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Chrmurmann Posted 18 years ago
Vocabulary
roundabout for approximately
Dear All,
as a silent observer of this forum I finally decided to join and, hopefully, to contribute. I have been training English, Spanish, Italian for nine years now, working for a big German car producer and some of its suppliers. I often hear that my little sheep use the word "roundabout" in connection with figures to express "about"/approximately e.g. they say "this will cost roundabout 50.000".
I know that you might use "roundabout" in this context, but I do not like it very much and I personally would consider it colloq. English and an expression you should not use in business English. Now my question to the native speakers all over the world:
Would you use "roundabout" in this way? Would you consider it bad/good English? Would you use it in business (even in an informal situation)?
I'd appreciate any comments (to support my point of view
)
Cheers in advance
as a silent observer of this forum I finally decided to join and, hopefully, to contribute. I have been training English, Spanish, Italian for nine years now, working for a big German car producer and some of its suppliers. I often hear that my little sheep use the word "roundabout" in connection with figures to express "about"/approximately e.g. they say "this will cost roundabout 50.000".
I know that you might use "roundabout" in this context, but I do not like it very much and I personally would consider it colloq. English and an expression you should not use in business English. Now my question to the native speakers all over the world:
Would you use "roundabout" in this way? Would you consider it bad/good English? Would you use it in business (even in an informal situation)?
I'd appreciate any comments (to support my point of view
)Cheers in advance
Top answer
I would use it with my boss, with whom I have a very good relationship characterized by an informal communication style. I may say it with his boss, but I would not put it in writing to his boss. I would never put it in any of the pieces that I write for external publication.
- I would use it with my boss, with whom I have a very good relationship characterized by an informal communication style.
- I may say it with his boss, but I would not put it in writing to his boss.
- I would never put it in any of the pieces that I write for external publication.
- And welcome to the forums!
- So glad you decided to join us officially!
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3 Answers
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I would use it with my boss, with whom I have a very good relationship characterized by an informal communication style. I may say it with his boss, but I would not put it in writing to his boss. I would never put it in any of the pieces that I write for external publication.
And welcome to the forums! So glad you decided to join us officially!
And welcome to the forums! So glad you decided to join us officially!
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I agree - if a contractor told me my new roof would cost round about $10,000, I would accept that the same way I would accept "I can give you a ballpark figure" or "somewhere in the neighborhood of ten, twelve thousand dollars." But in a written bid, I would expect "approximately $10,000, depending on condition of existing subroof and availability of replacement tile" or something like that.
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