Idiom 01: On the ball

On the ball

When you’re on the ball, it means that you understand situations very quickly, and you react quickly and correctly. For example, you want to buy a *second-hand car. Not a new one, but a second-hand one. You go the dealer, and he wants to sell you a *crappy car – a very bad car. Now, you’re very prepared (ready for the business), and you can see the problems immediatedly – so you’re on the ball.

You’re on the ball: you understand the situation and react quickly and correctly. You say, “I’m sorry, but this car is not what I’m looking for.”

Basically, if you’re on the ball, you are smart – you’re clever.

But, where does this phrase come from?

Well, it comes from sports. The phrase originates in *ball games where players had to keep their eyes on the ball. They had to watch and be ready for action. They had to understand the situation in the game and react quickly.

Now look at our illustration. Look at this guy. He IS on the ball. Literally (like phisycally) but figuratively too. Look at his face: he totally knows what he wants. He’s in control. He’s able to react quickly, right? He’s on the ball.

Great. Let’s look at some situations and check your understanding.

1. Peter is at a business meeting. He’s dead tired – totally exhausted. Do you think he is on the ball? No, he isn’t. He’s not listening so he can’t understand what’s going on.

2. Aron is a pilot. He’s flying through a storm. Must he be on the ball to navigate the aeroplane through the turbulances? Yes, he must. He must react quickly and correctly.

3. Julie a phlegmatic girl. Very often she doesn’t care about what’s going on around her. Today, however, she’s writing a test in her favourite subject. Look at her.

Do you think she is on the ball? Yes, she is. She looks very confident – confident: “I can do it. I’m good at it.”

4. My computer had a virus problem so I took it to a computer service. The programmer spent 2 weeks running virus scans and removing the harmful programs – the dangerous programs. When I got my computer back, it had the same problem!

Was the programmer on the ball? No, he wasn’t. He had no idea what the problem was, and he wasn’t fast at all.

5. There has been a car accident. After receiving a phone call, the fire brigade and the ambulance arrived at the scene in 5 minutes.

Were the emergency services on the ball? Sure. They understood the situation a reacted quickly. The emergency services were on the ball.

Great. Now go practice. See you soon.