Use This 8 Unique Idioms To Add Color To Your Professional Communication

By Harry Madusha -

Whether you’re seeking to land a sale, write an email, or while in a board meeting, during a presentation or in public speaking, using tasty idioms can make a conversation both more delightful and more memorable. Here’s a list to hitting the bullseye with these 8 idioms that might help you cut the mustard in professional communication and...

Here’s a tip: The ability to use idioms in conversations can help you communicate intelligently. However, don't always try to sound grandiose because the goal of effective communication is for the receiver to understand the message, and deploying grandiosity might result to miscommunication, unless the receiver is a language genius.

Note: This is not an English class ??

Idiom (1) - Too many irons in the fire ??

A long time ago, in a world absent of technology, individuals ironed their clothes by warming up irons in blazing fire. Today, individuals may or may not press their clothes, but they often take on a lot of tasks, yes, most of us multitask a lot, sometimes more than it’s possible to complete.

Example: “Madu shouldn’t have taken on executing that project this week; he already had too many irons in the fire.”

Idiom (2) - There’s the rub ??

The origin is a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which the sad hero ponders ‘To be or not to be”, and finding the core problem in his internal dialogue, says to himself, “Ay, there’s the rub.” It seems old-school either way, but it’ll make you very precise when you’re talking about the heart of a problem.

Example: “But how to promote our courses without exceeding our budget? There’s the rub.”

Idiom (3) - Cut the mustard ??

As you might know, cutting the mustard is a bit more strenuous than slicing through a salad. As an idiom, it means to attain the required standard.

Example: “Sade’s analysis didn’t have sufficient data to cut the mustard.”

Idiom (4) - Up to snuff ??

A thing that meets expectations is up to snuff. The idiom is synonymous with “cut the mustard.”

Example: “Akin is my favorite employee. He is always up to snuff.”

Idiom (5) - Off the cuff ??♂?

To do a thing off the cuff means to do it without enough preparation, or to improvise.

Example: “Bello assumed the test wasn’t until Thursday, but since it was on Wednesday, he had to do it off the cuff.”

Idiom (6) - Go over like a lead balloon ??

This originated as “it went down like a lead balloon”— meaning fast, hugely, and miserably. More frequently said as “going over like a lead balloon,” the idiom means that something failed egregiously.

Example: “Nimrod refused to hire a business analyst, four months later his software company went over like a lead balloon.”

Idiom (7) - Wind out of my sails ?

A sailboat cruising through the ocean on a windy day, will slow down if the wind dies down, someone gets the wind taken out of their sails if they get terrible or disappointing news. It’s similar to “burst one’s bubble.”

Example: “Jide took the wind out of Richard's sails by giving him a bad review.”

Idiom (8) - Let’s get down to brass tacks ??

This is simply changing the focus to the essentials or basic facts of a situation, process, or plan, rather than focusing on the smaller issues.

Example: “We finally got down to brass tacks and decided to work on a budget for the conference."

Now that we’ve consumed these 8 idioms, you’re undeniably up to snuff.

~ The BA Priest ??

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