MEANING AND USAGE OF IDIOMS AND PHRASES

A Lame Duck

In politics, and sometimes business, someone in a powerful position who everyone knows will be leaving office at a particular time, but who is still in office, is called a lame duck. This is "lame" not in the sense of uncool, but in the sense of powerless due to injury.

In other words, the lame duck is unable to exert power over others because the knowledge he or she will be departing - and therefore, has less and less power to punish others for defiance with each day that passes - reduces the psychological and leadership power of that person.

We Have A Situation

A  common line in dramas, this cannot be taken literally because everything is a situation. The implication is that we have a bad situation.

This phrase is used as understatement, meant to be said in a way that is not alarming, "loaded" (with panic), or more specific as to the type of situation (accident, incident, crisis). The idea is to instantly get the full and serious attention of the listener while remaining as calm as possible.

Picking Up Some Chinese (Food)

Americans will use "Chinese" as an abbreviation for "Chinese food," which is food considered to be particular to Chinese restaurants and so forth. (Thus, "Chinese" from an American perspective.)

What's Your Beef?

If "Where's the beef?" is asking for substance relating to an issue, "What's your beef?" is asking what substantive issue to have with someone or something.

Related: "Having a beef" with someone or something.

Not Quite So Simple

While the meaning of "something simple" is, well, simple, "not quite so simple" means, in reality, something requiring a detailed explanation. This expression is used to alter the flow of a conversation or, more usually, an article, shifting to an explanation which explainswhy a question cannot be answered simply and reflexively.

A Big Freeze

Usually, putting "big" in front of a noun is to turn that noun into something larger and less literal. In this case, a big freeze indicates a large cold weather storm bringing much snow and ice. Thus, a vast area is "frozen"

To Be In, Or Not In

To "be in" is, figuratively speaking, to be present inside a building. This usually applies to a place of occupation or employment, but can be stretched without problems.

Conversely, to "not be in" is to be absent.

Arm-Twisting

Physically twisting someone's arm can be used as a means of intimidation or coercion. Due to this, figurative arm-twisting is a term used to include all non-physical coercion (also known as "pressure") to compel a person to do, or not do, something specific.

Pain At The Pump

Pain at the pump refers to the gas pump, as it is known in America. In other parts of the world, the gas pump is known as a fuel dispenser. There is no difference in meaning. Also, gas = gasoline. Idiomatically, even non-gasoline fuel is "the gas pump" (including diesel!).

To experience pain at the gas pump is to be in a state of paying a painful level of money when obtaining fuel for one's vehicle.

Slogging One's Way

To slog one's way(or variations thereof) means to make difficult progress forward against significant resistance. To use this as an idiom is simply to apply it to things that are not physical.

Being Outdoors

Literally, outdoors is beyond the doors of your residential home. Figuratively speaking, the outdoors is the wilderness.

Being outdoors is an expression for being in the wilderness, or at absolute minimum, being outside the house in a natural environment .

A park is considered natural for these purposes.

A Number Of Something

A number of is a very unspecific expression for some, a portion, a fraction of something larger. 

A Product Line

In business, a line is used to describe a series of heavily related products.


Related: a lineup of products (such as merchandise for display, either in real life or in a catalog). 

To Kill A Product Line

When used figuratively, to kill means to bring a thing to an end. 


Thus, to kill a product line is to end that product line. 


Won Over

If someone has been won over, that person has been convinced.

In negotiations, someone who has been won over has been convinced to approve the deal.

Since this can only be truly explained in context, let's review today's earlier idioms with the passage below.

Sweeteners

In food, a sweetener is something added to food to make it sweeter, like sugar or a sugar substitute. In politics and business, a sweetener for a deal is something added to make a deal more tolerable to individuals who must approve it.

A related term is palatable. This is a fancy word for "something you can eat without suffering," so you add a sweetener to a deal to make it palatable (not easier to eat, buteasier to approve). Often, we say more palatable here (indicating the deal is more acceptable, rather than less).

Last-Minute

When used as an adjective, last-minute suggests occurring at the last minute, an expression for occurring very near to a deadline; very late in a process.

"At the last minute" is another form this takes as an expression, but remember, last-minute is an adjective.
s

Propelled By

When applied to politics, we speak of something propelled by X when we mean, somethingpushed forward by X. Synonyms:  driven by and driven forward by.

Squeaking By

When something squeaks by, it is narrowly passing between obstacles. There are objects that will literally squeak when they are squeezed between two objects, such as a simple child's balloon. From this arises the expression, to squeak by.

