Business Idioms

Front

“We showed the president 20 ideas for new products, but she didn’t like any of them – so we had to go back to the drawing board.”

Back

start again from the beginning

Front

“Our sales estimates were way off the mark. We’d projected sales of $15M, but the actual numbers were closer to $9M.”

Back

very wrong/inaccurate

Front

“The text for the article is almost perfect. I just want to tweak one or two sentences.”

Back

make small adjustments

Front

“I need to submit a weekly report on this project, so please keep me in the loop.”

Back

informed / updated

Front

“Three people from my department are on vacation, so I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment.”

Back

I have a lot of responsibilities

Front

The rule of thumb is to reinvest no more than 30%, but it’s OK if you go over that number occasionally.

Back

general practice

Front

“Bob said I missed the deadline, but I want to set the record straight – I submitted my work on time, but he didn’t check his e-mail.”

Back

correct a mistake and say the truth

Front

"We have until December to prepare these documents, so let’s put them on the back burner for now. We have other, more urgent projects.”

Back

give them low priority

Front

“That program never produced any significant results, so the director finally decided to pull the plug.”

Back

stop, discontinue

Front

“Yesterday’s meeting lasted four hours… but in a nutshell, we decided to close our office in India and open a branch in China.”

Back

in summary