BE: How to Share Your Opinion About the State of Something at Work
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This is the Business English Podcast. How to share your opinion about the state of something at work.

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Open your search bar now and find All Ears English. Hit follow and start speaking the kind of English that opens doors. Listen to the All Ears English podcast five days a week with me, Aubrey, Lindsay, and Michelle. Hi, Lindsay. How are you? Hey, Michelle. I'm doing good. How are you doing?

I'm good. I'm good. I am excited to be here with you today. So I have a question for you, though. Yes, I'm ready. All right. So has anything at work gone downhill? And I don't mean like you specifically.

I mean, maybe a software you use, something important that is a part of your daily life at work. Has anything gone downhill? Yeah. I mean, sometimes even the software that we use to record the podcast, sometimes we're finding we're having internet outages and things like that more often than before. So I'm not sure what that's about, Michelle. What about you? Anything in your life, like your daily life that's gone downhill?

Ooh, that's gone downhill. I can't think of anything in particular, but yeah, I would also say that sometimes just like dealing with things like the internet, um, I w oh, the cleanliness of my house is starting to go down. You have to get one of those little automatic vacuum machines, that robot that goes around your house and clean. That's actually the next purchase we want to make. So yeah. Um,

But yeah, Lindsay, especially with business, I mean, you might have to make decisions to change things with something like technology, something when something is going downhill, you can't have that happen at work. It's true. And often what I'm seeing is the prices are going up as the quality is going down. So that, you know, as a business, we have to pivot for things. We have to change accounts.

think about how we use that software tool. Do we need that software tool? Can we use it in a different way? Right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You have to kind of be up to date with these challenges and not let them fester for too long. Right? Yes. Yeah. So why are we talking about this concept today, Michelle? Yeah. So today I'm so excited because we are going to share information about how to talk about this, about something going downhill. What does that mean?

mean and how can you use it? And so this is actually an All Ears English podcast that we're going to share. Guys, if you haven't listened to the All Ears English podcast yet, you are missing out. We have so much fun over there. That is another podcast that we do. That's the OG, right, Lindsay? That is totally the OG. It's a humongous podcast. Hundreds of

thousands of listeners guys over there. So if you are somehow not following that show, I don't know how you're not, but if you're not, it's okay. Just open your search bar right now and type in all ears English and hit the follow button right there on the show. Right, Michelle?

Yes, exactly. So that's going to be great. So guys, you are going to check out this episode now about the expression to go downhill. So and listen in to learn more about what this means and how to use it in English. So you will be able to think of how you can use it in your business life and your daily life, all that good stuff.

Exactly. And then after we listen to the episode from All Ears English, we'll be back to chime in a bit more about how this applies to business English. All right, Michelle, let's hear the episode. All right. Enjoy. Hello, Lindsay. How are you? Excellent, Michelle. What's going on in your world today? Everything is good. Everything is good. Lindsay, has anything or any place that you've really liked gone downhill recently?

Um, I would actually say my hometown's gone downhill a little bit. Uh, well, I haven't been back in a couple of years. Um, but it did. Yeah. A little town in, um, Southern Southwestern, New Hampshire, kind of some industry left the town. Um,

And I did notice a difference, Michelle, when I went back there around the pandemic. Yeah. Yeah. Sort of downtown stores boarded up, you know, places out of business, not a total destruction, but just I've seen the changes. It used to be a more bustling, cute little small city, small town in New England. Yeah. That's too bad. Yeah, it is kind of too bad. What about you? Have you seen anything go downhill?

