Holding pattern
Today’s expression is “holding pattern.” I know some of our listeners are pilots, so you’ll know what this means. “Holding pattern” comes from the world of aviation. It’s a maneuver that a pilot makes when the plane has gotten close to its destination but is not allowed to land. What happens then? The plane circles around the airport. It’s usually not a perfect circle—more of an oval—but the point is that the plane is just waiting for instructions.
And so, “in a holding pattern” has become an English expression that has a more general meaning. We use “in a holding pattern” when we want to say that someone or something is not making any big changes, but they’re waiting for further instructions or they’re waiting to learn more information.
That’s how I used it in today’s main lesson. I said that universities are in a holding pattern. Why are they in a holding pattern? They are waiting to see whether they can invite students back to campus in the fall. Right now, most universities—at least in the US and Europe—have sent the vast majority of students home and have transitioned their courses to an online format. That’s not a perfect solution, but it worked in a pinch (in an emergency). What are they going to do in the fall? Are they going to have all virtual classes again? Can they bring the whole student body back? Will they need to practice social distancing? The fall is still two months away. The world could change a lot—for better or for worse—between now and then. Schools don’t know what they’re going to be allowed to do. They are in a holding pattern until they get more guidance from their state governments about what’s allowed.
The last time I heard this term was also related to COVID. I was serving on a volunteer committee and we were preparing for an event over the summer. As it started to become clearer that the event would not happen, our committee paused its work. Some members of the committee were asking, what are we doing? Do we still have to meet? Do we still have to do the job we volunteered for? The leadership of the committee said, “We’re in a holding pattern right now.” That means, we’re just pausing while we figure out what’s next. We’re just waiting to know what we have to do. The event over the summer was not yet cancelled; maybe it would happen online; maybe it would be postponed. We didn’t know at the time, so we were in a holding pattern. Just waiting to learn more. Eventually, the event was postponed until next summer, so we will resume our volunteer work next spring.
We talked about sports leagues in a previous lesson. The leagues and the players unions are negotiating how to start playing again. In American baseball, the negotiations have been tough. While the two sides are negotiating, most players are just waiting. They’re not actively participating in the negotiations. They’re trying to train as much as possible—to stay in shape. But they don’t have anything to do except wait and see what gets agreed to. The players are in a holding pattern. They’re ready, but they haven’t been given instructions on what to do next. So they just try to stay ready for when the call comes.
I saw an article online about the residential real estate market in Australia—or, as they would call it, the property market. That’s the market for buying and selling homes. It is still possible to buy or sell a house in Australia, according to the article, but a lot of the activity has slowed down. Most families that had planned to move are in a holding pattern until activity picks up again. They’re just waiting to see what will happen next. They will still move: sellers will still want to sell and buyers will still want to buy. But not right now; not until they have more confidence in the economy. Until then, they are just in a holding pattern.
JR’s song of the week
Today’s song of the week is “We Are Young” by the band Fun. If you’re a fan of the TV show Glee, you might have seen this performed on the show in 2011. A few months later, it was featured in a commercial for the Chevy Sonic car in the Super Bowl, which gave it another burst of popularity. It has been a number-one hit in a number of countries. “We Are Young” by the band Fun. Thanks JR for that suggestion. You can listen to the full playlist courtesy of JR on Spotify. Just search Plain English Playlist on Spotify.
See you next time!
You made it to the end of another English lesson. Congratulations! Remember the web site has even more great resources for you to continue your English learning online. We have the transcripts, video lessons, exercises, more words, links to read English articles—all that and more at PlainEnglish.com/269.
Don’t forget, also, about the free coronavirus writing challenge available for free members at PlainEnglish.com. Get that done by June 30 and you’ll be entered to win a prize. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with. See you next time!
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
