Do you know your onions?

Do you know that knowing your onions has got nothing to do with onions?

Our English Communication trainer does not really know his onions. If you ask anything outside the course material, he wouldn’t be able to answer. Worst still, he would try to confuse you by talking about irrelevant things.

When would you say someone knows his onions, and when would you say he doesn’t?

It’s really simple. A guy who knows very well what he is doing and is well conversant with all aspects of his area of work is said to be knowing his onions. Similarly, a guy who is not well versed with his area of activity would be said to be not knowing his onions.

Obviously, it is not a complimentary phrase – it reflects a certain amount of ignorance and even incompetence to not know your onions.

Let’s take some examples:

1. The AC salesman really knew his onions. He was able to answer all our queries and we were impressed with the passion with which he tried to convince us. eventually, we did buy that AC.
2. I think this doctor doesn’t know his onions. How can he prescribe bypass surgery at the first hint of chest pain.
3. The sales manager doesn’t know his onions. He doesn’t even know how many retail customers he has and how many corporate clients. How could you hire such a dumbo?

It’s the basic thing. Everyone needs to know his onions. Doesn’t matter what you do but you need to know your own area of expertise pretty well otherwise people won’t respect you.

Some more examples:

1. This boy is young but he knows his onions. I feel he is smarter than all those middle aged managers who know their time is up and just passing their days. We can’t expect old blood to bring in new energy.
2. The chief minister doesn’t know his onions. He is clueless about what can be done to solve numerous problems facing the state. God help everyone.