Episode 41 - American and British Conversation Topics for Tea or Break Time in Business English

Today's episode is really for people who are working in office environments who will be having short small talk conversations with colleagues at the water cooler or when making tea or smoking. I also give you some tips on how to end those conversations. I mention 'the episode from last week about making conversations'...only that wasn't last week!😫 For more on having conversations check out Episodes 6, 34 and 35. Have a go at starting a conversation this week and let me know how it goes.  If it's Monday or Tuesday and you haven't seen the person since last week you can ask: What did you get up to at the weekend? Did you do anything fun at the weekend? Conversation Topics Things you or they are watching on Netflix or on TV New Movies Current Events - avoid controversial current topics Important events: dates, proposals, weddings, new babies, new puppies/pets Funny cat/pet videos, funny things on TicToc or Instagram Things you already know about their spouses, children, things they are studying or interested in Gossip - the business, projects, other co-workers (don't be mean!) Remember, we cover conversation extenders and starters in episodes 6, 34 and 35 too. How to leave 'I'd better get these out to everyone before they go cold.' 'Oh! Is that the time! I've got a call/meeting in 5 minutes!' For serious conversations 'I hope everything works out well for you...' 'Let me know if I can help with anything...' 'Let me know if you need any more support...' '...I really have to get back to the team.' 'I'm really sorry, I wish I could stay to talk to you for longer, but I've got a meeting at half past' 'One of my team members is really particular about their tea, I better get it to them before it goes cold.' Additional Vocabulary 'gang of people' - a large group of people. Traditionally used to mean a threatening group of people but these days it's also used to just mean a group that commonly hangs out together. 'just a heads up' - you can use this when you want to add some information that you think might be relevant. 'for the most part' - in general, normally 'viable options' - good or useful options 'they want to have a rant about it' - to have a rant is when we are upset about something and talk about it for a while. It is usually a one-sided conversation. 'avoid them like the plague' - idiom - to do your best to not do that thing or see that person 'are at odds with each other' - idiom - we have disagreed or we're in an argument 'steer clear' - to avoid 'it turns into a whole thing' - idiom - also 'it's a whole thing', used to dismiss something or to say something becomes important or becomes something that people will get upset about sufficient - enough 'exit stage left' - idiom - from theatre, often seen on scripts, we can use as a fun way to say 'to leave' 'gossip fodder' - we often use the word 'fodder' with other words to tell use we are saving something for a reason, for example 'gossip fodder' means we are saving the details of our conversations so that we can tell our co-workers later, because we know they will enjoy the gossip (this is very common, but not very nice). Another common collocation is 'cannon fodder' which is when characters in a TV show or movie exist only to die later. offloading - when someone needs to talk and even if they don't know you very well they tell you lots of things 'we're mad about our tea' - to be 'mad about' something can either mean to be angry or to be obsessed. Listen to the context to figure out which it is. In this case I've already said for the last few days that British people really love tea, so we know I mean we're obsessed with it.