AEE 2475: Are You Indecisive? How to Say It in English

Summary

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Podcast Summary: All Ears English Podcast

Episode: AEE 2475 - Are You Indecisive? How to Say It in English

Hosts: Lindsay McMahon & Michelle Kaplan
Date: September 9, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, Lindsay and Michelle dig into how to express indecisiveness in American English — both with casual and advanced vocabulary. Through relatable stories, listener questions, practical examples, and a friendly back-and-forth, they explore terms like teeter, waver, go back and forth, and vacillate. The hosts also share personal anecdotes about decision-making struggles and perform a lively role play. The aim is to give ESL learners natural-sounding tools to communicate nuance in conversations, whether with friends or colleagues.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Question: The Word “Teeter”

• Background: The conversation kicks off with a listener named Ken asking about the use of the word teeter in everyday English.
• Hosts' Take:
  • Lindsay explains teeter is a slightly rare word but valuable for advanced learners.
  • Michelle shares personal decisions where she has been “teetering” (e.g., home design choices).
  • Both hosts agree that teeter means hesitating between options, often used about decisions or opinions.
• Example:
  • “You’re teetering between buying a used car and a new car.” (Lindsay, 06:12)

2. Concrete Examples of Indecisiveness

• Everyday Scenarios:
  • Moving to a new place, picking class times for children, making hiring decisions, or choosing a new home.
  • The hosts describe situations when decisions feel especially tricky due to competing priorities.
• Notable Moment:
  • “Hiring’s another example… There’s so many great options out there…you can see the good things in everyone.” (Lindsay, 07:51)

3. Expanding the Vocabulary Toolbox

• The hosts encourage listeners not to rely solely on teeter, introducing several alternatives:
  • Go back and forth: Most common, everyday expression.
    • “I’m going back and forth between the red shoes and the black shoes.” (Michelle, 11:28)
  • Waver: Slightly less common, still natural.
    • “I’m wavering between the roses and the tulips.” (Lindsay, 11:42)
  • Vacillate: Advanced, formal, or academic.
    • “She vacillates all the time between her choices.” (Michelle, 13:10)
  • Memorable analogy:
    • “Like a fan moving back and forth across the room.” (Lindsay, 13:10)

4. Personal Reflections on Decision-Making

• Michelle recounts:
  “For years, I teetered back and forth about if I wanted to ultimately live in the city or move to the suburbs..." (Michelle, 07:07)
• Lindsay’s thought:
  “It’s the worst when…you can see the good things in everyone. Right. And you think, if I choose this person, I don’t get this aspect of this other person…” (Lindsay, 07:51)

5. Fun with High Level Words

• Use higher-level language for academic tests or to impress friends.
  • “If you’re taking IELTS, these would be band nine. Teetering, wavering, vacillate. Definitely insert these into any speaking responses…” (Lindsay, 14:45)
• Admitting that sometimes advanced words aren’t common in casual conversation, but they boost vocabulary range.

6. Role Play: Indecisiveness in Action ([14:13])

• Two friends try to make evening plans, naturally using the new vocabulary in context.
  • “I’m going back and forth. I don’t know if I want to see it or do something outside.” (Lindsay)
  • “Let’s stop teetering and choose.” (Michelle)
  • “I’m wavering on that because I heard it’s super crowded.” (Lindsay)
  • “You always vacillate on decisions when you hear there’s a crowd.” (Michelle)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | 03:14 | “You’ve shared before with our listeners that you’re sometimes indecisive and struggle with making decisions. So the worst.” | Lindsay | | 06:12 | “You’re teetering between buying a used car and a new car.” | Lindsay | | 07:07 | “For years, I teetered back and forth about if I wanted to ultimately live in the city or move to the suburbs...” | Michelle | | 07:51 | “It’s the worst when…you can see the good things in everyone. Right. And you think, if I choose this person, I don’t get this aspect of this other person’s skills...” | Lindsay | | 11:28 | "I’m going back and forth between the red shoes and the black shoes.” | Michelle | | 11:42 | "I’m wavering between the roses and the tulips.” | Lindsay | | 13:10 | “She vacillates all the time between her choices. She has to ask everyone their opinion…like a fan.” | Michelle | | 16:15 | “I think everyone can relate to this feeling. There’s always something. I don’t know anybody who goes through life just sure and without any question of decisions.” | Michelle | | 14:45 | “If you’re taking IELTS, these would be band nine. Teetering, wavering, vacillate. Definitely insert these into any speaking responses...” | Lindsay |

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:10] – Opening chat: The hosts share personal moments of indecision.
• [03:43] – Listener’s question: Introduction and reading of Ken’s email.
• [04:28] – Explanation: “Teeter” (meaning, physical vs. figurative use, idiomatic examples)
• [06:12] – Practical example: Comparing new and used cars.
• [11:26] – Other vocabulary: “Go back and forth”, “waver”
• [12:48] – Advanced word: “Vacillate”
• [14:13] – Role play: Making plans and showcasing vocabulary in a conversational setting.
• [16:11] – Takeaway: The importance of relatable language for indecision and connection.

