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I want to say
I would like to thank my office mate Felix who was always open for a long discussion at the black board.
Someone told me it has to be
I would like to thank my office mate Felix who was always open to a long discussion at the black board.
However, it does not sound correct to me. What would you suggest to use?
I see 'open for discussion' examples on news sites and some references on COCA as well. But then it's the 'topic' open for discussion in most of them.
When it comes to a person agreeing to discuss further, It is an idiom that takes place.
Open to (something) as an idiom said by The Free Dictionary
This is in the context of someone agreeable to hear or learn about new ideas and suggestions as the dictionary mentions.
Both. Both work as sentences. Very subtle differences, though.
Consider:
I'm open for commissions. He's open for business.
I'm open to the possibility that I may be wrong. She's open to constructive criticism.
"I'm open for" essentially means I'm available for.
"I'm open to" means that I'm receptive to.
I would like to thank my office mate Felix who was always open for/to a long discussion at the black board.
So, it depends. Do you want to say that he was always available to chat at the board when you needed him, or always willing to chat at the board when you wanted to?
just to understand when to use the idioms "open to" and "open for".
When you say "open to something", you are simply expressing your willingness. When you say "open for something", you are simply expressing your availability.
