Get Your Wires Crossed

If you regularly get new ideas and find yourself with an excess of them, you may need to prioritise some and keep others “on the back burner” for possible later use. This might also be the case if you feel that the current climate is not the most optimal one for pursuing one of your ideas. In which case, you can put the idea “on ice” and come back to it at a more advantageous moment.

When it comes to choosing products or services, most of us are more likely to choose sellers with a recognisable “stamp of quality”, whether it be membership of an association, receipt of an award or a proven track record in the field. Such products or services are usually superior to many others and can therefore be described as “top drawer”. They may even be accepted or given the “seal of approval” by prominent figures.

Sometimes, despite the best attempts of those involved in a discussion, misunderstandings occur and people “get their wires crossed”. This useful expression refers to telephone lines being wrongly connected, leading to disrupted calls. It can be used in both everyday and more serious contexts.

“Getting one’s wires crossed” may become more likely when those involved in a conversation choose to “bypass a question” or avoid answering it. While this can be a fruitful strategy for some and such diplomacy can be useful in certain situations, this can nevertheless make conversations more challenging.

One example of a situation where someone might “bypass a question” is where they feel that they have already set out their opinion on the matter. This can be the case in negotiation situations where one party makes it clear that they have certain non-negotiable points which they are not willing “to budge on”.

If you enter a new environment where much remains unfamiliar to you, it will be indispensable to have people around you who can “fill you in” on important details and “bring you up to speed”. And if they are really skilled, they may even possess the ability to sum up the most pertinent information in a short space of time or “in a nutshell”.