to talk shop (to shoptalk)
idiom

- discuss matters concerning one’s work, especially at a social occasion when this is inappropriate

- to talk about your job with those you work with when not at work

Oxford Languages / Cambridge Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

This meaning of “shop” originated around the year 1814. It comes from the idea that many types of business occur in a shop or store. This is the meaning it takes in the idiom to talk shop, which originated around the year 1860.

The phrase is often used in a negative sense, as in “They were just talking shop the whole time”. The implication is that the speaker is bored with all of the talk about work.

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TEN TALK TERMS

1. to talk the hind leg(s) off a donkey = to talk a lot, usually about unimportant matters.

2. be all talk (and no action) = used to describe someone who talks a lot about something but rarely or never does it.

3. it’s like talking to a brick wall = used to say when someone doesn’t listen to what you say or doesn’t take your opinion into consideration.

4. talk nineteen to the dozen / talk a mile a minute = to speak in a very quick or hurried manner; to talk very fast.

5. talk to the hand = used to tell someone that you don’t want to listen to them so they may as well talk to your hand (shut up).

6. talk turkey = to have a serious discussion, especially in business.

7. pillow talk = intimate conversations between two people in a romantic relationship when they are in bed together.

8. chalk and talk = a style of teaching in which the teacher writes on a blackboard (with chalk) and lectures the class. This phrase is often used to criticize such traditional teaching methods.

9. talk like a Dutch uncle = to talk in a stern, frank, and candid manner.

10. talk until one is blue in the face = speak (about something) repeatedly and at length. Used especially when one is not being heeded or listened to.

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“The team met at the pub after work. But as everyone was TALKING SHOP, I left early and went home.”

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