I'm just thinking just based on kind of your example, it just made me think of some of the shopping malls. So we, you know, you can always kind of,

see when stores start to close and you're thinking, oh, things have gone downhill at that mall and like the mall where I grew up. I mean, I didn't grow up in the mall, but the mall near where I grew up, it started to go downhill and eventually it did close down. So that was just what

made me, what you said made me think of that. Yeah. This is an interesting expression, go downhill, because it's an important conversation. There are, you know, and it's not always just about cities and towns being in decline. It could even be, you know, honestly, well, one thing that comes to mind is the recipe of Girl Scout cookies has gone downhill to me. Have you, did you buy Girl Scout cookies this year? I don't know if you bought the cookies. I didn't personally buy them.

but my husband did buy them for uh for his office for something but um i didn't eat i didn't even eat them have you heard like the talk on the street about the thin mints i don't know if you've heard it but it feels like they're they're not as they're i don't know there's something different in them when i was a kid and now just the taste is not as satisfying anymore and i've had this conversation it's not just in my head um

Girl Scout cookies. So we're not just talking about cities and towns in decline. We can talk about a lot of things to express your opinion. You are a consumer, you have buying power. What are the choices you're making and why? Right? Right. Yeah, exactly. So today we're going to talk about...

how to say something doesn't have, isn't as good quality as it used to be. So we're going to get into that in just a second, but first we want to say thank you so much to those who have left us a review. Lindsay, what do we want to say? Guys, you should know that we read every single review and your reviews keep us going. They keep us motivated. This show is about you. So special shout out to our Android app reviewers, Ali Reza Darvish, Faris Altawati,

Carlos Miguel Garcia Escalante, FM, Mirza Madan. And most of these are five-star reviews, Michelle. Aw, thanks, guys. Thank you so much. Truly amazing. Guys, if you haven't left a review for All Ears English, wherever you listen, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iOS app, the Android app, YouTube, leave us a review. Let us know what you think about the show, and we'll try to read your name out loud. Okay.

Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much. It really means a lot. It does. Absolutely. All right, Michelle, let's get deeper into this. I love that today, you know, we're honing, homing in on this phrase, go downhill. Yeah. Yeah. And this came up because a friend of mine said, I used to love this coffee shop, but I don't know what happened. It went downhill. Yeah.

yes yes lindsay do you is this something you say would you describe something as having gone downhill yeah i think it is more commonly used when you talk about maybe restaurants locations neighborhoods towns cities but products too um the quality of the coffee has gone downhill the service has gone downhill um the ice cream the taste of the ice cream has gone yeah absolutely i do michelle

Yes. Yeah. I mean, this, it makes me think of a lot when a place gets new management, you ever go to a new, a new restaurant and something is a little bit different and then you find out that they have new owners and you're like, well, actually, yeah. And actually, yeah. So there's a, there's something, a phenomenon that's going on right now in, in corporate America or in, in, in everyday America is that private equity companies are buying a lot of, you

like mom and pop businesses, like family owned businesses. Right. And so for example, my vet's office, um, w it was bought, I, I think it was bought by a private equity company and sometimes these companies make, make it better, but, but often it's looking to save money around the margins, um, reduce labor. So that's where we might see that this is common now in car washes, vet offices, um, and a number of other sort of service based businesses that can be systematized. Um,

So it's something that I always have my radar out for and I look to change my provider or I try to think about that. But then you're always like, oh, my meds office is right down the street. So I've got to keep going. Sometimes you just do it for the convenience. I know. Yeah. I mean, so this is a lot of times...

what happens. And this is, so to say that something has gone downhill, it means the quality has diminished as you guys can tell by based on what we're talking about, but it's disappointing when that happens. Um, yeah, for me, for me, there was a certain, I'm not a, I'm not a huge shopper, but there was a certain clothing store that I used to like, and they always had really bright colors. And I just, I, I loved, I liked to wear bright colors. And then I feel like it went downhill. Like the colors, it's a drab and

boring whenever I look at it. It's not for me anymore. But could that just be the changing colors of the season or the style? Because I know in the pandemic, there were a lot of bright colors, like a lot of bright yellows, pinks, my shirt that I bought a lot of bright colors then. And now I feel like a lot of stores do show those more muted tones. Do you think that's just the styles or do you think that's the store?

