this is an allers english podcast episode 1848 should you be verbing at work
welcome to the all ears english podcast downloaded more than 200 million times are you feeling stuck
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not perfection with your american host aubry carter the ielts wiz and lindsay mcmahon
the english adventurer coming to you from arizona and colorado usa and to get your
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verbing isn't something that just happens in silicon valley natives often change a noun into
a verb to save time today you'll learn how to do this to modernize your business english listen in
hey aubry uh what are you up to oh right now i'm recording a podcast what are you up to oh i don't
know not a whole lot just uh yeah enjoying the afternoon uh are you summering anywhere
this summer i am i am summering in idaho i don't usually say that though because summering implies
like you own a second residence right it implies well so i just say we're going to spend the summer
in idaho yes i was just having this conversation with some friends i think just yesterday
um and we were asking people if they used that and it really duh it is a red flag it does sound
really really snobby right because it implies wealth or at least the good fortune of having a
second residence of having that flexibility to summer somewhere or winter somewhere a
lot of people winter in phoenix where we have a beautiful winter oh do they really that's so funny
we call them sunbirds but they are up you know somewhere in minnesota or somewhere up in the snow
they'll come down and spend just like january february march in phoenix and winter in phoenix
interesting okay on the east coast that happens in florida people come from new england and they
go down to florida um so that's interesting so guys yeah stay away from making summer or winter
a verb no one says springing or falling no no because we don't really usually we're just at our
at our homes um but avoid those just because you don't want to sound tone deaf you don't want to
sound out of connection with people yeah this is interesting to talk about we do this we call it
verbing where we take a noun and we turn it into a verb but for those two it does sound snobby
because it implies such wealth right so yeah avoid that but there is another one that's fun you can
say vacation we like to vacation in hawaii we like to vacation in the woods yeah that doesn't
sound snobby because you could mean camping right yeah i mean and everyone go i mean not everyone i
don't want to you know be tone deaf myself but a lot of people go on vacation it's common to go on
vacation but it's less common extreme wealth right exactly it's less common to have like a summer
home or a winter home yes totally yes exactly but this we do this in business english all the
time verbing so this is such a great skill for you guys to know and just to understand when you hear
others doing it as well so we're gonna break this down first of all and then share the most common
verbiage that we do in english i love it this is going to give you guys the real real language for
the office and this is from grammarly we love grammarly so good so let's see what they said
over here about verbing what did they say yeah so they're saying grammarians refer to this as
denomination i can see why we took that and called it verbing because that is a difficult word yeah
no one wants to say that yes right but it's just that act of converting a noun into a verb okay
so if there isn't an existing verb that exactly describes what you want or takes too long to say
we'll just turn the nearest noun into a verb so as a quick example the word table you've likely heard
in business english someone say let's table this let's table this issue meaning you know let's put
it on hold let's save it for later but it takes several words to say that so we take the noun
table and turn it into a verb yes i love that so interesting so that is a really good example
and we're going to go through a few more examples now guys of what you're likely to hear
from your co-workers right you're likely to hear these so be ready for them and just come back
and use them right yes use them you will sound so native and natural to use these and you're saving
everyone time that's right okay so the next one is calendar which just means to put something
on the calendar to put a date put a meeting on the calendar but we'll turn it into a verb and say can
we calendar some dates to meet next week yeah and there's something about i don't know what it is
but it feels easier sometimes and less direct to make up new words and use them in business
do you feel that way it is easier right one word instead of four i mean it is but you know what i
mean is like uh like in terms of communication just like not being too intrusive maybe it's in
my own head but sort of making up a new word ends up sound like feels kind of silly and fun and so
you're playing around with the person a little bit and so it's less direct in my mind yes i see
what you're saying it's a little more informal yeah it's a little more playful yeah for sure
yeah playfulness exactly it makes you sound um and this was on grammarly too i
noticed it makes you sound less traditional sort of fresher more like with the times
yes and that's why i think it might be because it adds a new element to what you're saying so
it might be easier to use again don't use this with everyone all the time you know
check out your company culture see if it's acceptable but a lot of companies now are like
our listeners are working for modern companies and you know they're using these things no questions
exactly yeah for sure so that one i hear all the time you'll just hear someone say like
okay let's calendar that when they're talking about needing to meet later like instead of saying
let's get it on the calendar right now they'll just really quickly say okay let's calendar it
ah okay so wait just so i'm clear right now so we are putting dates on the calendar right
when we call it right we're scheduling meetings we're scheduling appointments there's something
coming up that we need to put on the calendar and we just use that word calendar as a verb
oh i'm learning something new now this is good right you got to start doing that yeah i got to
do that all right the next one is to uh to action oh my gosh this one's new for me too
but but the concept is definitely not new i know exactly what we're talking about here
to take action on something how about we action that now rather than waiting until next week it's
not auction that it's action action yeah it's interesting so the you know the long way to say
that would be take action on this right let's do something about this now that takes so many words
so instead we take the noun action and action we turn it into that verb right we also have action
items right we we have all these action items we want to do so in the same way we're using it
as a verb to say okay let's action this let's it just means let's do something about it now
oh so good so good all right i hope you guys are writing these down for you know tomorrow at work
