have your ducks in a row
to be organized and well prepared
TRANSLATION
have your ducks in a row = alles im Griff haben, gut organisiert sein
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
One of the biggest failings of the Key Government has been their inability to get their DUCKS IN A ROW over exactly what and how much farmland is in foreign hands.
(The Northern Advocate, New Zealand)
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"They have a very complicated industry they’re trying to understand," Wait said. "They’re seeing a deal they may want to challenge in the future, so they’re starting to put their DUCKS IN A ROW in the event they decide to do that."
(BusinessWeek magazine)
Did you
know?
have one's ducks in a row
idiomatic expression
- to get one's affairs in order or organized
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary)
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ORIGIN
The word "duck," as in the waterfowl, is from the Old English "duce" " which literally meant "a ducker, someone who ducks." This is presumed to be from the Old English "ducan," to duck or dive.
Duck eventually replaced the Old English "ened" as the name for the bird, this being from the Indo-European "aneti-", the root of the "duck" noun in many Indo-European languages (German = Ente, Dutch = eend).
The expression "ducks in a row" can be used with the verbs have, get or put. The origin of this idiom is unknown, but there are several popular theories:
- In the sport of bowling, the pins were once referred to as ducks because of their shape (fat at the bottom, thin at the top). Before the ball can be thrown, the "ducks" have to be properly arranged or put in a row.
- Mother ducks often line their young ducklings in a row when travelling.
- A popular carnival game involves shooting moving targets with an air rifle. The mechanical targets are sometimes shaped and painted to look like ducks that travel in a row along a conveyer.
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Practice OWAD in a conversation:
"The next months will really require that we HAVE OUR DUCKS IN A ROW."
