Have you ever broken your back?

Today’s English
May 19th, 2017

If you have a hardworking friend or colleague who is sweating a lot to get through a difficult exam or a research work, you can try the expression  “to break your back" that means “to work extremely hard to achieve something.”

1. To get through the IAS exam, everyone has to break his back.
2. Thivya broke her back to clear the TRB exam.
3. How is your project going on? I’m breaking my back!

You will definitely find some people in your working place to be useless, unimportant or playing a very little role though they get equal pay. If you remove such people, no loss will be felt in your workplace.  You know, they are called as “a cog in the machine" or “dead wood" in English. (They never break their back). If you feel that your presence is of less importance in your company, and you are not recognized enough, you then are a cog in the machine. (=lack of recognition)

1. After becoming the manager, she cleared all the dead wood from her company.
2. I no longer wants to be a cog in the machine. So I’m thinking of resigning my job.

After enjoying a vacation or long period of absence from work, you may feel a bit of reluctance to return to work. Many people humorously refer to this occasion as “back to the salt mines". This expression is said to have emerged from the Russian practice of sending prisoners to work in salt mines as a way of punishing them.

1. Vacation is over this week. Let’s go back to the salt mines.
2. Did you enjoy your holidays? Yea. But I’m  again back to the salt mines.

( Student : to score more in the weightlifting, what to do sir?

Coach: You should break your back.

Student: ………..?!)