My mom is always encouraging us to speak idiomatic Afrikaans - quite a challenge! There are such wonderful expressions that give colour to a story. So I decided to do the same with English, 'so, 'n boer maak 'n plan...' and invested in "A Book of English Idioms, by V H Collins."
It is fascinating to read about all the different idioms and where they come from, some even dating back to the 1500's! I just wish I could remember them better! (I recall when my Aunt learnt a new language she used the wonderful comparison, saying the words did not want to 'velcro' to her memory - I feel the same way, wishing that these idioms would 'velcro' to my brain so that I can remember them when writing and speaking).
Interestingly there are a large number of idioms around 'squares'; I was intrigued as our logo has three of them, so was keen to learn more - here is what they have to say about squares:
...Squareness, in its usual meaning of 'four equal sided-ness, suggests regularity. A figurative extension of this is correctness, straightness, rightness...
It is all square. It has been arranged so as to be fair to all sides.
I loved this, as it resonates so well with our reputation management building blocks and looking after reputations. "Correctness, straightness, rightness...all summed into one word - integrity, is what managing reputations is all about. It is also so representative of our Repudometer®, where we focus specifically on the balance of all the dimensions within the organisation.
So, "nailing our colours to the mast*", we're quite proud to be 'square'.
*...adopt an unyielding attitude; refuse to give way, recede, abandon one's principles etc., whatever happens.
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