Book of Idioms, Episode 15

Touch base (spoken) : [often in business and politics]
- talk to someone for a short time to find out what has happened since the last time you spoke to them
* Hi, Tom, I just wanted to touch base with you about the project.

To "chew someone out" is to speak harshly, usually for some time, when criticizing an individual.
Ex.: "The boss really chewed out his secretary for the mistakes she was making. I feel a little sorry for her, but those mistakes were completely unprofessional, too." Yes, this is similar to "busting someone's chops", but feels slightly less severe.

"Blowing smoke" is an expression relating to stage magicians. Magicians use smoke to confuse and obscure the audience as to what is really happening.
Ex.: "If you think a seller is blowing smoke, he may be trying to rip you off."

"Learning the hard way" is learning something through painful or bitter personal experiences, such as making a mistake and suffering the consequences.
Ex.: "She learned the hard way not to drink and drive after her car accident. She's lucky to be alive.

A "laughing stock" is a person who has done something stupid or simply humiliating and can barely show his face in public without being laughed at; someone who cannot be taken seriously.
Example: A French man is suing Google for a Google Map photo that showed him urinating outside his own house. He claims Google has made him "a laughing stock" and is suing for 10,000 euros in damages.

A "mammoth task" is a task that is, figuratively speaking, huge; huge like a woolly mammoth, an extinct relative of the elephant.
Example: "Solving global poverty is a mammoth task. Perhaps it will never be solved." That's an example of how people use it.


"Building bridges" is an expression used for creating lines of communication (a.k.a. "connections") between different people, groups, organizations, and even cultures.
Example: "We believe it is important to build bridges between East and West so that all peoples of the Pacific Rim may enjoy greater cooperation and prosperity."

To "right the ship" is to bring stability to a situation.
Ex.: "Apple was counting on Steve Jobs to right the ship when he returned from a long absence. He did, leading Apple to unprecedented success."

A Hobson's choice is a "choice" where you are free to choose, but have only one option. (Therefore it is not really a choice.)
Example: In the early days of the automobile, Henry Ford (of the company bearing his name) allowed customers to choose any color for their car that they wanted... as long as the color was black! Multiple colors would raise his paint costs.

In business, "Acts of God" are not literal miracles; instead, they are disasters that are outside the bounds of a contract, especially in insurance.
Ex.: "No, you do not get a refund just because the concert hall was hit by lightning and burned to the ground! That's an act of God and we're not responsible for it!" In other words, this means an event outside human control.

"Out of touch" means being disconnected, remote, and lacking appropriate responses to current events. "The CEO was removed because he was deemed out of touch with the rest of his industry." It's not hard to find more examples.

➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary . You might also like ⏬

➤ Book of Idioms

➤ Idioms about Animals

➤ Idioms of Expression

➤ Idioms on Food

➤ Idiomatic Expressions

➤ Origin of Idioms

➤ Proverbs

➤ Idioms on Situation

➤ Idioms on Temperature