BE 396: Test the Waters with these Office Expressions
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 396. Test the waters with these office expressions. ♪

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.

Hey, listeners, we're happy to have you with us as we explore business and sharpen your English language skills. If you're looking to take your learning even further while gaining invaluable business insights, we highly recommend a podcast that we love called TED Talks Daily. This show delivers daily TED Talks from some of the world's brightest minds covering topics like technology, career growth, education, and beyond.

It's the perfect way to improve your English, fuel your curiosity and get inspired. Listen to TED Talks Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, Michelle. How are you today? I'm good, Lindsay. How are you? Fantastic. What's going on? What are we getting into?

Well, yeah, I have a question. I mean, as a business owner, Lindsay, you probably have to test the waters a lot to see what works, right? Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Everything we do, Michelle, is testing the waters. We never know what's going to work. That's why that's what I love about...

business actually I like putting things out into the world and see seeing what happens yeah yeah it's probably very um very exciting but it's probably be very intimidating yeah like you're a little baby constantly yeah you're always

experimenting and seeing what happens yeah yeah I mean every time we build a course you know we we don't always know exactly what the response is going to be candidly right we spend months building our courses and then and then we launch them into the world and see if they sink or swim that's a good one too yeah so Lindsay today we are going to talk about this

Threshen, test the waters and other idioms that you maybe already said for business that use water or swimming. Isn't that interesting? This is really interesting. I'm excited for this. I love when we bring in imagery, real life imagery, nature, and we bring it into our English and it becomes crystal clear. Oh my gosh, there's another one. Another. Crystal clear what we're trying to say.

But speaking of courses, Michelle, we are launching a brand new course very, very soon. What is this course about, Michelle? This course is about getting better in the professional world, about starting to increase your ability to speak. We have six or seven, I think, native speaker interviews that are with people who are in high up positions. So you're going to learn so much from this.

Yep. Big focus on fluency, speaking, practicing. This is professional English level one that is coming out very soon. So to be one of the first to hear about it, go and get on the list, the early access list. Go to allersenglish.com slash professional. All right. And you will hear from us very soon.

All right. That's right. All right. Yes. We have actually used some of these naturally. I didn't even think about sink or swim. I didn't even think to use that, but I just used it. Oh, that's funny. You didn't even realize? I did not even think to use it. No. See? So there you go. It was perfect. So I know that's what happened. I was thinking of test the waters and then I realized there's a lot.

more here. Let's do a theme episode. Because again, as you mentioned, I kind of like this imagery and I also like sometimes teaching things in a way that, oh, there's many about this one, about water, about a certain theme, because I think it does help...

remember so yeah yeah a different way to learn so the first one was test the waters Lindsay what does that mean so test the waters is to give something a try in a low risk way right so maybe you try something out I'm open to the idea but let's just test the waters for a few days and then decide if we want to continue right

So some things you might do to test the waters, you might survey your audience, your customers, you might talk with them, you might make a mini product and launch it and see what happens, right? Yeah. Yep. Test the waters. And that one is very different from sink or swim. It's the opposite, isn't it? It's really the opposite. Yeah. So, I mean, this is about failing or succeeding. This is something will work or it won't.

So you might say something like, this is a sink or swim moment for me. My job is on the line. Yeah. This also makes me think of sometimes you might hear couples talk about when they introduced their partner to their family, right? And maybe their family is just really hectic or loud or crazy or something.

And they didn't do anything to prepare them. They just brought them to the family dinner and let them sink or swim. And if they didn't swim, it means that they're not meant to be in the family eventually. Not to be drastic, but it's going to be hard. Right. Exactly. There are these moments in our lives where in business or outside of business where there are sink or swim moments. Yes. I think it's good because we need that direct feedback.

in life right are we meant to be in this place or not should we try something different yeah exactly all right what's another one lindsay treading water right so this is you know you know how to tread water michelle are you a swimmer do you know how to swim i know how to swim but i'm not a good swimmer and i not good at all how i mean i would i would not put me in the middle of the ocean how about you okay well i would not put anyone in the middle of the ocean that's true yeah no then

That's a good point. I'll do that. Even if the ocean was like, you know, just a little, not the middle of the ocean, but I wouldn't even put me in, you know, just a little ways out of the ocean. Well, I just asked you that because it's come to my attention that not everyone really knows how to swim. I live in the middle of the country now. I grew up on the East coast. I grew up, not, uh, my town was not, was landlocked. Yes. But my mom had grown up on the ocean and Connecticut and

I took it for granted that most people learned how to swim as kids and knew how to swim. Here, not true. Not everyone knows how to swim, which to me feels a little dangerous. So you're a good swimmer? I'm a pretty good swimmer, but again, you put me in the middle of the ocean, forget it. I mean... All right. Just to be clear, no one's good. We don't want anybody in the middle of the ocean. No one's good. Yeah. So basically, treading water means what, Michelle? What are we doing when we're treading water?

