Winning English - Mastering Idioms, Slang, and References
Doing a One-Eighty • Losing the Thread of a Conversation • All Ears
Sometimes we change our minds. Sometimes in life - whether it’s in business or in our personal lives - we decide that what we were thinking before wasn’t correct, so we choose a different answer. If that new answer is the exact opposite of what you were thinking before, a friend might say to you, “Wow, you did a one-eighty on that one!”
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay.
“To do a one-eighty” - or alternatively, “to pull a one-eighty” - is an informal phrase that comes from geometry. Look at the picture of a protractor above. Think of your first decision as zero degrees. If you later choose the exact opposite, your new decision is at 180 degrees.
Note that instead of saying “one hundred eighty”, native English speakers say “one-eighty”.
This phrase can be used in any setting - even in driving! If you “pull a one-eighty” while driving a car, you have turned around to drive back the way you came.
Imagine that you are on a crowded video call for work. You begin to lose focus and start to think about that urgent email you need to answer or what you will eat for lunch. Then someone asks you, “What do you think about this issue?” You might be forced to say, “I’m sorry. I lost the thread of the conversation. Please repeat it for me. I’m all ears now.”
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
All conversations have a topic - a subject being discussed. That topic is the “thread” of the conversation. Thread is the string used in sewing to hold clothes together. The “thread of the conversation” is the topic that holds the discussion together. If you “lose the thread”, you don’t understand what you are discussing.
You might also not understand why a conversation is happening. If that’s the case, you might ask, “What’s the thread of this conversation?”
If a group stops talking about the original thread and starts discussing something new, you might ask, “How does this relate to the original thread of our conversation?”
This phrase is acceptable in all settings, from business conversations to informal gatherings.
When you are “all ears”, you are telling people that you are listening very carefully to them and won’t be distracted.
Thank you for reading! This is a free public sample of what you’ll get when you subscribe to Winning English. You can do that here.
We rely on our subscribers to make this possible. We can’t do it without you!
Also, if you like what you see, please consider sharing it with other English language learners.
Don’t be a stranger!
“Don’t be a stranger” is a fun way to say goodbye. It’s best used in informal settings. It’s also best used when you think it will be a long time before you see the person again.