yes exactly all right what's the next one workshop right this means to work together
to figure something out so when we use this as a verb aubry are we implying that we're going to
host a workshop or are we saying we're going to kind of huddle together as a team yeah it's the
huddle together as a team right so we're taking the noun of a workshop and instead of attending
this workshop we are using that as a verb to do what you would do at a workshop right so we
say like our team will workshop this plan and get back to you meaning we're going to like you said
huddle together figure it out and then get back to you i like that one that's so easy to say
it's so actionable and then the last one guys is task right assign a task and sometimes i find this
hard to pronounce but i was tasked with lowering costs how do you have the k followed by the t
sound is a little hard tasked because we do we'll say this in the past to talk about something you
were assigned to do i was tasked with doing that right and it's the same for me to get from the
sound to the sound is not that easy it takes a little practice but don't you think that
most native speakers uh would just say i was tasked with lowering costs they would just
completely not even try to pronounce the k i kind of think i i kind of think that's what i'm saying
we're speaking quickly we do we almost just eliminate the k to save time to make it easier
yeah so just watch out for that guys that could be really challenging and you want to make sure you
can orient yourself so you can listen to those and understand right aubrey yes for sure okay
let's go for a role play i know our listeners love those role plays aubry so let's go for it where
are we awesome we are in a business meeting and we're going to try to use all of these most common
business verbs this verbing verbifying right that's right all right we need to table that issue
for now okay sounds good let's calendar our next appointment yep can do but first we need to action
these first few items okay we may need to workshop the best way to do that good point i'm gonna task
you with creating a team to head that up oh my god all i could think of was silicon valley that show
totally if you guys haven't seen that i know you will hear all of these used
if you watch silicon valley yeah because if you imagine yo because we're using all these in the
same conversation it leads to the idea that we have a company culture that's very you know
uh cliche silicon valley you know totally and they that show does such a good job at poking fun of
that typical you know startup tech startup and all of the there's like some really funny things that
go along with it so funny it's so funny guys check it out um all right let's go through this for our
listeners i said guys we need to table that issue for now right that's one of the verbs we learned
meaning to set it aside we're going to think about it later yes love it and then i said
let's calendar our next appointment using that noun calendar as a verb to say let's put this
next appointment on the calendar yeah and it is much more efficient because normally i'll say
let's get it on the calendar right it takes too long to say all of that okay this is
faster yeah there you go save time um and then i said yep can do but first we need to action
these first few items the first time you read this it doesn't feel you say it and you think oh my
gosh it should be auction maybe right it doesn't feel right yeah but you know we know this is
one you haven't used that much right i have heard this use all right we need to action this meaning
this we need to take action on this right now yes yeah if you get once you get used to it you'll get
it right it's very common yes i also want to point out something i accidentally included in the role
play the first thing you said there is so native to say yeah can do instead of like we can do that
we shorten it and we just say can do that's a great bonus for our listeners guys write that
one down right can do or yep can do that's a great one where we eliminate the subject we don't say
you know what's already implied we already know that we're saying we can do that so we don't need
those extra words yeah can do or will do maybe this is for another day guys hit follow on the
podcast so you don't miss these episodes we're going to cover this another day can do and will
do i just texted wildu to a one of our business colleagues our partner one of our consultants when
he made a suggestion like you try this and i say will do and that was it in the text message right
simple like i respond to some of your emails that way like i don't have a lot of time i'm just you
do yeah and that's totally fine there's nothing nothing rude about that nothing disrespectful
right right it's really fine when you're on a certain level with your teammates with your
managers it's okay guys but make sure you're there right yeah good point so then the next
one i said was we'll need to workshop the best way to do that meaning like okay we're gonna
have to meet together this is not you wouldn't say workshop for yourself like if i'm saying i
can figure this out on my own i wouldn't say i'm gonna workshop that this implies more than one
person like you said huddling together that's more than one person meeting and discussing something
right and again different from like a formal workshop day where maybe they're bringing in
an outside trainer and they have someone coming in right that would be a formal
actual workshop in the noun format guys okay we're using it more like the word brainstorm
right we're gonna need to like brainstorm the best but on top of brainstorming like more action like
brainstorm and work through how to do this yeah get started do some of the work right hands-on
workshop has a real hands-on feeling to it yeah um all right the last one i said was good point i'm
gonna task you with creating a team to head that up all right i'm going to task you good yes yeah
and we really hear that a lot more now instead of like i'm going to assign you to that or assign you
this task i feel like i hear this all the time i'm going to task you with that it's just faster
very native yes i love it so guys the thing to remember today is you want to be able to reflect
your colleagues you want to be modern right aubrey this is all about being modern in business english
exactly right you should be verbing at work not only does it save time it makes you sound
more native and natural we're quite informal in business english when we know people well and so
we'll often do this save time by converting a noun to a verb yeah you should be verbing i love that i
love that's a fantastic way to put it and guys go for it let us know how it goes and come back to us
with your questions right if this if you try this and you you know questions come up in your
head come back to uh write an email to lindsay allardsenglish.com and we'll put your question
into our show all right guys good stuff yes awesome thanks lindsay this is a really fun
one yeah good one i'll talk to you soon take care all right see ya bye
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