Football has been one of the most popular sports ever since the 19th century, although I dare add that the level of popularity largely depends on the performance of your nation’s team. This means we’ve had a good 120 years to steal words and phrases from the world of football and re-purpose them. It seems that they are particularly popular in both business and political contexts. While not all of these idioms necessarily originated in football, here’s a short tour of some of the idioms in use in the English language today which sound equally at home on or off the pitch: to keep one’s eye on (or to take one’s eye off) the ball – to keep (or fail to keep) one’s attention focused on the matter in hand: ‘If you want to be successful in this job, you have to keep your eye on the ball’. / ‘He took his eye off the ball for only one second and the rival company snatched the deal away from him’. to watch from the sidelines – a position where someone is observing a situation rather than being directly involved in it: ‘Harry was taken off the project, because he was watching from the sidelines rather than getting involved’. to kick something off – to begin or cause something to begin: ‘We’re meeting for the first time today to kick off the project and to determine what needs to be done’. to move the goalposts – to unfairly alter the conditions or rules of a procedure during its course: ‘Olivia quit her job because her employer kept moving the goalposts about her promotion prospects’. a political football – a topical issue that is the subject of continued argument or controversy: ‘Retirement age is a real political football in the European Union’. to be on the ball – aware of and quick to respond to new ideas and methods: ‘I am not really on the ball today because I didn’t get any sleep last night’. to kick someone around – to treat someone roughly or without respect: ‘I am really tired of John kicking me around like this’. to score an own goal – an act that unintentionally harms one’s own interests: ‘Mary really scored an own goal when she quit her job before signing her new contract’. at this stage in the game – at this point: ‘I don’t think there is anything we can do at this stage in the game’. league – a class or category of quality or excellence: ‘Kat is so intelligent and good looking. She’s absolutely out of my league’. to take sides – to support one person or cause against another or others in a dispute or contest: ‘I refuse to take sides in this argument, you will have to work this one out yourself’. to blow the whistle on someone – to bring an illicit activity to an end by informing on the person responsible: ‘It looks like they fired her because she threatened to blow the whistle on their illegal activities’. a game plan – a strategy worked out in advance: ‘We have to come up with a good game plan if we want to beat the competition’. to know the score – to be aware of the essential facts about a situation: ‘I was going to update Jane on the situation, but she already knows the score’. a game changer – an event, idea, or procedure that effects a significant shift in the current way of doing or thinking about something: ‘The recent upturn in sales could be a real game changer for the business’. |
Archives
Febrero 2015
Categories
Todo
|