Idiom of the Week
Archive - September/October 2006
Jey pressed his fingers to his furrowed brow in order to think harder. Did his idea have legs? How could he possibly make it work?
From Touch all the Bases p. 11
Have legs – v. be able to survive or thrive; good enough to succeed
• “Our city park plan has legs; the mayor and city council like it.”
The sales figures are the company's canary in the coal mine: if they don't improve the company's strategy must change.
Canary in the Coal Mine- n. A symbol or warning of danger. One of coal mining’s earliest warning systems for the presence of methane gas: if the bird died it indicated dangerous levels of gas in the mine, and the miners knew to get out of the mine.
- Shannon's tracking software is the canary in our coal mine. Her system is the first to know if the network is down.
"As players came to the plate in the first inning, Sammy studied the Program for stats on the players. Jey was pleased by Sammy’s sudden interest in players’ batting averages, number of runs scored, the percentage of hits with men in scoring position, and a dozen others statistics."
From Touch all the Bases, p. 33
Stats – n. short for statistics; in baseball various measurements of performance by ball players
Batting average – n. performance of hitters obtained by dividing the number of hits by the total number of times at bat; performance
- “We need the stats on assembly line defects so that we can address the process and fix the problem.
• “Our company’s batting average is slipping; they haven’t released many new products this year.”
He was used to being first – the first in his family to attend university, where he finished first in his engineering class, and the first of Sing System’s college recruits to make his mark as a second level manager.
Make one’s mark – v. to have an impact, be noticed, make a difference
• “My retired colleague made his mark in the company by always insisting on great customer service.”
“Jay's manager congratulated him on getting his ducks in a row for his upcoming presentation on such short notice.”
To get one's ducks in a row- v. Also, have one's ducks in a row. Complete one's preparations, become efficient and well organized. This idiom probably alludes to lining up target ducks in a shooting gallery, a carnival game in which people try to win prizes by hitting targets with toy guns.
- That new engineer sure has her ducks in a row. It is impressive that she is so organized at such a young age.
"Yoko suggested that Jey attend the meeting by video-conference, and also send play-by-play updates of the game to Tokyo during breaks in the meeting."
From Touch All the Bases p.54
Play-by-play – n. an on-going account of the game, given by a radio or TV announcer
- Give me a play-by-play of the meeting. Exactly what did each person say about our proposal?
When work is satisfying, the paycheck feels like icing on the cake.
Icing on the cake- n. something which makes a good situation even better.
He was delighted to have his story published, getting paid for it was just icing on the cake.
|
