twelve ways to get round a word you can't find
You are mid-sentence on a client call and the word simply vanishes. The silence stretches. Fluent speakers lose words all the time. The difference is that they have ways round the gap.
By Brightside English editorial team
Reviewed by a Brightside senior coach · · 2 min read
When a word disappears, do not stop and search for it. Describe it, give an example, use a simpler word or ask the listener. Keep the sentence moving. Listeners care about your meaning, not the exact word, and most will happily supply it for you.
What we see in coaching
Many capable speakers stop dead when one word goes missing, as if the sentence cannot go on without it. It can. Twelve detours, each with a line to borrow:
- Describe what it does. "The thing that keeps the medicines cold during shipping."
- Describe what it looks like. "It's a small metal part, about this size, that holds the pipe in place."
- Give an example. "Things like Diwali or Onam, the big festival seasons."
- Use the opposite. "It's not permanent, it's the... temporary arrangement."
- Use a simpler word. Instead of the exact term, "the rules" or "the list" usually works.
- Use a general word. "The tool", "the document", "the person who handles payments."
- Ask the listener. "What's the word for when a company buys another company?"
- Name the category. "It's a kind of insurance, for the shipment itself."
- Say it in your language and explain. "We call it a chitty in Kerala, a savings scheme where a group pools money every month."
- Say it the long way. "The person who checks the accounts at the end of the year."
- Buy a second. "Let me think of the right word... the deadline, yes."
- Promise it later. "I'll send you the exact term in the email after this."
The technique
Practise three of these until they come out without thought. Describing what it does, asking the listener and using a simpler word cover most situations.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| Stopping mid-sentence in silence | "The thing that... keeps it cold." |
| "Sorry, my English..." | "What's the word for...?" |
Published by The Full Stop, the journal of Brightside English. Reviewed by a Brightside senior coach. Corrections: see our editorial standard.