I don't know. It seems to me that the store has like made a particular decision to kind of change. Interesting. It's,

I don't know. It just feels very different to me. Not even, I mean, I'm not like out there serving different stores and I'm not such a, I don't know. I don't know the styles. I don't know anything about fashion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it just seemed to me like to be a very stark shift. Okay, okay. But I mean, it could just be the style, but to me, it went downhill. It's not somewhere that I am excited. I used to see this place and I would say, oh, oh, I can't wait to go in and look at all this.

stuff. And now I see it. And I just kind of walk by. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah, I mean, so clothing is a good example. You know, service businesses, food quality, drink quality, coffee, towns and cities, those are all things we talk about when we talk about going downhill, right?

Right. And at All Ears English, we always work so hard to make sure that the quality of this podcast doesn't go downhill. Right. We try to keep the experience very consistent. Right. We know what it feels like to listen to an episode of All Ears English and we try to hold that as steady as we can for you guys. That's right. So let's give some more examples of how this would be used in sentences. OK, that restaurant has really gone downhill since the management changed. Yeah. Legitimate. Yeah, for sure. What else? Yeah.

Yep. I think that TV show started going downhill after the two main characters started dating. Or if you could say for a franchise or a series, you know, you have a first movie and then there's a sequel and what do they call the third? Like a what is it? No. What's the word for like a third in a series? I don't know. Usually I'm not sure. I don't know either. But usually the first is the best. And then there might be a few exceptions.

But then it starts to kind of like, it's the same story recycled. Right. Right. It goes downhill. Yeah. Or you could say, we don't want our service to go downhill, so we should make a new hire. Excellent. These are great examples. Right. And this is a common connection skill.

as you're sitting in a restaurant or you're buying a coffee, it's okay to make comments like this, right? This is a, it's a, you know, it's an open market world where we make choices with our money and it's okay to comment like this. Okay. Yeah. Yep. Exactly. All right, Michelle. So why do things go downhill? I mean, we hinted at this idea of what's happening in the United States is private equity is buying out smaller mom and pop businesses, right? That potentially have good margin, but what else?

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, maybe, maybe a store gets a little, or maybe someplace gets a little, um, too overconfident, right. And they don't focus on quality anymore. And, um, they just think, oh, they have, they have their people already. They're good. And then they don't realize it, but things are slowly going downhill and eventually people are going to notice. Right. Yeah. And that brings up the word in my mind, complacency.

Right. So this is a very high level C1 word that we should, this will be in the iOS Android app for sure. So when a business becomes complacent, um, they, they just rest on their laurels and they say, okay, we've been successful. We built a name for ourselves and now we can kind of sit back. Maybe we can save a little money around the margins. Yup. Cut corners. Exactly. It's not just private equity, right? Um, it's, you know, if you've been in business for a while, you, you get tired, right? Maybe you get a little tired.

So, um, and then you can be disrupted and that's what I love about kind of our economy. There's always going to be someone nipping at your heels. Yeah. Right. And that's a good thing for businesses. Yeah. Keep you on your toes. You gotta, you have to always keep with the quality and, um, yes, you know, the more you try and cut corners, you become, I think more at risk for eventually they, they know the customers will notice it. Right. So Michelle, what are some other ways of saying this?

well you can say that something is not what it used to be or not what it was yeah um like her music isn't what it used to be i think her heart isn't in it anymore yes exactly i mean sometimes it's just someone who's feeling nostalgic and it's not that the quality's gone down but people maybe like how it was done 20 years ago maybe if technologies you know ai is being used instead of i don't know something else maybe people just liked it before yeah uh like

like checkouts in a grocery store. I could see someone saying like, oh, it's not what it used to be. But maybe other people would say that's actually better now. You mean the self-checkout? The self-checkout. Yeah. What are your thoughts on the self-checkout? It's good. I don't have any issues with self-checkout. Sometimes like my groceries fall over when I'm trying to, there's no space for your bag. And then like also when you, there's some sort of error and then you have to wait for somebody to come. Oh,

