Business idioms connected to farming and agriculture
All human societies have their roots in farming and agriculture and as a result there are many idioms/expressions that originate in our past life living off the land. Here are 10 farming and agriculture idioms that are regularly used in the business English workplace. Included are the origins of some of the idioms to help you understand them.
1) to kill the goose that lays the golden egg
(origin – a story where the greedy farmer kills the goose to take all the golden eggs but there are no more golden eggs left!, so he’s ended his valuable source of income)
Meaning: to ruin/end a valuable source of income
Example: “We need to keep this customer happy, we don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg”
2) To make hay while the sun shines
(origin – hay is grass used to feed animals and can be ruined easily if it gets too wet so best to cut it while it’s dry and sunny)
Meaning: to make the most of an opportunity while it lasts
Example: “This is a great opportunity for us to grow the business we need to make hay while the sun shines”
3) to plough back
(origin – a plough is a farming implement used to make trenches to plant crops)
Meaning: to reinvest profits
Example: “We’ve had a very good year, beating budget by 25%, it’s important we plough back some of that profit into the business for future growth”
4) to plough a lonely furrow
(origin – a farmer often makes furrows (trenches) with his plough on his own without any support from other people)
Meaning: to do something in an isolated or independent way
Example: “We’ve been ploughing a lonely furrow with this IT project, we really need to find a partner to collaborate and work with”
5) to put all your eggs in one basket
Meaning: to risk everything on one venture
Example: “We shouldn’t rely so much on the domestic market, we’re putting all our eggs in one basket”
6) to separate the wheat from the chaff
(origin – wheat is a valuable cereal grain, chaff is the surrounding part we can’t eat)
Meaning: to separate the valuable from the worthless
Example: “We really need to separate the wheat from the chaff, we’ve got a lot of departments generating no income at all”
7) when pigs fly
Meaning: something that will never happen
Example: “Yes it would be great to get a long-term government contract, when pigs fly! Let’s be honest, it’s never going to happen”
8) to take the bull by the horns
(origin – bulls are male cows and can be very difficult to control!)
Meaning: to directly confront a problem
Example: “We need to take the bull by the horns and close down the Paris office, it’s just a waste of money!”
9) don’t count your chickens before they hatch
Meaning: don’t anticipate good fortune or success before it’s confirmed
Example: “Yes the US contract is potentially fantastic but it’s not signed yet, so don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched”
10) until the cows come home
(origin – comes from the practice of cows coming home to their shelter from the fields slowly and casually)
Meaning: for a very long time
Example: “We could talk about this problem until the cows come home, but it wouldn’t solve anything, instead of talking we need to take some action”
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