AEE 2059: Should You Take a Ride on Someone's Coattails?

This is an All-Ears English Podcast episode 2059. Should you take a ride on someone's co-tales? Welcome to the All-Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York Radio Girl. Coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All-Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allyoursenglish.com, board slash app. Has anyone ever helped you get a leg up in life? In today's episode, our listener asks us what the term ride someone's co-tales means. Plus, we touch on culture and society when it comes to becoming successful in your life and your career. Hey, Michelle, what's going on with you? How's everything in New York? Hey, Lindsay, everything is good over here actually last weekend. I have my family and I went to this place, Alice's teacup. I don't know if you had ever heard of it when you lived there, but it's pretty famous and it's just this cute little tea shop and they serve tea time basically, like a whole thing. I hadn't been since I was, well, since I first moved to New York and I'd always dreamt of going back there one day, and so we got to go, so that was cool. Oh, fun. Yeah, I know when you go to London, you can do that too. You can go and order, like, have high tea or even. We did that in London. You did do that in London? Okay, I didn't hear that story. Or even when I was in Egypt, they offered that, but it's a little bit, not quite as, like, I don't know. Do it in London, right? London or New York, I guess. More so London. We did a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed one so that the kids pay. Yeah, so that was fun. Yeah, that was good. All right, what are we going to do today, Michelle? Well, we are not talking about tea, but we are talking about, let's say I have a question. Do you like one of celebrity's child is famous? Like, do you feel like they always deserve it? Or do you feel like sometimes it's undeserved? I think it depends on if they've built a career or done something themselves, right? So the kids, so it shouldn't just be famous because your parent is famous, I think, right? Yeah. Is that what you're asking? So of the child, yeah. Basically, yeah, yeah. They have to do something. I don't know, I'm sorry. Yeah, like, I don't know. Well, I mean, some people, they, you know, they kind of get lucky. They, I mean, their parents are able to get them into things and you think, oh, if they had this, you know, if they had a different parent, would they have still had the same success, you know? The legacy, the legacy issue, right? It's all over the news right now. Not just in the, well, when the celebrity world is another way of interpreting it, but also in academic institutions, universities. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I don't know. I think there are some people who have famous parents who are actually really talented and maybe some who aren't as so, but this kind of leads us into a great listener question from Molly. Would you read the question for us? All right. From our listener, Molly, Molly says, dear, I love that. That's, I have a quick question. What does right on someone's co-tales mean? I grasp that it's having success due to someone else associated with you, but does it exclude one's own efforts and can it mean to follow in their footsteps best regards Molly. What a good question, Michelle. Oh, yeah, I love this one. This is good, and I like how she threw another expression in there too that we can talk about. So thank you, Molly, for that question. So yeah, Molly, you're right. We're gonna, and we're gonna talk more about why you're right and go into this in just a second, but guys, we want to remind you wherever you are listening to the All-Ears English podcast, hit follow, make it easy on yourself. So the podcast's come to you. You don't have to go searching for them. Yeah, we're getting into the fall guys. This is your time, right? Get into the habit of listening to All-Ears English four days a week. So hit that follow button now. Good stuff. Exactly. Yes. Okay, so to ride someone's co-tales, so Lindsay, what does the dictionary define this as? Okay, so let's go straight to the dictionary first. That's our starting point, and then we will expand on this. So the dictionary says, the free dictionary says to benefit from someone else's success. To use someone else's success as a means to achieve one's own. Very interesting. Yeah, for sure. And guys, we also want to remind you that we had a great episode a yesterday that you should check out. If you haven't heard yet, it's 20, 58, five years down the road, future plans in English. So listen to that one. Don't miss a day. Yes, I love it. I love it. So Michelle, is this a, does this word, this term in itself? Is it positive or negative? What's the connotation behind it? Yeah, good question. I think it's mostly negative because it's, I mean, well, we're thinking of physically, like, I mean, well, let's talk about the expression first, to ride on someone's co-tales, so co-tales, right? That's like someone's wearing something and they're like dragging you. And so you can get that image in your head, right? You are, you are like holding on as they move forward and then you can move forward too, right? Yeah, like what are co-tales anyways? Is that like, would that be, if I were wearing like a long robe type thing, it would be the back of my robe? What is the, what is co-tales? I don't even know. Or is it just, I'm looking, I'm looking. I mean, I, well, I imagine it, one of those long coats. