Business Idioms: Ace up your Sleeve

Business Idioms: Ace Up Your Sleeve

This is a fun one you might hear now and again in the business world (or in normal conversations as well). When you feel that you or your opponent has an advantage in the negotiations, then that can be characterized as "an ace up the sleeve". 

For example: "I don't like getting into a negotiation with Roger's firm, he always seems to have an ace up his sleeve."  

Another example: "Toyota is a little concerned about the looming automobile tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration, but they have an ace up there sleeve. They have many production facilities in the U.S. and employ thousands of U.S. workers in heavily Republican states."

The term comes from playing card games and accusing someone of cheating. So, for example, someone who is playing will hide an ace card, typically the strongest card in most gambling games like Poker, and use it to win. Because of this origin, one might assume that this idiom is a negative, or has negative connotations, but in today's parlance, it is not seen that way. We just use it as a way to say someone has an advantage, not that they are cheating or in any other way a bad person. 

No ace up my sleeve...no sleeves! 

Good luck with your English practice and don't forget to IM me if you are interested in lessons!

Michael