Uploaded June 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Julian Northbrook is on a mission to change the way people learn English for the better. To get Julian's legendary free daily email tips for speaking better English go to: doingenglish.com/emails
Go here to get the free training: doingenglish.com/freetraining
Read “The Good Shadowing Guide”: doingenglish.com/shadowing
Potentially, anything can be offensive or rude.
At the same time, even the rudest of things that you say can be perfectly acceptable and not rude... if the context is right.
A good example of this is a question one of my coaching clients asked recently in a call:
"Is it rude to sigh in a meeting?"
She said someone sighed at something halfway through, and she thought it was rude and improper.
And well, yes, it is rude to sigh in a meeting, but it depends on how it's done. If you sound irritated when you do it because of something someone said... that's rude. But if it's lighthearted (for example you struggled to explain something, now you're done and you're like, "phew!"), then that's not rude.
Again, context is everything.
And if you’d like to read more about this, go here: doingenglish.com/blog/how-can-i-know-if-what-i-say-is-offensive-or-not
#DoingEnglish #JulianNorthbrook #learnEnglish #Englishtips
Julian Northbrook is on a mission to change the way people learn English for the better. To get Julian's legendary free daily email tips for speaking better English go to: doingenglish.com/emails
Go here to get the free training: doingenglish.com/freetraining
Read “The Good Shadowing Guide”: doingenglish.com/shadowing
Potentially, anything can be offensive or rude.
At the same time, even the rudest of things that you say can be perfectly acceptable and not rude... if the context is right.
A good example of this is a question one of my coaching clients asked recently in a call:
"Is it rude to sigh in a meeting?"
She said someone sighed at something halfway through, and she thought it was rude and improper.
And well, yes, it is rude to sigh in a meeting, but it depends on how it's done. If you sound irritated when you do it because of something someone said... that's rude. But if it's lighthearted (for example you struggled to explain something, now you're done and you're like, "phew!"), then that's not rude.
Again, context is everything.
And if you’d like to read more about this, go here: doingenglish.com/blog/how-can-i-know-if-what-i-say-is-offensive-or-not
#DoingEnglish #JulianNorthbrook #learnEnglish #Englishtips
