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 #2 (permalink) Tue Jul 18, 2006 17:32 pm A backlog |
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Hi Tamara
I assume you know that a backlog is an accumulation of unfinished work.
It sounds to me as if they want to tell you that, because their secretary is on holiday (and won't be back until the 22nd), a lot of work has piled up and that's why there has been a delay.
Of course, that also means that there will be a backlog of work waiting for the secretary when she returns, so it will also take her some time to get everything caught up. 
Amy |
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| #3 (permalink) Tue Jul 18, 2006 17:50 pm A backlog |
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Thanks, Amy.
So, following the sentence and your (clear) interpretation, I should expect that the secretary would be able to contact me even later than she actually will return to work.
And just to arm myself with patience 
Right?
P.S. As this concerns to a quite important affair, I need to have clear understanding of the true phrase meaning and the tone used.
(Sometimes I can hardly understand all that juggling with words in formal letters. And theirs 'implicit meaning(s)').
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| #5 (permalink) Tue Jul 18, 2006 19:52 pm Backlog |
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Hi Tamara,
Very often the word backlog is used as a lame excuse for not being able to cope. It's on a par with another irritating expression: Our computers are down at the moment. On a more mundane level people say: We've been rushed off our feet or We have been inundated or Demand has far outstripped supply and so on and so on. There is a backlog is an anodyne word that unfortunately covers a multitude of sins and issues a warning: There will be a delay.
Alan
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| #6 (permalink) Tue Jul 18, 2006 20:19 pm A backlog |
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| Yankee wrote: |
| I'd say the tone sounds "stressed". In other words, not enough time to even write a respectable sentence. |
| Yankee wrote: |
My experience with companies, backlogs and vacations tells me that you won't get whatever it is you're waiting for immediately after the 22nd. The sentence seems to indicate that as well. So, yes, it's probably best to steel yourself for some further delay, and hope that the further delay is minimal.  |
And there was I thinking that these things only happened in countries like Spain!
Quite a few years ago, when an old Swiss colleague of mine was transferred to Atlanta (from Madrid), she was absolutely amazed at how quickly and efficiently everything was done there. Especially services like utilities and repairs.
| Yankee wrote: |
| "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." |
Well, if that isn’t the most suitable expression ! (I got it all wrong at first: I thought it meant that you only need to grease the wheel for things to start rolling !) In Spanish we say: "El que no llora no mama" (He who doesn't cry, doesn't suckle). |
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| #9 (permalink) Tue Jul 18, 2006 21:49 pm Sizzling brains |
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| Next winter (or as soon as our brains start functioning normally again, if they can be patched up at all) we're just going to laugh about all the posts we're sending now -- you mark my words ! |
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| #12 (permalink) Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:50 am Nutty |
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| Yankee wrote: |
But there are other expressions for "He's got a screw loose"...
"The lights are on, but nobody's home."
"His elevator doesn't go to the top floor."
"He's a few beers short of a six-pack."
"He not the sharpest knife in the drawer."
I know in German you refer to 'not having all the cups in the cupboard'... |
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"He is half-baked"
"He has rats in the attic"
"He is not quite all there"
"He seems to be slightly wanting"
"…
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| #13 (permalink) Wed Jul 19, 2006 16:39 pm Nutty |
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| Tamara wrote: |
| Yankee wrote: |
But there are other expressions for "He's got a screw loose"...
"The lights are on, but nobody's home."
"His elevator doesn't go to the top floor."
"He's a few beers short of a six-pack."
"He not the sharpest knife in the drawer."
I know in German you refer to 'not having all the cups in the cupboard'... |
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"He is half-baked"
"He has rats in the attic"
"He is not quite all there"
"He seems to be slightly wanting"
"… |
Can I join in, too (I just can't help it)?
He’s a sandwich short of a picnic
He’s one brick short of a load
He’s a few fish short of a hatstand
He’s not playing with a full deck [of cards]
He has bats in the belfry
He has a kangaroo loose in the top paddock
He’s as crazy as a sack full of ferrets
He’s out to lunch
He’s as nutty as a fruit cake
He’s as mad as a hatter
He's not hitting on all six cylinders
He's around the bend
He's crazy as a loon
And how about these 'foreign' idioms?
French:
He has a spider on the ceiling
He didn't invent hot water / wire for cutting butter / powder
Swedish:
He is unlucky when he thinks (isn't this one very diplomatic?)
Portuguese:
He's a rotten garlic head |
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| #15 (permalink) Wed Jul 19, 2006 22:25 pm A backlog |
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| Yankee wrote: |
Hey Mr. Babble-head! What are you babbling about? No, no, no, Michael ... you can't compare wheels and grease with "loose screws". But there are other expressions for "He's got a screw loose"... 
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Hi Amy (Mrs. Southern-Confederation-Amazon  )! Your idiom concerning the squeaky wheels seems to come from the times of Treks to the West in the early American history, when it probably was okay to grease a squeaky wheel.
As I?m a more modern person, I immediatly thought about nowadays behaviour of solving that issue. And that is: If anything is squeaky, it certainly is out of order and must become replaced. Or is the reason for my missunderstanding that one what is well known as the conflict between buisiness-people and technicians. I mean, if the technician says "this part is out of order, it must be replaced" the business-man/wife says "replacing is too expensive, lubrificate it"?  
| Tamara wrote: |
Hmm.. We seem to be moving in the right direction, don?t we?
(And the topic is becomming more and more potential and perspective.... |
Hi Tamara!
I wonder what you mean in your sentences. Is this becomming a feminists topic? I must say, I feel a little bit opressed from all discriptions about mental disordered men, as I?m sensible and always found male pronouns for the ill persons.
Is that the perspective you wrote about?
However, the day was hot (37 degrees) and I haven?t been able to cool down till now. Puuuuh....
Michael |
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