Bored of the overused buzzwords of the UK workplace?
Tired of reminding yourself that teamwork makes the dream work?
Rather than giving up saying meaningless career-themed platitudes, we have a far more fun idea: just adopt the idioms used in other languages around the world.
Premier Inn has put together a list of the strangely brilliant buzzwords and phrases used in offices in countries other than the UK, including the inspiring ‘now it’s about the sausage!’ and ‘rubber time’.
Before you go ahead and start using these phrases, it’s probably worth knowing what they mean, so let’s break ’em down.
Workplace phrases from around the world:
- Now it’s about the sausage! Jetzt’s geht’s um die Wurst! in German. This means ‘the final stages of a project’
- Sliding in on a shrimp sandwich. Glida in på en räkmacka – Sweden – means ‘to have things easy’
- What does gingerbread have to do with a windmill? Co ma piernik do wiatraka?, in Polish. Translate as ‘what does one task have to do with another?’
- He cooked the fish on his lips. έψαχνε ένα ψάρι στα χείλη του / épsachne éna psári sta cheíli tou – origin Greece – means ‘he made his life difficult’
- Nine cows, one hair. Jiu Niu Yi Mao, used in China. This is the equivalent of ‘a drop in the ocean’
- To give one’s tongue to the cat. Donner sa langue au chat in French – meaning ‘To give up’
- To come in like a hair in the soup. Arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe in French, meaning ‘to enter a situation at the worst time’
- To have bread on the cutting board. Avoir du pain sur la planchet in French, meaning ‘we’ve got work to do’
- Smash the file. Dar Carpetazo in Spanish. Means ‘to put a project to one side’
- Drain the lump. Escurrir el bulto – meaning ‘shifting responsibility to someone else’
- Fair suck of the sauce bottle. An Aussie term that means ‘being treated fairly’
- The feet revolted and want to hit the head. Τα πόδια επαναστάτησαν και θέλουν να χτυπήσουν το κεφάλι in Greek, meaning ‘denouncing authority’
- Where are you going, barefoot on thorn? Πού πηγαίνεις, ξυπόλητος στα αγκάθια in Greek, meaning ‘Why are you taking on such a difficult task?’
- Keeping father happy. Asal bapak senang, an Indonesian phrase which meant to ‘hide bad news from the boss’
- Rubber time. Jam karet. Easy one here – it means ‘flexible timing’
Naturally we’re fans of describing work as having bread on the cutting board. It ties in pretty perfectly with calls to get this bread and it makes people crave carbs. A win all round.
Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s nearly all about the sausage.
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