
No more missed deadlines.
Now I want that data on my desk by 9 a.m.
Well, it sounds like this guy isn't really accepting a lot of the responsibility for his missed deadline.
Exactly.
Well, apparently he's explaining that it wasn't only his fault, right?
Yep.
So some technical problems.
But, you know, he used a lot of pretty interesting language.
And I think it'll help us to look at that now in Language Takeaway.
Language Takeaway.
All right, so on Language Takeaway today, we have five words, and let's start with the first one.
All right.
Well, the boss is not really happy with the excuse that the employee was giving and he said an excuse like that is tantamount to lying.
Tantamount.
Tantamount to something.
Okay, so if an excuse like that is tantamount to lying, what is he trying to say here?
Basically, it's the same as, or it's almost the same as.
So similar to.
So if I say tantamount to something else, how would I use it?
You know, Marco, taking my computer without asking is tantamount to stealing.
Okay.
So even though I'm not actually stealing it or taking it home with me, it is almost like stealing.
Yeah, and the interesting grammatical thing here is that we almost always use a gerund right after, so tantamount to verb-ing.
Okay, tantamount to stealing, tantamount to lying, tantamount to killing.
Okay, well, on that happy note, let's go on to our next word.
Now, the boss was really unhappy with the employee for procrastinating.
Procrastinating.
Procrastinating.
So the verb is to procrastinate.
And when you procrastinate, you say, oh, I'll do it later.
I'll do it tomorrow.
Okay, so you kind of delay things or you leave it for another day.
Yeah.
All right, very good.
So to procrastinate.
A favorite verb amongst college students.
I actually thought for a little while that procrastinate was to have babies.
Oh, okay.
It's kind of similar.
What's the word?
Procreate.
Procreate.
So for a while, I always thought that procrastinate was like having babies.
Like, why are you procrastinating?
And I'm like, I'm not.
Well, glad you got that straight.
So yes, our listeners, procrastinate is not the same as procreate.
Okay.
I learned that the hard way.
Yes.
Well, it sounds like you had a little bit of a glitch in your understanding of language, and that's our next phrase.
So in the dialogue they were talking about some glitches with the system.
Glitch in the system okay, so a glitch now, this is a common among computers right, a glitch is a an error, right?
So when you're talking about a glitch and you're talking about computers, it's an error, a mistake.
But we also use it to talk about any unexpected problem, a small unexpected problem.
Okay, so a small glitch.
Yeah, there was a glitch in our plan and we arrived ten minutes late.
Or I can say this movie has a glitch in the story.
So there's a small problem in the story that doesn't make sense.
Exactly.
All right, so the employee was blaming his lateness on these small technical glitches.
But the boss didn't believe this, right?
The boss said, you're trying to rationalize the fact that you missed the deadline.
Okay, to rationalize.
To rationalize.
So the boss is saying that he's trying to rationalize.
So that means is he trying to make sense of it?
Well, this is an interesting psychological word.
And when you rationalize something, you think about it or describe it like especially some bad behavior, in a way that makes it seem better or proper or more sensible.
So you're trying to convince yourself.
Yeah, you're telling other people, but you're also telling yourself that it's better.
Okay.
Or that you're right when you're actually wrong.
Yes, yeah.
Okay, so he was trying to rationalize the fact that he missed the deadline.
So he was trying to explain to the boss and also kind of make himself believe that it wasn't really his fault when it was.
Now, because this is a little bit of a difficult concept to understand, I think we should hear some examples.
Example one.
You can't rationalize your son's behavior by saying he's going through a hard time.
Example two.
As much as I tried, I couldn't rationalize buying such an expensive pair of shoes.
You know it was the wrong thing to do.
Stop trying to rationalize it.
Okay, so clear as daylight now, this word rationalize.
All right, and our final words.
So the boss really wasn't happy with these excuses and he said, no more phony excuses.
Okay, phony.
Phony.
P-H-O-N-Y, phony.
So phony is basically false or fake.
Right, so a phony statement.
A phony watch.
Okay, a fake watch.
Yeah, not a Sony watch, but a phony watch.
A phony.
So a lot of great words in this dialogue but, as you mentioned, we also saw some very interesting phrases that we can use in situations like this.
So why don't we start now with Fluency Builder.
Fluency Builder.
Well, you know, one of the interesting things about English is that we have a lot of ways to make things sound more direct, less direct, harder or softer.
And in this dialogue there are a few examples of how we use softening words to do the opposite, to actually make it a little stronger.
Okay, so why don't we start with the first paragraph.
In the first part of the dialogue, he said you missed a fairly significant deadline.
A fairly significant deadline.
Now, this word fairly.
Kind of, sort of.
So it's not very significant, it's kind of significant.
Yeah.
But in this context, when the person is saying it, it just sounds a little bit softer.
But your understanding is It's a very important deadline.