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Takeaway & Closing Thoughts

• Universal Experience: Indecisiveness is something everyone can relate to, and discussing it openly is a great way to build connections.
  • “There’s always something. I don’t know anybody who goes through life just sure and without any question of decisions.” (Michelle, 16:15)
• Language for Nuance: Learning these higher-level phrases enables more precise, natural communication — whether for exams like IELTS or everyday conversation.
• Practical Application: Listeners are encouraged to try using these terms the next time they face a tough decision and to have fun with language, incorporating both common and advanced expressions for variety.
• Connection, Not Perfection: The hosts reinforce their message that expressing yourself, even imperfectly, is more valuable than striving for error-free speech.

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A final word from Lindsay:
“Now we have the vocabulary to do it.” (16:46)

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Transcript

[A]

This is an All Ears English podcast. Episode 2475. Are you indecisive? How to say it in English? 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 allearsenglish.com forward/app.

[B]

Do you tend to go back and forth and struggle to make decisions today? Get some brand new and high level vocabulary to articulate your indecisiveness when it comes to your English conversation skills. Do you feel like you have the basics of grammar and vocabulary but you're not sure how to express nuance or abstract concepts? These are core pieces of human connection and essential to your English success in business and life. And this is only part of what you learn. In our C1 English Fluency course. Save up to $100 off the normal price this week only and get our new AI conversation guides. For unlimited speaking practice, go to Allearsenglish.com C1. And one more time, that's Allearsenglish.comC1. The offer ends September 14th at midnight. That's Allearsenglish.com letter C number one.

[A]

Hey there, Michelle. How's everything going today?

[B]

Everything's good, Lindsay. Lindsay, are you teetering on any decisions right now?

[A]

Oh yeah, well, we're planning a trip to Norway I think in September. So we're kind of teetering on whether we want to kayak or not or what we want to do. So. So yeah, teetering a little bit. Michelle, what about you?

[B]

Teetering a little bit.

[A]

Any back and forth debating?

[B]

Let's see. Any back and forth debating, I guess. Well, in my, okay, fine. In my, in my house, now that I live in a house, I, we've been in here for several months and I have, we have not done much to it. And so we're teetering on whether we want to maybe put some wallpaper up in the kitchen or if we want to do painting or where we want to maybe that like the next step in the house. Right. Maybe do something for design. So I don't know though, but I'm, I'm, I always teeter on what to do.

[A]

We're really teetering back and Forth teetering.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You've shared before with our listeners that you're sometimes indecisive and struggle with making decisions. So the worst.

[B]

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Well, guys, we have a question from a listener on YouTube. Guys, you can ask your questions on YouTube if you would like because we are on YouTube, so. So come on, check us out over there. So yes, this question is from Ken. Ken need new. New J name.

[A]

Yeah, creative name.

[B]

I love it. So this listener asked a question. Lindsay, would you like me to read the question?

[A]

Sure, go for it, Michelle.

[B]

All right, I'll go for it. Okay. Hi. I really love your podcast. Well, thank you.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Would it be possible to give me a little shout out on the next episode? Here's your shout out. Thank you so much. Love it.

[A]

Bring your friend for listen.

[B]

Y. Yes, very much. Thank you. It says that would make my day. Also, since you mentioned teeter in this episode, I guess whichever episode they were listening to, I was wondering if you could talk a bit about the word teeter, like how it's used in everyday English. Thanks so much and keep up the amazing work. Great question.

[A]

It's a really. This is a. This is a more rare word in English, but it's something that our high level listeners should know for sure, Michelle. So I can't wait to get into this today. But before we do, a final reminder. If you are on YouTube right now watching this, hit the subscribe button right now so you don't miss five episodes a week. And if you are listening in Apple podcast or overcast or Spotify, hit follow. You hit that follow button so you don't miss out on any. Anything from the show. Okay.

