Breakout Business English - Improve your vocabulary and confidence using English at work.
Jul 1, 2026 · 25 min · 11 segments
Send us Fan Mail Sometimes detail is important, and sometimes you want to focus on the big picture. Today we're talking about vocabulary that we can…
And with that in mind, our topic today is talking about detail.
We have a saying in English, when detail is important and you need to make sure that everything is correct and has been carefully considered, then we can say that the devil is in the details.
We actually hear this reference to the devil a lot in a lot of phrases and idioms in English, which is not surprising when you remember that for a long time, the only organization, the only group writing books or really doing much reading was the church, was organized religions.
So if you hear someone these days remind you that the devil is in the details, they mean that you need to take the time to think carefully about the smallest parts of something.
So if you are planning a holiday, then we might use this phrase to talk about thinking through exactly what you're going to take out of your bag when you get on the plane.
And what's going to get stored in the overhead compartments? Those little key details that really matter when you're trying to get into your seat.
Or maybe it's about knowing how to get from the airport to the place where the taxi is going to pick you up when you arrive.
Are you going to just hope that you can figure that out when you land, when you get to the airport? Or are you going to research it and plan it in advance? After all, the devil is in the details when it comes to planning a successful vacation.
Thunder crash sound in the background.
But let's zoom out to get started today and let's look at the big picture.
And with that in mind, our topic today is talking about detail.
We have a saying in English, when detail is important and you need to make sure that everything is correct and has been carefully considered, then we can say that the devil is in the details.
We actually hear this reference to the devil a lot in a lot of phrases and idioms in English, which is not surprising when you remember that for a long time, the only organization, the only group writing books or really doing much reading was the church, was organized religions.
So if you hear someone these days remind you that the devil is in the details, they mean that you need to take the time to think carefully about the smallest parts of something.
So if you are planning a holiday, then we might use this phrase to talk about thinking through exactly what you're going to take out of your bag when you get on the plane.
And what's going to get stored in the overhead compartments? Those little key details that really matter when you're trying to get into your seat.
Or maybe it's about knowing how to get from the airport to the place where the taxi is going to pick you up when you arrive.
Are you going to just hope that you can figure that out when you land, when you get to the airport? Or are you going to research it and plan it in advance? After all, the devil is in the details when it comes to planning a successful vacation.
Thunder crash sound in the background.
But let's zoom out to get started today and let's look at the big picture.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
