You may have read Yana’s article Idioms: The Origin Story, which I was lucky enough to pre-read. It inspired me to write about the idioms I encounter in my role as CEO of BE School. There are four, in particular, which really rub me the wrong way!
- Touch Base
You’ve probably heard this one million times. Perhaps it’s the baseball reference I dislike, or maybe it’s the implied casual nature of the proposed contact, but “let’s touch base next week” is non-committal. I find it offensive.
The idiom “touch base” means to, “briefly make or renew contact with someone.” I just hear, “this isn’t important to me, but let’s pretend we’ll do something meaningful in the future.”
No thanks!
Instead, try saying, “let’s go over [specific topic] briefly and make notes to follow up.”
Much clearer! Much more intentional!
2. Blue Sky Thinking
The sky is a beautiful shade of blue in Mexico City. I grew up in England, so never felt comfortable with blue skies. This idiom is used to describe open-minded thinking, which is ironic given that it’s no longer a very creative way to describe such thoughts.
When I hold my Mastermind Meetings with the BE team, we never mention “blue sky thinking.” We do, however, talk about “radical ideas” or the idiomatic “moon shots.”
3. In a Nutshell
Apparently coined by Shakespeare as a metaphor for something small, “in a nutshell” has become an idiom which figuratively means, “in a small number of worlds.” We often communicate in a way which encourages brevity. Writing emails, I found that this idiom was often lost on non-native speakers.
So I say “put simply” instead. Fewer words too!
4. Ball Park Figure
Another baseball reference! I took me many years and several episodes of Friends to understand this idiom, although it’s not exactly clear how this idiom came to be. We understand it to mean an approximate value. For example, “Hey, can I get a ball park figure for the number of attendees?”
Instead, just say “what’s the estimate?”
Idioms are great to show off your understanding of and comfort with a language. Just make sure they’re effective ones!
Zoe
CEO of BE School, Mexico City
