If you “know the ropes“, you know how a particular job or task should be done.
Sample Sentence of the idiom “To know the ropes“:
“The moment she got to know the ropes, there was no stopping her.”
“To know the ropes“synonyms: to be experienced, to know ‘the score‘ [English expression], to be knowledgeable, to ‘know what’s what‘ [English expression].
Christmas is fast approaching….. BTW Father Christmas or Santa Claus has absolutely NOTHING to do with Christmas and the Christmas story! He was invented by the Coca-Cola company in the 1930’s.
The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around A.D. 280 in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends.
Before 1931, there were many different depictions of Santa Claus around the world, including a tall gaunt man and an elf —there was even a scary Claus. But in 1931, Coca-Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to paint Santa for Christmas advertisements.
The Santa Claus we all know and love — that big, jolly man in the red suit with a white beard — didn’t always look that way. In fact, many people are surprised to learn that prior to 1931, Santa was depicted as everything from a tall gaunt man to a spooky-looking elf. He has donned a bishop’s robe and a Norse huntsman’s animal skin. In fact, when Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus for Harper’s Weekly in 1862, Santa was a small elflike figure who supported the Union. Nast continued to draw Santa for 30 years, changing the colour of his coat from tan to the red he’s known for today.
Coca-Cola Helped Shape the Image of Santa
In 1931 the company began placing Coca-Cola ads in popular magazines. Archie Lee, the D’Arcy Advertising Agency executive working with The Coca-Cola Company, wanted the campaign to show a wholesome Santa that was both realistic and symbolic. So Coca-Cola commissioned Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images using Santa Claus — showing Santa himself, not a man dressed as Santa.
For inspiration, Sundblom turned to Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (commonly called “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”). Moore’s description of St. Nick led to an image of a warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human Santa. (And even though it’s often said that Santa wears a red coat because red is the colour of Coca-Cola, Santa appeared in a red coat before Sundblom painted him.)
Sundblom’s Santa debuted in 1931 in Coke ads in The Saturday Evening Post and appeared regularly in that magazine, as well as in Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic, The New Yorker and others.
From 1931 to 1964, Coca-Cola advertising showed Santa delivering toys (and playing with them!), pausing to read a letter and enjoy a Coke, visiting with the children who stayed up to greet him, and raiding the refrigerators at a number of homes. The original oil paintings Sundblom created were adapted for Coca-Cola advertising in magazines and on store displays, billboards, posters, calendars and plush dolls. Many of those items today are popular collectables.
Sundblom created his final version of Santa Claus in 1964, but for several decades to follow, Coca-Cola advertising featured images of Santa based on Sundblom’s original works. These paintings are some of the most prized pieces in the art collection in the company’s archives department and have been on exhibit around the world, infamous locales including the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Isetan Department Store in Tokyo, and the NK Department Store in Stockholm. Many of the original paintings can be seen on display at World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Ga.
Abbreviations are shortened versions of words or phrases. They may include only a few letters of the original word, or they may be made up of the first letters of each word in a phrase (in this case they’re known as “acronyms” – Akronyme).
Sample Sentence:
“What does the abbreviation FYEO mean?”
Vocabulary for Contracts:Wortschatz für Verträge:
Today, lots of business communication is done on-the-move via emails, texting or messaging, using small devices where typing is often a challenge. By using abbreviations, you type less, save yourself many keystrokes and make fewer typos (an abbreviation for “typing errors”).
Sample Sentence:
“Please make absolutely sure that there aren’t any typos to be found within the contract!”
to ditto something the same thing again (used in lists and accounts and often indicated by a dittomark under the word or figure to be repeated).
Informally is used to indicate that something already said is applicable a second time.
Sample Sentence:
“if one folds his arms, so does the other; if one crosses his legs, ditto.“
Phrase of the day: Satz des Tages:
“to man the phones” means that someone is in the office, company, or department who is responsible for answering the telephones from clients, customers etc. when other staff members are at lunch.
Sample Sentence:
“Make sure that someone is manning the telephone during the lunch break!”
Idiom of the day: Redewendung des Tages:
“To know the ropes” means “She has been working here for 30 years and knows the ropes to get anything done.”
“When the captain arrived at the dock he worked so smoothly that it was clear he knew the ropes. The loading in the ship was suddenly completed in no time.”
“He knows the ropes of the circus since he has been here his entire life.”
* to know all the ways and means to get something done
* to understand the nuances of how something should be done.
* the acquaintance of all possible means is said to know the ropes.
Origin: It is not 100% clear if the origin comes from the sea, where a sailor is expected to ‘know the ropes’, literally or if the origination is from the world of theatre where ropes bring the curtains up and down. In the literary world, the expression was first used in 1840 by Richard Dana Jr. He used it in the context of the sea, but in the sense of someone being knowledgeable. The title of the book was ‘Two years before the mast’. Ten years later the same phrase was used by J. Timon who cited a theatrical reference in his work called ‘Opera Goer’.
These words are used in the newspaper industry. Check them out in a translation program.
Pronunciation tip: Aussprachetipp:
“Really leery, rarely Larry.”
Try and say this sentence ten times quickly without a mistake.
Versuchen Sie, diesen Satz zehnmal schnell und fehlerfrei zu sagen.
False Friends Tip of the Week:
Falsche Freunde Tipp der Woche:
GermanTranslationFalse Friend (F.F.)Meaning of F.F.
clever crafty clever klug
(gerissen / schlau)
Wit, wit, wit – Drink and other Drugs
Witz, Witz, Witz – Trinken und andere Drogen
“How do you look like when I’m sober?”
Quote by Ring Lardner. (An American reporter and writer).
Slang word of the day: Slangwort des Tages:
to sneer, sneering, ridicule ˈsnir. sneered; sneering; sneers. intransitive verb. : to smile or laugh with facial contortions that express scorn or contempt. : to speak or write in a scornfully jeering manner. An intransitive verb.
Sample Sentence:
The verb “You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about,” she sneered. they brushed off his sneer and went about their business Noun She looked at me with a sneer of disgust. “They’re paranoid,” he said with a sneer.
The novel elicited (hervorgerufen, entlocken) sneers from the critics.
Colloquial / Colloquialisms:
Umgangssprache / Umgangssprache:
Colloquialism is an informal, everyday language that is used by a specific geographical region. For example, “soccer” is a colloquial term in America for “football,” a colloquial term in the UK.
Sample Sentence:
“Are you going to watch the football game on the Telly tonight? “Telly ” is British English.
“Are you going to watch the soccer game on the TV tonight?” Soccer is American, Canadian and even South African.
Cockney rhyming slang: Cockney Reimender Slang:
Bristol = Bristol City = titty (i.e. a woman’s breast).
Sample Sentence:
“Cor Blimey mate she’s got really big Bristols!”
Quote of the week: Zitat der Woche:
“A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for.” W. C. Fields.
Merry Christmas!
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