Idioms

Definition: a town dominated by one industry or company Examples: When the coal mine closed, the company town faced a severe economic crisis. I come from a company town, where one company owns everything — the stores, the banks, the houses, and everything else.

Definition: an important person, or a leader of the group Examples: When the our company’s bigwigs came to visit the factory, we all had to change our work schedules to accomodate them. That guy is the head of Marketing, he is a real bigwig in the company.  If you see him in the hallway, be [...]

Definition:  to create new business, to find new customers Examples: Sales have been very slow lately. Do you have any ideas for drumming up business? Our production capacity is too low to meet demand.  We don’t need more salespeople to drum up business, we need more factory people to make more product!

Definition: to discourage, to remove hope Example: Steve wanted to expand the business into China, but his boss threw cold water on the idea, and told him to focus on the domestic business. I was eager to try our big new software system with the new customer, but they threw cold water on me, and [...]

Definition: to make the decisions, to be the leader Examples: In this office, Joe is officially the boss, but everyone actually listens to Sarah first. She’s the one who calls the shots. This group is so disorganized, I don’t even know who approves new plans. Who calls the shots around here?

Definition: to maintain the existing opinion, position, or status; to resist Examples: The employees are resisting the changes.  We need to train our team managers how to hold the line regarding this restructuring plan. Our competition is attacking us hard on pricing, but we need to hold the line. If we drop our prices too, [...]

Definition: to produce good results, to succeed (especially with an experimental project) Examples: This project is difficult, but try it, and see if you can make a go of it. Although he works very hard in his business, he has been unable to make a go of it and may soon go out of business.

Definition: to sell very quickly, to sell really well Examples: Children’s toys were selling like hotcakes at the end of the year. In the summer in Antalya, Efes pilsen beer sells like hotcakes.

Definition: to economize, to take a short-cut, to reduce quality in order to save money Note: this idiom is usually negative — don’t use it when you want to express approval or support something Examples: During these hard times, we are tempted to cut corners to save money.  Resist this, because when times are good [...]