come over and honestly, like I'm old school. I feel like I would rather just go to stand in line and have somebody do it unless I, unless, okay. Well, if I'm with my kids, like, Oh, I can't, I, it's very hard in any case. So like, it's easier for me to have somebody else help me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Oh, Oh, it's a site. It's a site. What? Like the, my girl, she has, uh,

the grocery store that we've been going to has little shopping carts and she, and she likes to take hers around and then she picks them and then she finds all the candy on all the, and yeah. So, and then, oh, and then my favorite thing is she has a full tiny shopping cart and I have a full cart and then she decides she doesn't want to push her cart anymore. Oh yeah. Then you're pushing a baby shopping cart of candy. I love it. And then a big shopping cart and I'm trying, and then she'll go upy and then everything goes.

Oh, Michelle. Wow. Okay. All right. Yeah. That sounds like a challenge. Well, I mean, in terms of the checkout, I just go for what's fastest where the line is not gathering, you know? So it's, so, so I just want to put in that caveat. Sometimes it's more people are saying this in nostalgia out of nostalgia.

And maybe it doesn't mean the quality's gone down. It just means things are being done differently. Right? Right. Yep, exactly. So another thing that people say is something goes south or went south.

So even you can use this about people. You can say their friendship went south after the one big fight. Yes, very interesting. So now we're talking about relationships. So this is a whole other realm, other aspect that does apply. But do we say our friendship went downhill? I guess you say that, right? Yes.

Friendship went downhill. I might not say like our friendship went downhill. I might say something like, oh, everything went downhill after blah, blah, blah. I don't know. But there's no reason you can't use that in a relationship.

that yeah I don't think it's incorrect so these do apply to a lot of different aspects of our life which matter which are the substance of our connections and our conversations um declined or deteriorated if we want to use some high level you know B2C1 vocab this can be used to talk about health right her health declined after she broke her hip yeah yeah

Yeah, exactly. Or hold on. I was writing down some vocabulary words for us. The quality of this restaurant deteriorated, but their prices went up. Yeah. And let's pronounce that one again to make sure it's super clear. So the quality of this restaurant deteriorated. That's a workout, Michelle, for my daughter.

Oh my gosh. I feel like I need to take a nap now after I've pronounced that word. The quality of this restaurant deteriorated. How many syllables is that? Deteriorated. Yeah. It's a lot. Yeah. So yeah, but those are good ones as well. So should we do a role play, Lindsay? Yeah, Michelle, let's do it. So here you and I are friends having lunch. Okay. Very common scenario, right? Okay. Okay. Yes. Try this.

Okay. Oh, that's not very good. Yeah. Hey, do you feel like this place has gone downhill? Kind of. I mean, they did get a new chef. Their other location is definitely not what it used to be. Right. It's too bad. I loved this place. Even the quality of the coffee has declined. I guess we shouldn't come anymore. Yeah, it's definitely gone south. Let's go somewhere else next time. Sounds good.

Oh, yeah. They just lost customers, didn't they? Oh, not good. Really hard. Really hard. So here we used a few of our expressions. So you said, yeah, you gave me something to taste, right? So we're doing the taste test, right? The taste test. Can't fight with the taste test. And then you said, hey, do you feel like this place has gone downhill? Right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And

And then you said their other location is definitely not what it used to be. Yes. And then I said even the quality of the coffee has declined. And then I said, yeah, it's definitely gone south.

Yes. And now this is a common, and it doesn't have to be all negative because it actually could be the genesis of finding something new, finding something better. And we do this, we change, we have our regular, you know, the expression to have a haunt your haunts, your regular, I love that one. Also a really high level vocab, the places you like to go, your haunts, right? We have our haunts, the places we visit, but maybe we change those to keep life vibrant and interesting. And maybe we do it based on

what tastes good or what's a good, what's a, where is good service? Good. It's normal. Yeah. All right. Definitely. Oh my gosh. Well, yeah, this has been fun, Lindsay. I also want to direct our listeners to episode 2398. That was how to choose your words for connection with Marcy Axelrod. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a great episode. I love when we have guest episodes on the show because they really our guests really open our eyes to how we could change certain words that we're using on a daily basis and how our words have such impact on the message we're conveying guys. So go listen to that episode. And Michelle, what's our takeaway for today?

