Has a coworker ever asked to pick your brain?
Or maybe your English-speaking son-in-law suggested that you just play things by
ear? As they do in every language,
idioms add charm and color to our speech. Even better,
they help us express complex ideas and emotions in
just a few words.
Because idioms are so broadly used in English conversation,
I want to share with you nine common English idioms we use at work,
particularly when brainstorming. Now to be clear,
we don't only brainstorm at work,
you also brainstorm with friends and family when you are planning a summer
vacation, discussing home renovations,
working with one of your kids on a school project or organizing a community
event with your neighbors.
All the idioms you learn here today will help you at work and an
everyday conversation.
But first, if you're new here, I'm Annemarie,
an English confidence and fluency coach.
Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your
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If you'd love to get all of my free lessons on confidence and fluency,
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To better organize the idioms I'm going to share with you today,
I've divided them into three categories. Category one,
idioms we use in idea generation or when we're
activating ideas. Category number two,
idioms we use for revisiting ideas.
What that means is to go back and discuss an idea later.
And then category number three, idioms we use to guide ideas.
In other words, to help shape or develop an idea,
be sure to stick with me because I want to make sure that you know exactly how
to use these idioms naturally in English conversations.
So I've got a couple of practice questions for you as well. With that,
let's get right into category number one,
idioms we use for generating ideas.
The first one is to tap into something.
This means to connect with or use something in a way that leads to good
results or leads to a benefit for you. For example,
imagine you're in a business discussion and a coworker presents an idea that
you think is interesting, but you're not quite sure.
You feel that you need a little bit more information.
You might respond to your coworker by saying,
I think we need to tap into our customer base to make sure there's a need
for that service. In other words,
you want to make use of your customer base and benefit from that
process or get some information that would lead to better results.
Idiom number two is to put our heads together.
I'm a hundred percent certain you've tried to plan some summer vacations
with family members and you've tried to make everyone happy.
It isn't always easy in a conversation like that, you might say to your family,
if we put our heads together,
I know we'll find an activity that everyone wants to do. In other words,
if we simply work together, we'll find what we need.
And idiom number three for this category is to pick someone's brain.
We typically use this when we want to ask a question to someone who has
significant experience or knowledge in a particular area
and because of that experience or know-how we want to get their advice or
recommendations. For instance,
maybe you and your partner are getting ready to renovate your home,
and it's the very first time you're taking on a project like this.
You have a coworker with significant experience in home renovation.
So you might ask your coworker, Hey, could I pick your brain for a moment?
How do I know which contractor to hire when I'm getting ready to renovate my
home? And now, category number two,
idioms we used when we need to revisit an idea.
These are perfect when you have a limited period of time for discussion and you
need to come back to an idea later.
Or if you feel you don't have enough information to continue the conversation,
you need to get a little bit more detail.
The first idiom on our list here is to put something on the back burner.
This means that you're going to temporarily delay dealing with
something or considering it, especially something that is not urgent.
For example,
perhaps you're at a school board meeting where there's a discussion about how to
use some funds in the upcoming school year.
You might offer this suggestion.
Let's put repainting the school on the back burner and instead
focus on how we can invest funds in further developing our art curriculum.
The next one in this category is to circle back to something just like
when drawing a circle, you come back to the beginning point.
To circle back to something means that you're going to revisit an issue or a
topic at a later time.
Not only is this idiom perfect when you want to suggest that you
revisit a topic of conversation at a later date because you just don't have time
today, it's also perfect in the middle of an interruption.
For example, perhaps you're sharing your idea on how to solve a problem at work.
Someone else in the group gets an idea and they immediately want to share it so
they interrupt you in that moment. You might say,
do you mind if I circle back to you in a moment? I want to finish my thoughts.
First in idiom three in this category is to play it by ear.
What this means is rather than plan every single step,
you make decisions as a situation develops. In other words,
you go with the flow.
Imagine you're planning a large event with friends and family,
like a family reunion,
and one person wants to order all the food right now,
but your event, your family reunion is still one month away.
So in the conversation, you might say,
let's play it by ear.
Let's wait and order the food after we have all the RSVPs next Friday.
In other words,
you're going to delay taking action and allow the situation to develop
before you move forward. And now, category number three,
idioms we use for guiding ideas.
Think about conversations you've had where you've been encouraged to brainstorm
and come up with ideas. In those situations,
it's common to have an idea that isn't fully formed.
It's just the initial steps.
This is when idioms on guiding an idea is particularly
useful. It helps others to express their ideas aloud.
It helps to develop and give shape to an idea.
The first one is to jump the gun.
This means to do something too soon,
especially without thinking carefully about it. For instance,
if you're working with your team on a marketing campaign for an upcoming
conference,
you might have a coworker who's ready to implement some ideas right away,
but you feel that there isn't enough information yet,
or there are a few final details that need to be put into place before
you implement a particular marketing campaign to guide your
team's focus back to what needs to be done right now. You could say,
I don't want to jump the gun on this.
Let's make sure we know all the steps needed for implementation before we
begin. Now, in that last example, I just said,
let's make sure we know all the steps before,
or let's make sure we know all the details before.
There's a great idiom we could use in place of those words to
hammer out.
To hammer out means to get a clear picture or reach a
solution after a lot of discussion. So if we go back to that example,
I could also say,
let's hammer out the details before we begin.
And idiom Number three for this category,
two heads are better than one. As you may guess,
this is a shorthand way of saying that it's often more effective to work
together with others as opposed to working alone.
Perhaps you have a coworker who feels a bit hesitant or shy about
sharing an idea because it isn't fully formed. It's just the beginning steps.
She feels that she needs more time to get all the details in place,
but you know that you might be able to do that more quickly
and in a better way by working together.
So you want to encourage her to go ahead and share the idea.
You might tell her it's okay if you don't have all the details worked out.
Go ahead and share your idea. Remember, two heads are better than one.
As I said earlier,
I want to make sure you know exactly how to use these idioms naturally in
English conversation. So here are two practice questions for you. First,
I want you to think of someone you know who has a lot of knowledge or experience
in something that you care about, something you're interested in, ceramics,
drawing, playing violin, whatever it might be, public speaking,
and you want to ask them for some advice or a recommendation.
How could you ask that question and include the idiom to pick
someone's brain? My second question is,
think about a project that you're working on right now,
A project where you're still trying to get all the details in place.
How could you describe the project you're working on and use the idiom
to hammer out or to hammer out the details?
You can share your answers with me in the comments below.
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