Tagged Questions
0
votes
1answer
21 views
Meaning of “as it was” in context
What does it mean "as it was" in this context?
She was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it was, the jar ...
1
vote
0answers
45 views
What does 'trout-shouldered' mean?
In an episode of the television show Archer one character refers to another as being "trout-shouldered."
“This pathetic, trout-shouldered excuse for a boom operator is Chet Manly."
What might this ...
-1
votes
1answer
82 views
Meaning of 'take it to the hoes'
I came across the following sentence:
You can just take it to the hoes on Broadway if you need to get your freak on.
And not only can I not understand the phrase 'take it to the hoes' but I also ...
2
votes
1answer
49 views
What are “shrewd turns”?
In John Webster's play, The Duchess of Malfi, Antonio says of the Duke:
He never pays debts unless they be shrewd turns,
And those he will confess that he doth owe.
I really don't understand ...
-2
votes
3answers
130 views
Meaning of “I'm a disaster” [closed]
What does disaster mean in the following sentence?
I'm a disaster.
1
vote
3answers
598 views
What is the meaning of “six ways from Sunday”? [closed]
This is a line from the book Test Driven Development by Kent Beck:
Fortunately, we are well rested and relaxed and unlikely to make
mistakes, which is why we will go in teeny-tiny steps, ...
2
votes
4answers
213 views
What's “kind of shot that horse in the face” in Easy A?
In the film, Easy A, Olive has a conversation with her parents like this:
OLIVE: What would my punishment have been otherwise?
DAD: Bed without supper, I guess.
OLIVE: But I'm already ...
0
votes
4answers
192 views
“Yeah, no, I agree” meaning
This is a passage in the movie The Social Network at 01:14:49:
Mark says: "Yeah, that reminds me, we're gonna need more money, Wardo."
Eduardo replies: "Yeah, no, I agree. More servers, more ...
1
vote
2answers
93 views
What does “side four” mean?
I recently saw this sentence by Lou Reed:
Anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am.
On Flavorwire: "The Funniest and Meanest Things Bands Have Said About Their Fans"
What does "side ...
0
votes
1answer
220 views
Meaning of “as close as you can get with safe sex”
What does "as close as you can get with safe sex" mean? I read this sentence in "Hannibal" from Thomas Harris, the original is
Our informant's close to the family situation, like, he's very ...
1
vote
1answer
139 views
Meaning of “Blunt instrument” [closed]
I am having difficulties trying to understand this sentence:
In some respects, Courses of Action are the more basic of the two. In
and of themselves, however, Courses of Action tend to be rather ...
0
votes
0answers
15 views
what's the “new normal” meaning in United States politics? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What does “new normal” mean?
I was translating a political article and I came across the following line:
“Johnson's speech was a plea to resist treating the ...
1
vote
5answers
6k views
Meaning of “all retch and no vomit”
I heard of the expression "all retch and no vomit" for the first time, and the references I could find by googling it are not really clear to me. Here is the context where I found it:
What we are ...
2
votes
3answers
354 views
Is Saturday night before or after Saturday? [closed]
People sometimes write something like "let's finish this work by Saturday night" or "let's meet on Saturday night". Which day and time do they mean? Is it short for tonight, and then it's on Saturday ...
3
votes
1answer
216 views
Is “get one’s pants off” a popular idiom or an eyebrows-raising slang?
I came across the phrase “get one’s pants off” impossibly in association with Confucius analects in the following sentence which I found in a website, but forgot to jot down the source:
What kind ...
3
votes
1answer
166 views
What is the meaning of “the dogs live in clover”?
I was reading an issue of Atlantic Monthly from 1919 and encountered the following paragraph:
There is no further context, as these are (according to the article) translated conversations and ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
What is the context of Mark Twain's “If you don't like the weather…” quote?
It seems well-accepted that the quotation
If you don't like the weather in New England now, just wait a few
minutes.
was said or written by Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain. (At least two ...
0
votes
0answers
79 views
What does “grandfathered in” mean? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“I'm only grandfathering you in because of Serena.”
Over here, Jeff says something using the expression "grandfathered in." What does that mean and how ...
-2
votes
1answer
310 views
What is the meaning of “I don't need no stinking counters”?
The context is this video at timeline 43:26 seconds .
That's too fancy for me. I don't need no stinking counters.
