15 English idioms you’ll actually hear at work

Business English courses teach “I would like to schedule a meeting.” Real offices sound more like “Let’s touch base next week and get the ball rolling.” Here are fifteen idioms you’ll hear again and again at work, with what they mean and how people use them.

Starting and planning

Get the ball rolling: to start something, especially a project or a conversation.

“I’ll send the first draft today to get the ball rolling.”

Touch base: to briefly check in with someone.

“Let’s touch base on Friday and see where we are.”

On the same page: agreeing about what’s happening or what to do.

“Before the client call, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Ballpark figure: a rough estimate, not an exact number.

“I don’t need the final price yet, just a ballpark figure.”

When things go well, or don’t

Back to square one: back at the beginning after a plan failed.

“The client rejected the design, so we’re back to square one.”

Up in the air: not decided yet.

“The launch date is still up in the air.”

Drop the ball: to make a mistake by forgetting or not doing something you were responsible for.

“Sorry, I dropped the ball on that email. I’ll send it now.”

Cut corners: to do something cheaply or quickly by skipping steps, usually badly.

“We can’t cut corners on security testing.”

A blessing in disguise: something that looked bad but turned out well.

“Losing that contract was a blessing in disguise. We found a better client.”

Talking about time and effort

Pull an all-nighter: to work through the whole night.

“We pulled an all-nighter to finish the pitch.”

In the loop: kept informed.

“Keep me in the loop if anything changes.”

Bite off more than you can chew: to take on more work than you can handle.

“I said yes to three projects and bit off more than I could chew.”

Call it a day: to stop working for now.

“We’ve done enough. Let’s call it a day.”

Speaking up

Play devil’s advocate: to argue the other side on purpose, to test an idea.

“Let me play devil’s advocate: what if users don’t want this feature?”

Think outside the box: to think creatively, beyond the usual ideas.

“We need to think outside the box to get more sign-ups.”

How to actually remember them

Reading a list once won’t make these yours. You need to see them again a few days later, and then use them. That’s exactly what Saylolo does: you swipe through expressions like these, it brings each one back just before you’d forget it, and you write a few sentences with them to get feedback on whether they sound natural.

Try using two of these in your next email. Touch base and in the loop are a safe place to start.