[B]

Yes, exactly. So, yeah, really good question. I believe this came from episode 2428, which was why is English spel feeling so nerve wracking? So go on over and listen to that one if you haven't yet. All right. Interesting. Okay, let's get into it. So teeter has a couple of meanings.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So real quick, it can be more physical. Also like kids on a teeter totter. Right. What's a teeter totter?

[A]

Right. The one where you have like one kid sits on one end and the other sits on the other end and they go, but I don't see those anymore. I don't know. Do they still have those for kids?

[B]

They do.

[A]

Are they too dangerous now? They.

[B]

No, they still have them. Well, and the other name for that is a seesaw. Right?

[A]

A seesaw, sure. I used to love that.

[B]

Yes, exactly. I think it's more Commonly known as a seesaw. So. But those are fun. Yeah, for sure. But, yeah, it's. It's mostly used to say something goes back and forth. So this goes back to our discussion at the beginning. You're not sure. This is generally used about a decision or an opinion. You're teetering between something. Totally.

[A]

So, for example, you're teetering between buying a used car and a new car. You know, like, for example, we love Toyota 4Runner, but that car is, you know, you could buy it used, but it's not much cheaper if you buy it used. Right. It's about the same price as buying it new. So you might teeter back and forth with that decision. What's something else, Michelle?

[B]

So you could say, I teetered back and forth about whether it would be good for me to move to a condo, but ultimately it was the best decision I made. So you're talking about something in your life this can be used for that. You were talking about a hard decision that you made. Oh, I was teetering about if I wanted to buy something, if I wanted to rent, those kinds of things.

[A]

Yes. Or you might just say, can you help me decide? I'm teetering between all of my decisions, and I'm so overwhelmed. This might be you, Michelle.

[B]

Yes, that is me. So, yeah. Some other personal examples I could think of was, you know, for years, I teetered back and forth about if I wanted to ultimately live in the city or move to the suburbs or what I was going to do. So that was a huge decision. And then last week, I was teetering between a few class times to sign my daughter up for. Sometimes it's a little bit tricky to figure out the scheduling, and so that can kind of make your brain hurt.

[A]

But I'm sure I can imagine. Oh, my gosh, decision making is hard, and it's the worst when, I mean, hiring's another example.

[B]

Right.

[A]

When you're looking to bring someone new on to your team, maybe in a marketing role, something like that. That's something that we're looking at a marketing professional to join us. There's so many great options out there, so many great candidates, and you can see the good things in everyone. Right. And you think, if I choose this person, I don't get this aspect of this other person's skills. Right. It's like, I want aspects of everything. I don't know. It's. It's hard.

[B]

Well, that reminds me of. I mean, not that this is the same thing as deciding on people, but when you're looking for a House or on House Hunters. Right. You ever watch that show? Right?

[A]

Yeah, of course.

[B]

Yeah. So. Oh, you can get this, but you don't get this. You. We always end up, you know, making some sort of compromise. I think that's why people teeter, because that you can't get everything right.

[A]

You can't get everything.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You can't create the dream house and just bring the great backyard from that one and the driveway for the, you know, the garage. I wish we could, but, yes, it would be great.

[B]

I always said that I wish, like. Like, I wish I could move my current house into the city, but I. I could not afford this space in the city.

[A]

Just maybe in like 1960, you could have or something, right? Maybe.

[B]

But not now. Not now.

[A]

Things have changed a lot.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So the hardest decisions to make are. Well, I mean, I think. I think hiring, frankly, can be really hard.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like you said, house selection, the choice of where you're gonna live, city, the exact city you're gonna live in, or. Or state. Really? Like, what area do you want to live in? The west, the Northeast, that kind of thing. Hard, right?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[A]

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[B]

Right. Well, I love this one to go back and forth. I mean, you can actually say teeter back and forth, but most commonly you might hear go back and forth. So I'm going back and forth between the red shoes and the black shoes or waiver.

[A]

I like this one because it's also a rare word. I'm wavering between the roses and the tulips.

[B]

Yes. Do you like flowers, Lindsay? Do you like to get flowers?

[A]

Yeah, I never, you know, I never feel bad when I get flowers, you know, I. Sure. I, I, you know, there are other things I value, like spending time with the person or an event and experience, but I will always accept flowers. Sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What about you?

[B]

Yeah, it's not something that I get. Yeah, it's, it's. I think they're pretty.

[A]

I don't give Michelle flowers. No.