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, like a queen or a queen. Oh, no, no, no, no, more like a mora, I mean, maybe. Like a tuxedo, long tuxedo. Okay, that kind of thing. Okay. Or just like a nice code and then, yeah, it's, okay. So, so the idea is this person is wearing a very nice coat because they're successful, right? Probably a long tuxedo or something, if it's a man or a really nice dress, if it's a woman, and then someone is, as you said, grabbing on and sort of riding the back of the, I love that image, it's right. Yeah, I, yeah, that's why I like this idiom so much is because if you do got that image in your head, I can't help but think of a picture in my mind when I hear it. Yeah. And guys, that's a really helpful way to learn as well to have an image in your head to imagine idiom. Maybe we can do an episode on that once. I think we should. Yeah. Yeah. Using that as a way to help remember what things mean. So, yeah, anyway, I think it's, I think it's a mostly negative connotation because you're not getting there yourself. You're using someone else. Yeah, this kind of comes back to the weird, the weird, I guess it's a juxtaposition in American culture where we all rugged individualism, do it yourself, tie your shoes all by yourself. We've talked about this, like the narrative, we say to kids and everything, but in the end, I think that we all use someone's help. Like everyone in the world has name dropped, right? Once someone they know or someone, there's some people that do it more than others, right? Or, you know, associating in some small way. So, some people do this more than others, but I think we don't do anything all by ourselves. It's just a matter of how do we go about it? Do we go about it in a classy way? You know, an explicit way trying to ask for help, or do we try to kind of sneakily associate ourselves somehow with that, right? Yeah, yeah, right. No, I think that's true. I recently heard something on TV about that and people were saying, you know, it's not necessarily wrong, the wrong thing to do because we should help each other. We should, but I think it's, I think one of the problems is when somebody doesn't get an opportunity because someone else, 100% of their connections. And that's where it's not fair. Like, so, but I think helping each other, there's nothing wrong with that. So, there's a little bit of a difference, but Molly asked, oh, sorry, go ahead, Lindsay. No, I was gonna say, well said, I completely understand. That's a systemic issue, right, Michelle? And something that we need to look at in our system in the coming years that we have to fix. And that's why there was just the decision on affirmative action, which is very, you know, there's a lot of mixed opinions about it, but it is going to become more challenging to get a leg up. And now I think that there needs to be some action taken on legacy priorities in the same way that that action was taken with affirmative action. So, we will come back to this guys. Yes, that's a bigger, much bigger discussion for sure. Interesting topic. Yes. So, but Molly asked if this excludes one's effort. So, I'm not sure I understand this part of the question, but basically, I think that someone can be respected if they ride someone's co-tails if they prove their value. So, that's what we were saying. Yeah, interesting. Okay, I like that. Do we have any examples, Michelle, that we want to share then? Yes, exactly. Let's do it. So, here we go. She rode on her sister's co-tails to get the job, but once she showed she wasn't a hard worker, they let her go. Sometimes that happens, right? Sometimes, you know, having an association with someone can get you the job, but it won't keep you the job, right? Yes. That's true. And what's another example? The team rode on their predecessors' co-tails to get sponsorships, but they didn't actually win any games. Okay. That's okay. That's no good. Oh, wow. Well, so speaking of sponsorships, actually, guys, we want to remind you that all ears English is sponsored by Rosetta Stone. Yes, exactly, Michelle. And I think one of the big keys when it comes to learning a language, Michelle, is repetition. So the science of training our brain. So recently, when I opened up the Rosetta Stone