A companion to "I see," "You see" is often used as a rhetorical statement. That is, even though its true figurative meaning is, you (the other party) see (figuratively) what is being discussed, many people use it to urge the other person to "see" the logic, even if they do not do so at present.

Blowing A Gasket

Figuratively, to blow a gasket is to become suddenly angered. The surge of energy and anger is compared to the popping (blowing) of an automotive gasket, which is a mechanical seal to prevent the leakage of fluid.

When a gasket "blows," there is a burst of fluid. When a person's gasket blows, there is a burst, or an outpouring, of anger for which there was no visible prior warning. Thus, it usually refers to spontaneous anger (without prior planning).

Lost In Translation

When words are carried across the so-called language barrier, subtle differences in meaning can be lost in translation. That is, the translation omits information that helps to clarify the meaning of the original.

Nothing To Lose

A person with "nothing to lose" is someone who does not stand to suffer significant harm by taking particular risks. 


Literally, we all have something to lose - unless we're dead, we can lose our lives. However, as a figure of speech, this phrase has quite a few uses.

It Can't Hurt

If used literally, this phrase would mean that a particular action will not cause you physical pain or injury. When used figuratively, however, this means that a particular action will not cause you harm, whatever form that harm might take.


A Babe In The Woods

The expression "a babe in the woods" is used to represent someone who is innocent and vulnerable and in great danger of being victimized, figuratively. 

Neck Of The Woods

Your neck of the woods is your figurative location; your locale; your area. 

Big As All Outdoors

This means, on a large scale.

A Loudmouth

In English, a loudmouth is someone who is routinely loud, annoying, and a nuisance to others. 


An Odyssey

The Odyssey was one of Western civilization's first masterpieces of literature, composed by Homer, about the ten year voyage of Odysseus, a king who fought in the Trojan War. Suffice to say he offended a Greek god and was forced to take the long way home.

Borrowing from this original meaning, an odyssey is any long foreign trip.

.

Getting One's Feet Wet

The first step in entering a lake or other body of water is to get one's feet wet. Therefore, this is an idiom for taking the first tangible step towards some kind of goal. This is always action of some sort, rather than simply an exchange of words or ideas.


Having Something To Say

To have something to say is to have a message or opinion to speak. It is not so much the phrase itself that is idiomatic, but how it is used...

Through and Through

This is an expression acting as a colloquial substitute for thoroughly.

A Crying Shame

This idiom is simply an idiomatic strengthening of the expression, a shame. That is, a disappointing fact.

Tell Us How You Really Feel

The expression "tell us how you really feel" is said in sarcasm and irony after someone has said an anger or hate-filled statement, drawing attention to the anger and hatred (and implicitly mocking it).

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

When a dog being used to hunt raccoons, a dog will bark up at a tree ("up a tree") to indicate that a raccoon is within the tree's branches.

If a dog is barking up the wrong tree, the dog is making a serious mistake.

A Voice In The Wilderness

A voice in the wilderness is someone who expresses an unpopular opinion.

In The Wilderness

American politics uses "the wilderness" as a Biblical reference. Someone who is in the wilderness is an outcast, a nomad, someone without a seat in a place of power.

In practice, it is used to mean a politician or party lacking the power or influence normally due.

Begging On Hands And Knees

Usually, to be on hands and knees is to have both hands and knees on the ground; that is, to be on all fours in a crawling position. However, the expression to beg on hands and kneesis meant as begging very strenuously and earnestly.

The Front Burner & The Back Burner

An ordinary oven has two sets of burners on the top. The two in front are the front burners, and the two in back are the back burners.

To place something on the front burner is to make it a high priority requiring careful observation. To place something on the back burner is to reduce its priority.


Surging and Ebbing

In politics, and other areas, to surge is to accelerate forward rapidly, while to ebb is to decelerate backward rapidly.

You can surge to make relative progress without making absolute progress, and vice versa.

Playing Your Cards Right

To play your cards right is to skillfully exploit an opportunity.

Positive and Negative Advertisements

In English-language countries, positive ads (advertisements) and negative ads describe ads that are either a) ads that are positive about the candidate the advertisement is meant to support, or b) ads that are negative about the candidate's opponent, tearing the opponent down with insults and attacks.

Enthusiasm Gap

An enthusiasm gap is an idiom that has been created in American media and politics to describe a difference in the enthusiasm between supporters of two rival factions, mainly political parties.


Through The Barrel Of A Gun

In politics, using English, the expression through the barrel of a gun means only one thing: through the use of armed violence; the opposite of peaceful, lawful politics.

Man Up

A phrase entering greater popularity is man up, an idiom urging the other party to behave in a less submissive manner.