Some things are meant to be said publicly.

Others…

are shared with a little more discretion.

Maybe someone lowers their voice.

Maybe they look around first.

Or maybe they simply say:

“Off the record…”

And suddenly, you know that what comes next is not meant for everyone.

Hello everyone, and welcome to Daily English.

Today’s expression is:

Off the record.

One more time:

Off the record.

We use “off the record” when something is being said privately and is not meant to be officially quoted, reported, or made public.

The expression comes from journalism.

Someone might give a journalist information off the record, meaning they don’t want that information published or attributed to them.

But today, you’ll also hear the expression in ordinary conversation.

In those situations, it can have a similar feeling to:

“Between you and me…”

or:

“Just between us…”

Let’s look at two examples.

Imagine your colleague asks what you think about a new policy at work.

Officially, everyone seems quite positive about it.

But privately, you’re not convinced.

You say:

“Off the record, I think the old system actually worked better.”

You’re sharing your genuine opinion, but you’re also making it clear that you don’t necessarily want your colleague walking into the next meeting and announcing:

“Well, she thinks the whole thing was better before!”

By saying “off the record,” you’re putting a boundary around what you’re about to say:

This is my private opinion. Please treat it that way.

Imagine a student has just finished giving a presentation.

From the outside, they seemed confident.

They spoke clearly.

They answered the questions.

Everything looked completely under control.

Afterwards, a friend says:

“That went really well! You looked so confident.”

The student laughs and admits:

“Off the record, I had no idea what I was talking about for half of that presentation.”

Here, “off the record” is being used more playfully.

There’s no journalist.

There’s no official statement.

The student is basically saying:

“Okay, between you and me… here’s what was really going on.”

And that’s a very natural way you’ll hear this expression used in everyday conversation.

Now it’s your turn.

Imagine you’ve just come out of a meeting where everything seemed to go smoothly.

Later, you turn to a colleague and want to share what you really thought.

How could you begin?

“Off the record…”

Or think of something you might happily admit to a close friend…

but probably wouldn’t announce to the whole room.

Could you introduce it with today’s expression?

Thank you for being here today.

Have a lovely day ahead of you and see you tomorrow