ENGLISH
REFERENCE

telephone tag

idiom
Meaning

A situation in which a person unsuccessfully attempts to contact another person by telephone and leaves a message instead, and in which the second person then unsuccessfully attempts to return the initial call and leaves a message for the first person, and so on as if the two are playing a game of tag in which the most recent person to have been left with a message is now designated as "it" (i.e. as the player now obliged to chase the other and to attempt anew to make contact).


Examples
SIMPLE

We are playing telephone tag and cannot seem to talk.

CONTEXTUAL

I have been playing telephone tag with my doctor all morning, leaving messages back and forth without actually speaking.

COMPLEX

Despite our best intentions to coordinate the meeting, we spent the entire week playing telephone tag, leaving a trail of missed calls and unanswered voicemails in our wake.

Anchors to
Related idioms2entries
  1. 01

    phone tag

    A situation in which two individuals attempting to contact each other by telephone repeatedly do not get a live person and instead trade messages, such as by voice mail.

  2. 02

    tag along

    To accompany, join, or follow; to go with.

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