We are currently looking for a new staff member for my team. We’ve had dozens of applications, but only two have been interesting. We have invited them both for interviews. I hope it becomes clear who is better for us, because at the moment, based on their CVs, it’s a dead heat (Unentschieden).

Another idiom that comes to us from the world of horse racing – where a dead heat is a race in which two or more horses finish exactly equal. But why the words „dead“ and „heat“? As mentioned in a previous post the word dead also has an additional meaning besides not alive. This meaning – exact, or precise which gives us expressions like deadline, dead ringer, or dead centre  –  is what is meant in this idiom. A heat is the name of a qualifying round in a race before the final.

Yesterday I was working on an important report that I have to give to my boss today. I’m sure I left it on my desk yesterday when I left the office. But when I came in today, it wasn’t there. I’ve looked everywhere, I just can’t find it – it’s disappeared into the ether (das Nichts).

In the modern scientific world, ether is a chemical  which is used as a solvent and, formerly, as an anesthetic. But idioms referring to the ether generally come from an older meaning. Ether was a substance once believed to fill all space beyond the  the moon, holding in it the stars and planets and providing a medium for light to travel through. It was invisible and mysterious.

The LINGUA FRANCA Spachschule blog hopes you all had a wonderful Easter. To celebrate – an egg themed idiom!

My boss is not an easy person to work with. He can become angry very quickly, even on a good day. But today is not a good day. This morning we found out that our biggest client was moving to our biggest competitor. Everyone in the office has been walking on eggshells (Eiertanz aufführen).

This is just one of many egg-based English idioms. See some more at the links below:

You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs

The LINGUA FRANCA Sprachschule is today presenting an idiom with roots (like so many idioms) in the Bible.

We have decided to stay with our IT service provider. They are not the cheapest, but they always go the extra mile (sich besonders anstrengen), which is very important when your company is as dependent on its IT systems as ours is.

During the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Ch 5 v 41) Jesus says, „whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.“

This refers to a law which gave a marching Roman soldier the right to demand that any passing Jewish citizen carry his equipment for a mile. Jesus wanted his followers not just to do this but to go a second mile voluntarily. In the short Bible passage above we also see the origin of the idioms „turn the other cheek“ and „give the shirt off your back“

The LINGUA FRANCA Sprachschule blog is today introducing you to an idiom that is all about taking responsibility for your actions.

We recently made an offer for a really big, important project. But there was a mistake in the price calculation, which meant we were too expensive. As a result, the project was awarded to our competitor. Nobody in our company knows who was responsible for the mistake – except me. Because I made the mistake. Now I have to decide whether to keep my mouth shut and hope no one finds out or face the music (geradestehen) and tell my boss I made the mistake.

Like so many idioms, the origins of face the music are uncertain. The explanation that seems most plausible to me comes from the military world. Traditionally, when a soldier was expelled from the army for dishonourable behaviour, his exit would be accompanied by the playing of drums (see illustration). To face the music being played by the drums was to take the responsibility for your mistakes.

Recently we changed the supplier for our telephone system. The old system was good, but simply too expensive. Our new system is much cheaper, but very difficult to use. It’s been installed at our office for two weeks and I still can’t make head or tail of it (werde nicht schlau.)

The idiom comes from the name of the two sides of a coin in English. On one side is the „head“ and so the opposite side is called the „tail“ (no matter what picture is show on the coin).  For example, if you toss a coin to help you make a decision, while the coin is in the air, you call either „heads“ or „tails“. So the idiom „can’t make head or tail of it“ means that something is unclear and confusing no matter what side you look at it from.

Welcome to today’s idiom from the LINGUA FRANCA Sprachschule blog. If you are desperately trying to finish important things at work before the Christmas break, this is the idiom for you.

My team was just given a huge new project for an important client. We have to finish it before the end of the month. On top of that, we have 3 new team members who we still have to train fully, and who won’t be working at full speed for some time to come. In other words, we really have our work cut out (all Hände voll zu tun) for the next few weeks!

This idiom originates from the 1600s. It is connected to the work done by a tailor. When a tailor has cut out the cloth needed for the piece he or she is working on, it becomes clear just how much work there still is to be done. So to have your work cut out means it’s easy to see that there is a lot of work that you still have to do.