Do you want to sleep on this matter?

Today’s English
July 24th, 2017

If you don’t know the details about a person or situation and make an assumption, your decision is likely to go wrong.  In such situations, people use the expression “ jump to conclusions.”

1.Don’t jump to conclusions without knowing about them.  She is actually his sister.
2.Nobody knows the ground reality here. They just jump to conclusions.

But if you make a decision or conclusion after knowing the details, it’s said that you “draw a conclusion”.   In order to see something quickly, it should be in a place where it can be seen easily and this is what we say through the expression: “be right under your nose".  (Not literally under somebody’s nose)

1.If the boss didn’t see your file, he won’t take a decision on it. So keep it right under his nose first.
2.I can draw a conclusion now that with this insufficient data, our project is likely to be rejected.

Similarly there is another expression “to sleep on it” that does not mean that you should keep it under your bed and sleep on it.  If you want to take a decision after verifying all the facts, you say that you need sometime to think about that.  This is what we say through “to sleep on it.”

1.Are you coming with us to Bangalore next week? Sorry, I have to sleep on it. Give me two more days please.

2.Have you decided to move to another company? No, let me sleep on it. I can’t say anything now.

“Waiting hurts. Forgetting hurts. But not knowing which decision to take can sometimes be the most painful...”
-José N. Harris,