app to work on my Portuguese, I told you, Michelle, I'm going to Portugal. Right. Right. I saw that I had an activity waiting for me. It was a read, listen, speak activity. Ah, that sounds interesting. So how did that work? Well, so there was a photo and a scenario and you would read the text and then you'd listen to a native speaker saying it. Right, the words were highlighted by love that, right? Is Rosetta Stone app? Yeah. Actually does go ahead and highlight those words as they're spoken. And then you'd actually speak that same text passage yourself. Oh, that's great. Yeah, guys, we like this because you're repeating it three times. Right. And this is exactly what the brain needs when learning a language. So guys, that is the key. And then also when it comes to pronouncing words, Rosetta Stone has the true accent technology. Yeah. So the app compares the sound wave of your voice to the sound wave of native speaker's voices, right? So it analyzes how closely your speech matches the examples. I love it, guys, it works. Wow, that is so cool. And especially if you want to impress your family on your next trip. Guys, you know, recently I went to Paris with my family. And if only I had this on my trip to Paris when every morning we would go, there was this adorable bodega right below our Airbnb and B. And every morning we would go and I wanted to speak in French. I wanted to show my son how I knew French. And I could only remember just very small expressions. Like I could understand, but I couldn't speak. I couldn't connect. It always just led to a conversation in English, honestly. Oh my gosh, Michelle, I know that moment. It's that moment where you really want to connect. And in your case, your son was there watching you. So you had other reasons you wanted to expose him to looking at mom and saying, oh my gosh, mom can speak another language that seems incredible. What kind of impact could that have had on a young child? That could have been amazing. And it's so frustrating, right? But Michelle, next time hopefully you will go ahead and use Rosetta Stone and you'll be ready, right? I will. I sure will. Yes, I am excited to get back into my French. So guys, I mean, for you now is the time. It's September. It's back to school, back to work. It's your window of opportunity to pick up new habits that lead to success. Yes, so guys, listen up. We have arranged a very special deal just for the Allers English audience. So for a limited time, listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 40% off. And we love lifetime memberships because we don't have to worry as much about any expiration happening. It is lifetime. That's right. Yeah, guys, that's $179 for unlimited access to 25 language courses for how long the rest of your life forever. Right? So guys, go and redeem your 40% off at rosettastone.com slash A-E-E today. And then use the special Allers English coupon code, which is A-E-E. Yeah, guys, I'm going to spell that out so you can go ahead right now and just type it in as you're listening. So go to R-O-S-E-T-T-A-S-T-O-N-E dot com slash A-E-E. Good stuff. All right, Michelle, so shall we? Well, let's go into some more examples or some words and phrases that kind of associate with this concept of one pote tails, yeah? Well, yeah, and I just wanted to touch on following in someone's footsteps because Molly asked about that too. I mean, I think to following someone's footsteps is generally different. And I think this one doesn't have a negative connotation. I agree. What do you think, Lindsay? I totally agree with that. Yeah, to follow in one's footsteps is a little more like, oh, my dad was an optometrist. I'm thinking I might want to do that because I kind of want to follow my dad and be like my dad, kind of, right? Exactly, that's a different kind of thing. So, but let's give a couple other expressions. Just go along with this theme. So what's the first one? All right, so it's a prove one self, right? So you might have to do this. Even if you did ride on someone's coattails to get in the door, you know, to get a foot in the door, as we say, her father got her the job, but she still needs to prove herself. And that's for sure. Yes, yes, yes, exactly. And then this is a big word coming up. So this is nepotism. That's the first word I thought of. Yeah, that's the first word I thought of when I read this listener question, actually. So Lindsay, what do you think about this one? What is nepotism? I love this. So it's the idea that especially, I think of this in the political realm a lot of times, but I know it's just for politics. You see, I mean, we've seen it in different presidencies where people's family members end up in the cabinet end of having important offices. And I think especially in our country, it's frowned upon because people should be elected or should even in one's cabinet, I think, you know, it's important that we feel