All Ears English Podcast
AEE 2616: That’s on Me! Admitting Mistakes Without Making It Awkward
13 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What does 'That's on me' mean in casual conversation?
This is an all ears English podcast episode 26 16 that's on me admitting mistakes without making it awkward
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.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe. Are you someone who owns your mistakes? This is a smart thing to do to stay connected and avoid a fight. Find out how to do it in a native and natural way in English today.
Chapter 2: How can admitting mistakes improve communication?
Have you ever listened to native speakers and thought, I understand the words, but I still feel slightly lost? That's because real English conversations include more than vocabulary. There's speed. There's connected speech. There are cultural references and casual phrases. Your brain has to process all of this in real time.
If conversations sometimes feel overwhelming, it may simply mean you're ready for the next level of training. Find out your exact level with our quick, free fluency quiz. Go to allersenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allersenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e.
Chapter 3: What are some phrases to use when owning up to mistakes?
Hey, Lindsay, how are you? I'm feeling pretty good today, Michelle. Doing well. Yeah. What are we talking about on the show today?
Well, did you make dinner reservations for tonight?
Oh no, I forgot. That's on me.
Oh, okay. We'll have to do takeout.
Chapter 4: Why is self-awareness important in admitting faults?
Lindsay, do you feel like you make a lot of mistakes or do you usually admit to them?
Do you admit to them? I make a lot of mistakes and yeah, I usually try to admit to them. I mean, sometimes I play games and stuff with my partner and, you know, try to, I don't know, maybe not always fully own up. Right. But in general, in life, it's good to own up to your mistakes and, and say something like that's on me or that was my fault. Right. right?
Yeah. Do you mean you're, you mean playing literal games?
Chapter 5: How can you express accountability in professional settings?
Like you're actually playing games? I don't know.
Like maybe he's like, Oh, who, who did like, whose fault was it really? You know, like just sort of that kind of thing. Oh, I don't know anything about that. Right. I don't know what you're talking about.
but that's just for fun just for fun yeah exactly yeah yeah um so yeah we can talk about you know owning up to our mistakes saying something is our fault but in a casual way which is what we're getting into that too today so we can do this by saying phrases like that's on me which is what you used um about the dinner reservation
Yeah, exactly. I mean, essentially it means what, Michelle?
Chapter 6: What makes the phrase 'My bad' different from 'That's on me'?
What does it mean? Yeah, it means it's my fault. I did it. Yeah, something was my responsibility and I messed it up. It's not dramatic. It's a relaxed way of saying I made a mistake. It's a nice, natural, native way to say that.
yeah right and yeah this is huge for connection because when you take accountability calmly right you can show the self-awareness and it's the opposite of defensiveness which really kills the con the connection again exactly if you're always defensive and blaming someone else in a serious way for something that's not good that's never going to build a relationship
Right. Guys, before we go any further in the episode, if you are not currently following the show, if you're an Apple podcast or Spotify, you do want to hit that follow button so that we drop right into your listening queue and you don't have to come after us and find our show.
Chapter 7: How can admitting mistakes affect personal relationships?
We'll drop into your queue every morning, almost every morning, Michelle, five days a week. Isn't that crazy?
Yes. Yeah, lots of episodes. That's great. Lots of fun content and useful. So, Lindsay, how would we use that's on me?
Oh, it's a casual phrase, like we said, but it can be used in both professional and personal situations. We've always been saying over on Business English, our other podcast, we always say we don't become robots when we swipe our card and go into our workplace, right? We remain human beings.
Chapter 8: What are the implications of avoiding responsibility?
So that's why a lot of phrases are useful professionally and personally. So here's a professional example. The report wasn't ready for the meeting. I thought the meeting was tomorrow. That's on me. See, it sounds to me very mature when you say that.
Yeah, I do like that it's self-aware. Self-aware. Or you said you'd call last night. Yeah, that's on me. I dropped the ball. Okay. And a lot of times when we say it, we also do give some sort of short reason. So like this, did you lock the door when we left?
Oh, no, that's on me. I got distracted by my phone. Come on. I mean, gotta lock the door. It's a slippery slope between – in this case, this doesn't feel like an excuse, but it could feel like an excuse. So just be careful when you give a reason after.
If you always find yourself giving a reason or with a defensive voice, then that might be like defeating the purpose of accepting the responsibility.
Right, right, right. Like, oh, that's on me. Sorry. Like I was so busy or that's on me.
Yeah.
I couldn't remember all the things. You know, something like that. Exactly. But what else can we use here? We're going to do one that's even more casual.
Even more casual. This one's really casual. Maybe avoid this at work. It's pretty casual. My bad. My bad.
Yeah, yeah. This one I think is more for the kids. I don't know if the kids still say it. I don't know. I don't say my bad. I might as a joke. Oh, my bad, right?
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