Aboard vs. on board

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

What is the difference between these two sentences:

We are glad to have you on board.
We are glad to have you aboard.

Thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: On the treadmill

2

Hi Torsten,

Glad to have on board suggests to me that you are pleased that someone has joined your company/association/ firm or whatever whereas Glad to have you aboard suggests first to me that you are pleased that someone is on the ship with you but then it can generally have the same meaning as ‘on board’. Someone saying ‘aboard’ has what you might call a nautical turn of mind and because you can’t go far in the UK before reaching the sea, it’s a common expression here. It’s rather like when people talk about ‘an own goal’ or ‘moving the goalposts’ if they like football a lot.

Alan

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