there's some transparency. So for example, nepotism is frowned upon in the company. And that's in the corporate world, too, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, for sure. So yeah, nepotism, I think, is generally a pretty big problem in many different areas of society. Yeah. And then the last one is to have friends in high places. So this one is just in high places, just like people who are, you know, at a certain level of authority who have some pull, they can get you jobs, they can, you know, they can get you certain perks. So she has friends in high places, so it's easy for her to get job offers. Yeah, and I've even heard, you know, kind of plays on this expression, friends in high places. There's a country music song, and I think it has a lot of friends in low places. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So these are icons in society when it comes to talking about, I guess, succession and, you know, following in someone's footsteps and kind of, like letting someone else help you get a leg up, right, these are phrases that we use in our culture, super common guys. Good stuff. For sure. So should we do a role play? Yes, let's do it, Michelle, to finish off today's episode. Here we go. So Michelle, you and I, we are co-workers. We're gossiping about our other teammate. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. All right, here we go. So did you know her dad is the dean? Wait, really? I wish I could get a job using nepotism. No. Yeah, but she will still have to prove herself. This isn't an easy job. True. Maybe she's talented and not just writing on her dad's co-tales. Yeah, it helps have friends in high places. For sure. Ooh, controversial. And I can also be demotivating for employees in a company if they see, OK, the boss's daughter has a job automatically write that kind of thing. Yeah. No, not always good for the morale of the company. So what did we do here, Michelle? What did we use? Yeah, so well, you told me her dad is the dean. And I said, I wish I could get a job using nepotism. So like my family ties getting perks because of my family. Yeah, you got it. So, and then I said, yeah, but she'll still have to prove herself. Mm-hmm. So she'll have to work hard to show that she actually deserves the job, right? And that's that difference that Lindsay and I were talking about. Where is it OK or not OK? And then I said, well, maybe she is talented and not just writing on her dad's co-tales, like using her dad's success. Yeah. And then I said, yeah, it helps have friends in high places. Yeah. And then Michelle, we could go into this topic another day. This topic needs to be fleshed out more on the societal side. We don't have time for it today, because we just did the vocabulary. But there's a lot to be said. Oh, a lot. Yeah. A whole lot, a whole lot. So, but guys, I mean, this was a great question. Thank you again, Molly, for this. I mean, I think the takeaway is that, like, what we were talking about, Lindsay, it's OK to get help. Like, we succeed. But I mean, especially we always talk about making connections, trying to make friends. You know, that's part of the natural way things go. I mean, otherwise we wouldn't do things like networking and trying to form those relationships. They have to be done. And also, if your family member helps you or somebody does help you get an in, as you can call it, it's, you know, as long as you can prove yourself, I don't think that I think it's a fine line, because you may have not gotten in the door at all, unless you had that in. But I don't know. I think I don't know. It just happens. It's the reality of things unfortunately. It's a reality. And so I'm really curious what our listeners are going to say. Maybe we'll talk about this in a fluency party for our students one day. Who knows? We'll see. We'll see. But, you know, it's interesting to reflect on in your culture, how is nepotism looked upon? Is it expected and accepted that someone in any position of power in a company, or even in politics would pull you up and put you in a position that would that be questioned or challenged, and to what extent? That can also be really cultural. So I'm super excited to hear from our listeners on this one, Michelle. Me too, me too. All right, well, this was fun, and Lindsay, I will see you on the next episode. Everyone, thank you for listening. All right, and guys, don't forget to go over and get that special deal just for you guys at Rosetta Stone. Again, go to RosettaStone.com slash AEE. All right, Michelle, you take care. I'll talk to you soon. Bye, Lindsay. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Mama, Donolithath, Wansyniges Entertainment with LLFier. With Prime. Shushu,ashasha Purple alarm. pleice the latest shots like the Super Mario Brothers Champion. And in deck, special options of Paramoo and Plus. The mission is up to you. That's all here, Prime Video.