Well, treading water literally means, you know, when I think of the swim test, did you ever have to maybe if you were at summer camp and they stick you in the middle of the pool? Yes. Yeah. Or swim lessons. Yeah. I took swim lessons as a kid. And you have to see how long you can. It's basically you're not swimming. You're just staying above the water. Exactly. And you're just kind of pushing the water down. And so sometimes you have to prove that you can tread water for a certain amount of time before you can go into the deep end or something like that.

yeah trying not to drown trying to keep your head above water is the key right to keep your head above water so more metaphorically this means basically that maybe you're trying really hard you might not succeed you're trying to keep your head above that water um it might not be working so what's an example we've been treading water with this account for months i just don't know that it will work out so you're not making any gains you know but you're just surviving

- Right, you're not thriving. - Yeah, you're not thriving. And I think to keep your head above water is another expression that we could have taught specifically. We could have pulled that one out too, right? - Keep your head above water. - And it points to treading water. The same scenario is just used as well. Love it. Yeah.

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Okay. And then Michelle, we have drowning in X, right? Drowning in what? Oh gosh. Yeah. So that means, you know, things are, it's, it, this is being really overwhelmed. Um, everything is coming down on you. You're having a hard time staying afloat. Um, so in tax season, somebody could say I'm drowning in W2s. I can't wait until tax season is over. Yeah. Or you're drowning in emails, right? This is, this happens to me kind of all the time.

Especially Monday mornings, you're kind of drowning. Monday mornings are challenging in the business world, right? You log in, you haven't checked your email for a couple of days and things are coming at you from all different directions. Yeah. Yeah. And I like this next one, like a fish out of water. This one's unique and interesting. What does this mean?

Yeah. I mean, if you think about a fish out of the water, I actually think we've taught this on All Ears English perhaps. But a fish out of water, it's flapping all around. It can't really survive. It can't survive. Yes. So if you say you feel like a fish out of water, it's unfamiliar. You're not in your natural habitat. You're new to a situation. Yeah. So my first day, I felt like a fish out of water, but I'm starting to get the hang of

Yeah, it just doesn't feel natural, right? Yeah. Michelle, did I tell you about the time when I ran into the water to rescue a dog that was falling through the ice? Did I tell you about that? Oh, yeah.

Are you a hero? It's so crazy. I don't even know why I did it because I was envisioning having to go in for Kiefer. We were walking at this outdoor dog park, this huge dog park. It was like two winters ago. And in Colorado, the ice can get really warm with the sun and the dog. So I had imagined, oh, if Kiefer gets on the water, he might fall in. I might have to go get him. So all of a sudden someone else's dog fell in.

And I just went into motion and I went and I tried to get the dog, but of course I fell in and then the owner fell in. It was so dramatic. It was crazy. And I lost my phone. I didn't leave my phone. It was, yeah, it was crazy. So, but how deep was the water? Over my head for sure. So yeah, it was, and it was really cold.

Did that person buy you dinner or something? It was a really weird, it's another story. I'll tell you off the mic sometime, but she was in shock actually when she came out, she was totally in shock. So she didn't really even like talk to me. It was, it was, but it's okay. I, I, I didn't do it for the recognition. I, I did it cause I was in, I had mentally rehearsed doing it. Um,

that I would have to do it for my dog. And so when it came, so you see a dog struggling. - I have chills. - Yeah, it was crazy. So anyways, it's that feeling of being, trying to pull yourself up from the ice, but the ice keeps breaking. I'm sure our listeners may have been in that situation before.

yeah guys so if you're walking on a snowy day where there's a lot of ice you want to be with lindsey so she yeah or just don't bring your dog anywhere yeah right or don't bring your dog um so okay well that's that's a great story um yeah lindsey is that is

there a time in, we talked about how to test the waters a little bit, but is there a time in your life when you felt like a fish out of water? Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, when I first moved to Tokyo, you know, my first couple of days in Tokyo, I was completely overwhelmed. I did not know what was happening and I was very confused, you know, how to take the train, how to get anywhere, how to find my apartment. What about you, Michelle?