[B]

I actually really like to have flowers in my house. I just wish that they didn't die so quickly. Actually, you know what? My son, he made, I don't know if you've ever seen, they have Lego flowers.

[A]

Oh, very cool.

[B]

Yeah. Because he loves to do Legos and so he made this whole bouquet of Lego ones. So I, I love flowers. I love how they look in the room. I love the colors. I just hate when they die. So I like the Legos.

[A]

That's so funny.

[B]

I love that. I love that.

[A]

What's the last word?

[B]

This last one I thought is a fun one to teach, so I just wanted to go for it. So to vacillate. Vacillate. This is a really high level one, guys. You're not gonna really say this all the time.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, you really want to think about the, the best time that you're gonna say this. So to vacillate. It's like a fan, right?

[A]

Exactly, exactly. So basically she vacillates all the time between her choices. She has to ask everyone their opinion. She goes back and forth. The way a fan moves across the room. If you have it on that selection, that setting.

[B]

Right. Keeps on going back and forth.

[A]

Keep going. I know. Oh, that's how I feel. I feel like it's always the la. You know, it's, there's like this recency effect. Does this happen to you? Everyone has an opinion. And then if you go and you talk to everyone, it's going to be the most recent person's opinion that you've talked to that you're going to be most influenced by. I do that at least.

[B]

That's very interesting. Yeah. I just realized. Yeah. Cuz there is. Yeah. I was asking some people about a decision I was making and. Yeah, that's true. Oh my gosh, you're so. That's right. Yeah.

[A]

I feel very swayable. Swayable, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, let's do a role play. We know that our listeners love these signature role plays, Michelle. So here we are, friends. We're making decisions about what to do for the evening.

[B]

Okay. Yes, exactly. Okay. Okay. Here we go.

[A]

Okay. So I heard that new movie is great, but I'm going back and forth. I don't know if I want to see it or do something outside.

[B]

Yeah. The weather is so nice. Okay, let's stop teetering and choose. Oh, wait, what about the festival that's going on?

[A]

I'm wavering on that because I heard it's super crowded.

[B]

You always vacillate on decisions when you hear there's a crowd.

[A]

Nice. All right, good. Let's. We got some high level stuff going on in today's episode.

[B]

These would.

[A]

If you're taking aisles, these would be band nine. Teetering, wavering, vacillate. Definitely insert these into any speaking responses and check out ielts Energy podcast while you're at it. All right, Michelle, let's go through it. So, but I'm going back and forth is what I said. I don't know if I want to see it or do something outside.

[B]

Okay. Yes. Indecisiveness. Yes. And then I try and encourage us. And I said, okay, let's stop teetering and choose.

[A]

And then I said, I'm wavering on that because I heard it's super crowded. And again, I'm just not sure. Going back and forth.

[B]

Yeah. Yes. And then I said, you always vacillate on decisions when you hear there's a crowd. So probably a little too formal for this kind of conversation. It's. It's, you know, you're not going to hear this all the time. It's the word violate.

[A]

You mean specifically? Yeah, yeah, I agree.

[B]

But good to know. Fun one to throw in there from time to time.

[A]

Good to know. It's. It's fun sometimes to impress your friends with high level words.

[B]

True.

[A]

I have some friends that, like, will sometimes come up with a word and I'm like, what does that mean? They'll just come up with this rare, interesting English word and I don't even know what it means. And then I have to pretend like I know or I have to ask and it's sort of awkward, but it's kind of fun to do that, right?

[B]

Yes, yeah, exactly. It is fun. That is, yeah.

[A]

Michelle, what's our takeaway? How to cure indecisiveness today? Right.

[B]

I mean. Yes. Well, this is just a really great. I mean, I think everyone can relate to this feeling. There's always something. I don't. I don't know anybody who goes through life just. Sure. And without any question of decisions. So this is just a really good way to connect over that.

[A]

Yeah. And frankly, if you are going through life with all your decisions very, very sure. We might be missing some important nuance or details or. Or taking time to think about it. I just can't imagine. I mean, some things we know in our guts.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Like we just know what the right path is. There's something visceral, but often it does get very cerebral, very heady and we end up weighing details. So now we have the vocabulary to do it.

[B]

Yeah. All right, well, this was a great question. Thank you again to our listener and yeah, everyone have a great rest of your day.

[A]

All right, Michelle, have a good one. Talk soon.

[B]

Bye.

[A]

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 fluencyscore and if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.

[B]

Listen.

[A]

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[C]

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