Speaker 1: Let's table this. That's what the boss said, and then
someone else said we need to pivot, so that I
suggested we take it offline. But then the boss said, hey,
let's not reinvent the wheel the language of business.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine twenty two.
Office Speak. What do these phrases really mean? Hey, thanks
for tuning in. Now, let me ask you something. Have
you ever been in a meeting or on a zoom
call and someone's says something like, oh, let's circle back
on that, or hey, we need to pivot and you're
just sitting there thinking, wait, what did that mean? Yeah,
office lingo can sound super vague, even to native speakers sometimes,
but the good news is I'm here today to help
you decode those mysterious phrases. Let's take a closer look
at what these buzzwords really mean in plain English and
how native speakers use them in everyday business conversations. The
first two phrases are let's table this for now, and
let's circle back. We use both of these to delay
talking about something. Let's table this for now, and you
heard that right. We use table as a verb in
this phrase. Let's table this for now sounds like it
means like let's start talking about it, but actually it
means the opposite. In American English, when someone says let's
table this, they mean let's stop talking about this for now,
as in put it back down on the table, sometimes permanently.
Like last week, Jack was in a brainstorming meeting at
his office. He had a cool idea for changing the
company logo, but his boss didn't want to get into
that topic, so she said, oh, yeah, nice idea. Well,
let's table this for now. Huh yeah. That was her
polite way of saying, let's not talk about this probably
never again. Next up is circle back. Let's circle back
sounds kind of friendly, right, like we're just going in circles.
But when someone says let's circle back on this, they
usually mean let's talk about this later. If we remember,
Jack emailed his manager asking for feedback on his latest
client proposal. The response let's circle back next week, which
in office speak probably means it's not my priority right now.
The next two phrases are all about changing the topic
or changing the direction of the conversation. First up is
we need to pivot now. This one's super popular in
the startup world. Pivot means to change direction, especially when
the original idea or plan isn't working. Like Jack's team
launched an app targeting gen Z users, but no one
was downloaded. So in the Monday meeting, his boss said,
we need to pivot and focus on small business owners instead.
In plain English, what we're doing isn't working, so let's
try something new. And then we have let's take this offline.
When someone says let's take this offline, it doesn't mean
you're going to unplug your WiFi. It just means let's
stop talking about this in the meeting and discuss it
privately later. Like the other day, Jack had a lot
of detailed questions during a group meeting and the team
leader says, all right, look, let's take this offline. Basically,
let's save time now and talk one on one later on. Now,
the next set of phrases is all about team harmony,
in other words, working well together. And first up in
this category is where aligned align means to put things
in the correct position. So when you say that you
and your coworkers are aligned, it just means you all
agree or you're all on the same page. Like last week,
Jack and his coworker Sarah were reviewing a proposal for
a new client. When they both agreed on the changes,
Jack said, cool looks good where aligned. It sounds kind
of professional and polished. And you'll hear this all the
time in the business scene, and in order to get
everyone aligned, you'll probably hear someone say, let's sync up.
Sync is short for synchronized, which means to make sure
everything is lined up at the same time. So when
the boss or your coworker says let's sync up, they
mean let's talk, let's meet to make sure we're working
together smoothly. This is how you can bring people together
in a modern way. Like one day in the office,
Jack and his designer were working on different versions of
the same presentation and their manager messaged them saying, hey,
let's sync up this afternoon. It's a fancy way to
say let's check in and make sure we're on the
same page. The last set of phrases are what I
like to call sneaky rejections soft or polite ways to
say not now or maybe never. The first one is
let's revisit this later. I'm sure you know the word visit,
and I'm guessing you may not know the term revisit. Now.
You can revisit a place you've traveled to before. But
in the workplace, when someone says let's revisit this later,
it's like putting something away in a drawer and actually
hoping nobody remembers it. Like one day, Jack suggested moving
the weekly meeting to Fridays instead of Mondays. His boss
smiled and said, let's revisit this later, and well that
was the end of that. The other sneaky or soft
rejection is let's not reinvent the wheel. The wheel an
amazing invention that's worked well for centuries, and if something
already exists and works fine, there's no need to start over.
Let's not reinvent the wheel. This one means let's not
make more or work for ourselves. Like last month, Jack
wanted to create a whole new format for the monthly
sales report, but his team leader said, let's not reinvent
the wheel, just update last month's version. In other words,
work smarter, not harder. So what do all of these
phrases have in common. They sound professional, sometimes even a
little confusing, but once you break them down, they're just
everyday English used in a business setting. Here's a recap.
Let's table this means let's stop talking about it now.
Let's circle back means maybe we'll talk about this later,
but probably not. We need to pivot is the same
as let's move the conversation in another direction. Take it
offline means let's talk privately. When someone says we're aligned,
it means we agree. And let's sync up means let's
meet and talk more. And if someone says let's revisit
this later, well that's probably a soft no. And finally,
don't reinvent the wheel. It's like saying, hey, nice idea,
but let's use what we already have now. You don't
necessarily need to use these phrases yourself, but it's good
to understand them that way. When someone drops one of
these expressions in a meeting or email, you'll know exactly
what they mean. And hey, if you do want to
sound a little more professional in English, sprinkle one or
two of these into your next business conversation. Just don't
go overboard and say them all in one meeting. Okay,
and hey, if you want to practice this kind of
English with me and a group of other awesome learners,
come check out my podcast Learner's Study Group. We meet
once a week and practice the language from these podcasts
lessons together. It's a great way to build confidence and
improve your speaking. Just check the link where you're listening
to this podcast right now, or visit Myhappy English dot
com and choose podcast episode nine twenty two for more info.
Thanks for listening, and remember, learning another language is not easy,
but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you
on your journey.
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Happy English.