Oh, man, guys, if you are a business owner or, you know, anybody who produces something, try to always make sure that you pay attention to the quality and don't get too complacent. Right. And but yeah, these these words are really good. I mean, I it's sad to talk about things that aren't good anymore. Right. But it's it's a fact of life that we do discuss. And so these are now you know how to do it.

i think it's normal i mean a big portion of our conversations are often about our choices in the market what kind of food do we buy where do we go to eat what what movie theater do we go to how how comfy are the seats in the movie theater so this is going to be a huge huge portion of your connection conversations absolutely i love it so good absolutely all right good stuff michelle i'll see you back here on the show very soon guys don't forget to leave a review for all ears english okay all right bye guys this was fun have a great day bye

Hey, Michelle, very good episode. Yeah. Yeah, that was a really great one. That was fun to record. So guys, you can see there's a lot you can do with these. Lindsay, let's use a couple of them for a conversation. Lindsay, what is an international business or just it may be not international, maybe international, but just a big business that you know of that you think has gone downhill?

The first thing that comes to mind, Michelle, is airlines. So the airlines and honestly, any airline. Yeah. Many of the airlines. And the challenge is it's really, you know, there's only a few brands available out there, right? It's not like we have unlimited options. Right. Yeah. What have you found when it comes to flying these days? Yeah, I would say in general, it's kind of gone downhill. You hear of a lot of more, a lot more issues at the airports. All

it's, it goes back to what you were saying about quality going downhill and also like prices going up. Right. So you, so you're sitting squished in these seats paying for paying to breathe extra. You have to pay extra to breathe at this point. And, and,

Um, yeah, you're, I don't know. There's yeah. Yeah. I think definitely the whole airline industry needs a overhaul. Yeah. I mean, luckily it's still worth it because when you travel, I mean, it's an amazing feeling, right? You step off the plane in that foreign land, wherever you're going. And it's just, it's transformative, right? For our, for our minds, our bodies. Um, but it is a lot to go through. Right. I remember just a few weeks ago, we are sprinting through the Denver airport because one flight, what we had boarded the

plane, Michelle, we had boarded, we were sitting there for an hour and a half and the pilot never showed up and he timed, he timed out, they time out. So if you fly late in the day, you get these timeout issues. They can only work for a certain amount of hours. Oh,

And so the pilot never got on the plane. And so we had to get off the plane and it was delayed until 6 a.m. the next day. So I had to sprint over and get the red eye. Oh, yeah. So there's been a lot of fiascos going on here, Michelle. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great topic, though. Mm hmm.

It is. It is. I mean, Lindsay, here's let's use one more. What quality do you think causes businesses to go south? That's another one we talked about. So is there do you think maybe businesses get a little bit too greedy? Do you think they get too ambitious and they can't keep up? What do you think can happen?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's just squeezing for better profits, probably, right? It's probably often when businesses go public, that will happen, right? If they're privately owned, they were good quality, and then they go public. And then the main person we're trying to serve is the shareholder, not so much the customer. Yeah, I think that's the source of a lot of problems.

Yeah, very good point. So it can go south. Guys, these were some really useful expressions on the podcast. So definitely, guys, if you want to hear more, and there is so much more, remember to check out All Ears English. Again, go take a search for it and wherever you're listening to your podcast,

and hit the follow button because there's so much going on there from grammar and vocab and idioms and more that is also great for business English listeners as well. And Lindsay, this, I mean, we always say like when you go to work, you are still a person. So what you learn on Always English will help you at work.

That is our philosophy for Business English. You are a human being. Your goal is to build relationships at work and we show you how to do it on, well, on the All Ears English podcast as well. So go on over there, open your search bar, search for All Ears English and hit the follow button and we will see you all there. I'll see you there too, Michelle. All right, see you there. Thanks guys for listening. We hope you enjoyed. All right, bye. Bye. Bye.

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