Catch Word #295 – 5 Must-Know Meeting Expressions

So the first expression is to circle back, to circle back.

And Indiana, what does this mean? Could you break it down for us, to circle back?

Mm-hmm.

This phrasal verb is used when you want to say that you will return to a topic later.

So it's easy to remember 'cause we have this word circle in it, so we're going to make a circle and come back to this topic.

Circle back.

So make a circle and come back, so pretty easy to remember.

So for example, if we were in a meeting and somebody brings up the topic of a budget, but there's just not quite enough time for that topic for today, I might say, "All right.

That's a great point, but we're running low on time, so let's circle back to the budget next week." So I'm promising that we will return to this topic, but there's no time for it right now.

It's not important just for right now.

So this is a super useful phrasal verb for this scenario.

Yeah, and so often meetings go off course, right? You might have an agenda where you're supposed to talk about item one, two, three, but, uh, as you're talking about something, somebody else brings up a different point and you get lost and you're like, "Oh, but that's a good idea, but we need to stick to our agenda.

We need to follow the agenda, so let's circle back to that idea later.

Let's come back to it.

Let's return to it." And I think often I use this maybe in Culips episodes too.

If you are an astute regular Culips listener, you've probably heard me use this phrase before because I think during the course of our Culips episodes too, we have a rough idea of what we wanna talk about.

We have a rough plan to follow, and sometimes if we get off course, but something is an interesting topic, I'll say, "Oh, let's circle back to this later," or, "Let's come back to what you said before." So yeah, a great expression to know.

And Indiana, sometimes English speakers are a little bit sneaky and we say one thing but we mean the other.

So imagine you and I are in a meeting and you're talking and you finished your sentence, then I said, "Oh, Indiana, that's great, but let's circle back to that later." What kind of nuance could that carry, could that mean in that situation? Does that always mean that I wanna come back and talk about that point in the future or could it carry a, a slightly different nuance?

Yeah.

With the, the tone of voice that you used there, I might assume that you're trying to be polite, but you actually don't really wanna discuss this topic now or maybe ever.

So yeah, that could be a polite way to dismiss the topic and very gently let that person down.

[laughs] Let's circle back to that later.

Maybe you're actually not gonna end up talking about it.

[laughs]