business as usual

having things go along as usual. Even right after the flood, it was business as usual in all the stores. Please, everyone, business as usual. Let's get back to work.

doing everything in the ordinary way Serious problems such as depression can make business as usual impossible for most people. She says we have to deal with the AIDS epidemic because business as usual is killing too many people.

a situation that has returned to its usual state again after an unpleasant or surprising event It was business as usual at the school yesterday only a month after the fire.

The normal course of some activity, as in The fire destroyed only a small section of the store, so it's business as usual. This term originated as an announcement that a commercial establishment was continuing to operate in spite of fire, construction, or some similar interruption. It had been extended to broader use by 1914, when Winston Churchill said in a speech: "The maxim of the British people is 'Business as usual,'" which became a slogan for the rest of World War I. Today it may be used in this positive sense and also pejoratively, as in Never mind that most civilians are starving to death-the ministry regards its job to be business as usual . [Late 1800s]