BE 370: What Intimidates You at Work?
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 370, What Intimidates You at Work?

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 Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA. Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.

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Limit one for my rewards. Remember, only at participating restaurants on February 10th while supplies last. Visit carlsjr.com/freeburgerday for terms. 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. Like the bureaucratic stuff really is daunting to me. Yeah. The red tape, Michelle. Yeah. The red tape. Yep. Yep. What about you? Anything daunting about your work? I don't, I wouldn't say daunting. No, I, I, and I,

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. I love it. Because it can be used in...

in or out of the business world, which is 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 DeerQ, hang out with Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey's on here too. All three of us are on here. 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 Sri 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. And also thank you for the great question. This is a good one. It's a good one.

Yeah, and I chose this for business English because these are three words that sometimes people use 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 Michelle, 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.

- Yeah, exactly. I mean, and a lot of times people might come back from a 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.

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 specifically.

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

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 can feel daunting. You can also use 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. Or let's go through "intimidating." So, "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 for example, yeah, so again, say this again, this assignment is really intimidating. Can you help me out? So that means I haven't started this, 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. There was one more that was a good one for answering the phones. So answering the phones completely intimidates me. Oh, 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 like the plumber or something. I don't know why.

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.

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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's some ways that 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 scary. That moment. Yeah. Okay. Or,

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 think we have to think about how common they are, how intense they are and what they might be. So, yeah, what we went over today to me, intimidating is the most common. And I think what's important here is intimate, like intimidating.

I don't think daunting is used very often for people. Whereas I think intimidating or maybe petrifying could be used for people. No, yeah, I agree. We wouldn't say that person is daunting. That actually makes no sense, right? No, no, no, no. But petrifying could be used to describe a person, 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 an

a task that's coming up in the future. 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 daunting. Dealing with state, it's not a very sexy answer, but dealing with state agencies, the agencies where we pay 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.

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, 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. Ooh, 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. 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 now 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 um 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. And, but sometimes it'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? Oh,

For the record. For the record. I, you know, I'm so torn on that. Um...

Undecided. Honestly, I'm not, I'm not somebody who knows. What about you? Um, I, I don't know. I just feel like I've heard so many stories that it would be weird for all these people to just be completely making these things up, you know? Yeah. I've heard so many stories. So yeah, I'm a believer. I've never seen one. I hope never to, but I'd say I'm a believer. Yeah. Oh, okay. 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 out, 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 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 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, like, I'm like, I don't think that way you're set, you know, that that's,

It's good to use these for those kinds of situations as well. Yeah, I love it. 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. Bye.

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