горит на работе

These words are in the phrase, where a joke of words is: "Когда Дед Мороз горит на работе, наступает оттепель". I understand word for word but I don't understand the joke. It is something like this: "When Дед Мороз is burned off in his work, begins thaw its work"?
Thank you.

It's an idiom. He has a burning desire to do a good job.

"Гореть на работе" means "wear oneself out at work" so it's just playing on words: whereas Дед Мороз is somehow afraid of heat, he will melt. :pardon:

As it's already been said, it's a pun, that involves the clash of two meanings - idiomatic and literal - of the phrase "гореть на работе".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lampada

It's an idiom. He has a burning desire to do a good job.

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No, 'wear oneself out' is correct.

Thank you very much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by radomir

These words are in the phrase, where a joke of words is: "Когда Дед Мороз горит на работе, наступает оттепель". I understand word for word but I don't understand the joke. It is something like this: "When Дед Мороз is burned off in his work, begins thaw its work"?
Thank you.

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Something along these lines:
When Santa has burnt out at work, it starts thawing.

To burn out means to work yourself into exhaustion
To burn off has no such meaning. It means to remove something/get rid of something by or as of by burning. (like: I managed to burn off a lot of fat and now I look slim)