Yeah. I think that, um, I guess moving to, well, in New York, I guess I wasn't a total fish out of water because I knew New York, New York, your family was from there too, right? Yeah. Yeah. My parents were from there. So it wasn't like a completely new place. Um, but, um, man, when was the last time I felt like a fish out of water, I guess, starting like, um, I guess

Hey, maybe moving because now I'm more in the suburbs. So like we're trying to get to learn and make all new connections and make new friends and stuff like that. You can feel like a fish out of water sometimes, but actually it's been good. Oh, I love that. Yeah. It's a good point. Anytime you completely change your scenario, your environment, you might feel like a fish out of water, but you know what? Humans learn quickly. We learn quickly. We adapt, you know, and I bet you're doing a great job.

- Thank you. - All right, let's do a role play. - Yes. - All right, so of course we wouldn't use all of these in the same one. The only thing that happens is sometimes with these episodes,

It would be a little ridiculous to do all of these, right? Unless you're joking and then you're trying to do that. And that could be another episode for another day. That's true. How do you continue an analogy or a metaphor? That would actually make a fantastic episode. I've heard this happening on a lot of podcast episodes lately. Like there was an episode on the journal about...

all the mess happening with the FAA and aviation. Or there was an episode on the journal about Vail Resorts. And there were a lot of analogies about, you know, like a black diamond and, you know, the snow conditions are not looking good. And then they just continued the metaphor with each other. They bounced it off of each other. Right. That happens a lot of the news. Yeah.

And it's so cheesy. It's so cheesy. And you have to make a remark when you do it. So guys, hit the follow button. We will try to come back to that topic probably over on All Ears English. We'll do that topic. That's a great one, by the way. Yeah, it'll be fun. So let's do this role play. So here we are working together on a project at work. All right, here we go. Here we go.

I'm really stressed about this. After last presentation, I feel like it's sink or swim for us. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Yeah, we're treading water a little bit, but we got this. Thanks, Lindsay. I'm just drowning in work here, and I feel like a fish out of water. Oh, I know you do. But just test the waters a bit. Think of everything as an experiment. You're right. We're in very different mentalities here, right? Yeah, I'm really...

Having a tough week, maybe. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I said after the last presentation, I feel like it's sink or swim for us. And that's implying that how did the last presentation go? Not very good, right? Yeah. You are on, you're in hot water a little bit, right? I'm on thin ice. Thin ice. Thin ice. Ah, there's so many. There's a lot. We'll have to do a part two of this episode, Michelle. Yeah.

There's a lot more we could do. And then you said, "Yeah, we're treading." I said, "Yeah, we're treading water a bit, but we got this." So I'm admitting, we're not making huge gains here. We're just barely surviving. We're keeping our heads above water.

And then I'm going to complain some more and say, I'm just drowning in work here. So I have a ton of work and I feel like a fish out of water. So I feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar with this kind of workload or whatever's happening. Yeah. I mean, you could be drowning in work, but not feel like a fish out of water, but you've got both. Right.

I got both. Oh my gosh. There are times in life that are like this, you know? Yeah. And then I said, I know you do, but just test the waters a bit. Think of everything as an experiment. And I have a very different perspective here. I'm saying just try things. See what works. See what sticks, as we say, for another expression. Exactly. Yep. You just change your mindset. Yes. Good. Yeah.

Yeah, good stuff here. Michelle, I want to recommend for our listeners, guys, go over to Business English episode 392. Go back and check that out. Does your business English ad add up? I think that was the one we did about accounting. Is that right? I think you did this one with Aubrey. Oh, it's a different one. But I'm sure it's a great one. So go check it out, guys. All right. Yes, exactly. All right, guys, takeaway for today.

I mean, there are endless expressions dealing with water that more than we were coming up with naturally, even more than the ones we were listing. So these are very, very natural, very good for in the business world, out of the business world. And if you haven't taken swim lessons, maybe think about it. Maybe think about it. You never know when you'll have to go rescue a dog, right? Yes, that's right. Good.

You guys go over to allersenglish.com/professional. Get on that list to be ready for Professional English Level 1 when it comes out very soon. Yes. All right, Michelle. All right. This was fun, Lindsay. All right. Take care. Bye. Bye.

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