Okay, a very important deadline.
So another similar example of this is the boss was saying, you're essentially blaming the tech team.
Okay, you're essentially blaming.
So essentially is like basically or pretty much.
So it sounds a little softer, but what he's actually really saying is you're doing this.
Right.
So instead of saying you're blaming the tech team, he adds this word essentially to kind of say well, basically you're saying it's their fault.
Yeah.
But the context or you understand that it's actually very direct and he's saying it's your fault.
Yeah.
So he's saying you're almost blaming the tech team.
But what he means is you're blaming the tech team.
Now, our third phrase is very interesting because it's kind of like a saying.
That's right.
So the employee says, I'm not trying to pass the buck here.
I'm not trying to pass the buck here.
I'm not trying to pass the buck.
Now, what's the buck?
A dollar bill.
A dollar bill.
So he's well.
I understand that he's saying I'm not trying to blame somebody else or pass the blame on to someone else.
But you can think about it like this.
Like imagine he had some fake or phony money, right?
And he wants to pass that on to the next person so he doesn't get in trouble.
Okay.
So I'm not trying to pass the buck.
I'm not trying to pass the blame, put the responsibility on someone else.
Very good.
But you know what he really means here?
What?
I am trying to do this.
Because he knew, yeah, he knew that it was a fake dollar bill.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Now, the fourth one is interesting as well because it's kind of like a metaphor.
He said, the boss said, you're using the small technical glitches as a crutch.
So using something as a crutch.
Now, the crutch is a...
You know when you break your leg, you use those wooden or metal sticks to walk with?
Okay, to help you walk.
Yeah.
So the boss is basically saying you're using these technical glitches as an excuse or as an aid to why you missed the deadline.
Yeah.
So if you think about it like this, some people might say okay, if you walk with a crutch, then you won't succeed, right?
Because whatever.
So this guy, this employee, is basically saying yes, I know that I should meet deadlines, but these problems, these glitches are like my crutch that make me not succeed.
Okay, so he's trying to just make excuses.
So, God, Marco, that was a little bit difficult to understand.
Do you think we should give a couple more examples?
Yeah, I think some more examples would be very useful, so let's listen to a couple of them now.
I realized that I was using alcohol as a crutch to get through the day.
I think Bill's very capable of being successful, but he uses his disability as a crutch.
Stop using your weight as a crutch.
Just because you're a bit fat doesn't mean you can't get a great job.
All right.
So a lot of great phrases, great words and well, I think it's time for us to listen to this dialogue for the last time, and then we'll come back and talk about this aspect of meeting deadlines.
And so I just wanted to check in with you and find out where we are with this project.
As you know, you've missed a fairly significant deadline last week, and this will negatively impact the team's ability to move forward with the next stages of this project.
I know.
I'm really sorry that I missed the deadline, but really, it wasn't my fault.
You see, we had all of these unexpected technical problems at the last minute and I couldn't get into the database and extract the kind of information that I needed for the data analysis.
You know, if the tech guys would have done their job and kept the CRM stable, then I wouldn't have missed my deadline.
Oh, come on.
An excuse like that is tantamount to lying.
You're essentially blaming the tech team for your time management issues, rather than accepting responsibility for the fact that you were procrastinating for the past two weeks.
No, I'm not trying to pass the buck here.
I know it was me who was ultimately responsible for getting this done, but the thing is...
I could have finished on time if the system hadn't gone down.
And you know, with everything I've got going on now, I can't afford to waste time dealing with technical problems.
I've got a lot on my plate, and there are only 24 hours in a day.
I'm not going to accept this excuse.
You're using these small technical glitches as a crutch and trying to rationalize the fact that you've missed your deadline.
Look, we have standards and I expect you to live up to those standards.
No more phony excuses.
If you're in over your head, you tell me.
No more missed deadlines.
Now I want that data on my desk by 9 a.m.
This employee got in a lot of trouble for missing his deadline.
Exactly.
I think it's a very important aspect of not only Western culture, but also, in general, assuming guilt when it's your fault.
In this case, we saw that the employee didn't really want to accept the fact that it was his fault.
He didn't say, yeah, I know it was me.
I'm sorry.
And this is my plan to fix it.
Now, this is very important among cultures, because in some cultures the aspect of losing face is so important, right?
Right.
So somebody may not really want to assume guilt or they have to because it's part of the culture.
But what's the standard in North American business practice?
I would say that you would have to assume responsibility and take responsibility for your actions right.
And say, yes, it's my fault.
I did it, but I'm going to get it fixed or I'll do it or I'll make up for it.
So some good business tips here today in this lesson.
Now remember.
If you have any questions about the language or want to tell us a little bit about how you assume responsibility in your culture, visit our website at EnglishPodcom.
Right.
We're always there to help you out.
And until next time.
Thanks for listening and goodbye.
Bye.
