Bob’s Your Uncle? Not in the US!

Many years ago, a client wanted me to teach him some English idioms before his business trip to the United States.

I shared two of my favourites:

• “Not every Tom, Dick or Harry*”—This means not everyone.
  For example, you could say: “My new programme isn’t for every Tom, Dick or Harry; it takes a lot of effort.“
  
• “And Bob’s your uncle!*” —This means “there you go!” or “there you have it”.
  For example, you could say: “Having trouble opening a jar? No problem! Grip the lid with a cloth, twist it to the left (counter-clockwise), and Bob’s your uncle—the jar is open!”

Perhaps you can imagine … my client came back unhappy. No one understood his wonderful British phrases!

(What I didn’t think about at the time … Americans might not understand a lot of our British expressions.)

Every language has some expressions that don’t translate well.  British English has a lot of these!

So next time you want to impress someone with a new expression, be careful! It might not be understood.

My tip: Clear and simple language is always best. Especially in business!

Has anything similar happened to you?

_________

* nicht jeder x-Beliebige
* schwuppdiwupp, … und schon haben wir’s!