10 More Smart Words to Use at Work Right Now [Part 2]

139,464 views ・ 2019-09-11

Speak Confident English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
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Back in July I did a lesson on 10 smart words to use at work and it immediately
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became the most popular lesson that we have here on YouTube.
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So because I know that you love that kind of lesson and I know that you want to
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have a variety of language that will allow you to communicate professionally,
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sound confident and clear in your English and be able to respond to any
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situation with the right vocabulary.
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I want to give you 10 more smart words that you can be using at work today.
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And at the very end, I'm going to share with you my favorite word on this list.
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The reason I love it is it takes this really complex idea,
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this complex feeling that we all have,
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and it makes it super simple. So be sure to stick with me to the end.
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All right. Before we start with our list for today, I want to clarify one thing:
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When I did the last lesson,
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I noticed that a lot of people tried to use all of the different words that I
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shared in one example sentence or in a couple of sentences,
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and I want to caution you,
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these words are best used sparingly.
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What that means is to only use them occasionally.
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If you listen carefully to native speakers, including myself,
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you'll notice that in spoken communication,
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we actually keep our language very simple.
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When someone uses too many idioms or too many high level words,
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too much advanced vocabulary,
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it doesn't sound natural and sometimes they even sound a little bit arrogant and
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I don't want you to do that.
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So the words that I'm going to share with you today are fantastic for growing
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your vocabulary and giving you a variety of words that you can use:
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Both a combination of simple everyday language and these more high-level complex
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words. But again, I want you to just use them sometimes,
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not all the time and not in every sentence.
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And that is the perfect introduction for our first word today,
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which is the word adept.
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Adept means that someone is highly skilled,
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they're an expert or they're well trained in something very specific and for an
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example I want to help you become more adept in your English speaking skills.
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Number two is the word ambivalent and this is a word I actually use a lot
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because it's often true for me. When you are ambivalent,
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you are uncertain between two options usually because you have conflicting or
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contradictory emotions about something or you really just don't care.
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Here's a super common example in my house. My husband might ask me,
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what do you want for dinner, Italian or Korean? And I'll say, hmm,
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either one. I'm pretty ambivalent. In other words, I don't really care.
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They both sound good.
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Number three is to deviate,
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which means to stray or go off course you're going away from the plan.
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In a business meeting you might hear someone say,
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the deadline for this is tomorrow,
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so now is really not the time to deviate from our strategy.
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Let's stick with the plan and then we can reevaluate once we meet the deadline.
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Number four fiasco. I love the way that this word sounds.
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If something is a total fiasco, it's a complete,
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utter failure. It's chaos, it's messy,
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everything went wrong.
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This is definitely something you probably want to avoid at work.
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You don't want things to become a fiasco,
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but sometimes they happen. For example, you might say,
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this partnership has become an absolute fiasco. It's time to give it up.
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Number five is another really fun one. Flabbergasted.
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Have you heard that one before? Flabbergasted.
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If you walk into work tomorrow and your boss asks you to come into the office
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and immediately gives you a promotion that you can't believe and a great pay
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raise, you probably would feel a little bit flabbergasted.
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You would be surprised, astonished,
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and even a little bit speechless. Another example,
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I was flabbergasted watching him explode at the meeting yesterday.
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That was absolutely inappropriate. Number six,
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impeccable. Impeccable is flawless.
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There are no errors, no mistakes.
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Everything is perfect and in line,
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it's a great word to use in compliments. For example,
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you might know someone who is an impeccable dresser,
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which means they always look perfectly put together.
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Their clothing is smart,
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it looks great and it fits them really well.
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You might know someone who's an impeccable presenter,
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lecturer or public speaker, they speak flawlessly.
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Seven is another great one. Honestly, this list today is so much fun.
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Number seven is the word kibosh.
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To put the kibosh on something means to put a stop to it immediately.
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For example,
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if you have a strategic plan and you start to deviate from that strategic plan
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and as a result it creates a fiasco.
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You might need to put the kibosh on it. Number eight: egalitarian
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have you heard this one before? What do you think it means? Egalitarian.
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It means that everything is equal or there is equality for all people.
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I recently heard someone describe their workplace as an egalitarian workplace
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and I asked them, why is your workplace egalitarian? And they said, well,
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we're all on a first name basis.
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It's hard to know who the boss really is. We all have the same office.
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There isn't any status in our office.
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What do you think about that?
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Would you want to work in an office place like that?
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Share your thoughts in the comments below,
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but now let's move on to the next one.
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Number nine is zealous.
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Zealous means to be enthusiastic about something.
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Sometimes even so enthusiastic that it becomes fanatical.
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You become a fanatic about something.
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Do you know anybody who is a zealous public speaker?
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They're the kind of speaker that gets everyone excited and energizes the
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audience or do you know anyone who's really zealous about following the rules?
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They want to do everything exactly right. And finally,
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we're at number 10 my favorite on today's list because it takes this really
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complex idea and it expresses it perfectly in a small expression that combines
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one word and one number.
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It is actually the title of a book that was written in 1961 by Joseph Heller.
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The book is Catch-22.
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Have you ever heard this expression before?
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It's a Catch-22 or I'm in a Catch-22 situation.
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What this expression means or what it describes are those situations when there
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is no good option, there's no escape.
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You have to make a choice, but none of the choices are good choices.
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There is no winning here.
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In English,
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we have an idiom that means the same thing to be between a rock and a hard
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place. Or you'll also hear people say something like,
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damned if you do, damned if you don't. Again,
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there's no good option. Here's a really simple example.
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I'm in a bit of a Catch-22.
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I can't find anyone to cover my shift at work,
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but if I cancel my doctor's appointment,
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I can't get another one for two months. I don't know what to do.
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I'm totally stuck. As you can see in that situation,
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there's no escape. There's two bad choices,
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and at the end of the day you've got to make, it's a Catch-22
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now you've got 10 more smart words to use at work,
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so it's time to put them into practice. Of course,
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my two favorite words on this list are Catch-22 in flabbergasted.
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So my first question is,
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have you ever been in a Catch-22 situation?
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What was it and what did you do?
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Tell me about it in the comments and be sure to use Catch-22.
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The second thing I want you to do is choose your favorite new word from this
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list and use it in your own example.
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Doing that will help you immediately add it to your vocabulary so that you can
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start to use it in daily conversation. With that,
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thank you so much for joining me. If you loved this lesson,
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be sure to give it a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to this channel so you
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never miss a future lesson.
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You can also share it with friends or colleagues on Facebook or by email.
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And finally, if you missed it,
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be sure to check out the first video I had on this topic,
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which I shared in July, and I'll give you a link to it in the notes below.
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Have a fantastic week and I'll see you next time for your Confident English
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lesson.
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