What does this mean? Is it an American or British expression?
8
votes
2answers
472 views
What does poking with a stick mean?
Please see the context from this blog of Joel Spolsky:
Since you have to poke at Windows Calculator with a stick, it doesn't
have to be as fast as Excel.
What does he mean by poking with a ...
1
vote
3answers
162 views
What does the phrase “Bolting for the Door” mean? [closed]
I was watching this video and at 41:05 secs the professor uses this phrase Bolting for the Door . Does it mean that students will get bored or it will be too difficult for the students such that they ...
1
vote
6answers
914 views
What does “don't shoot yourself in the foot” mean? [closed]
What does "Don’t shoot yourself in the foot" mean?
Unfortunately, most salary decisions are based on perceived performance, not on actual performance. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot.
-1
votes
1answer
416 views
What does “a pop” mean? [closed]
when we say "For entertainment, she couldn’t go to
the movies at $8 a pop", what "a pop" means?
7
votes
4answers
2k views
What does “clutching at straws” mean? [closed]
In the following context:
I'm clutching at straws here. I'm trying to imagine how a woman could fail to be offended by being called a "hole".
What's meant by "clutching at straws"?
5
votes
2answers
474 views
What does the expression “we are looking to you” mean?
What does the expression "we are looking to you" mean in the following sentence?
Now that you have taken the test and have an understanding, we are looking to you to teach this to your ...
12
votes
4answers
964 views
What pair of words can be combined with “worth every penny” as an idiom?
When I was listening to AP Radio News of Eagle 810 (Far East Network), the only English language public radio broadcasting service available in Japan, together with members of a local English Speaking ...
4
votes
1answer
666 views
What's the meaning of “real gone”
As in the song 'Real Gone' by Sheryl Crow:
"Everybody's lookin' for a way to get real gone."
Does that mean something cool?
2
votes
2answers
226 views
Meaning of “pit technically something against something”
Is "to pit technically something/somebody against something/somebody" an idiom ? I'm not sure whether it is an idiom or not. If it's an idiom, then how do I use it in a sentence? Does it have another ...
3
votes
2answers
161 views
What does the phrase “Follow that!” mean?
I've heard that nice phrase and assume it is kind of an idiom.
The possible usage I can recall:
Follow that! I just did [insert something here].
Is that true and if so what does it mean?
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Close to home = quite accurate?
Citing Wikipedia:
Many actuaries were unhappy with the stereotypical portrayals of these
actuaries as unhappy, math-obsessed and socially inept people; others
have claimed that the portrayals ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
Meaning of “I'm kind of on a clock here”
In the TV show Friends, there is the following conversation:
— Did you ask him?
— No, I haven't had a chance yet.
— I'm kind of on a clock here.
— Oh, Fonzie.
— You know who I always ...
1
vote
3answers
350 views
What does “becoming grounded in your body” mean?
Every day, I get emails from Ennatought. Mails sometimes say for my type (The Investigator): "Become grounded in your body". Here is one such message:
Try this practice and therapeutic strategy ...
7
votes
3answers
322 views
What does “place oneself under the doctor” mean?
I was reading an article about a struggling postman where it quotes his solicitor explaining some trouble the postman was having:
Mr Arthur ... told the court: "He was assigned a number of ...
0
votes
2answers
481 views
Is “So far as concerns something” the same as “So far as something is concerned”?
The following excerpt is from an article of Harry Frankfurt who is a professor from Princeton University:
Especially by pretentious word or deed: There are two points to notice here. First, Black ...
4
votes
2answers
118 views
What does “the guns of spring” mean?
I saw this expression used in a Washington Post article about the possibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear program:
US officials don’t think that [Israeli prime minister] ...
2
votes
4answers
234 views
Isn’t something missing in the sentence, “Best for a mom with years of child rearing ahead to cut her losses now.”?
The latter half of the following sentence of Time magazine’s article, “Playing Favorites” (October 3), which deals with the commonly observed favoritism of parents to one particular child, is puzzling ...
2
votes
1answer
458 views
Is “Fade in” an idiom around authors?
A couple of days ago, I saw a character on the show Californication type Fade in: and then continue to write a movie script (as you can see here).
Yesterday, I heard someone say:
If you would ...
3
votes
2answers
275 views
Meaning of “due” in “when my second child was due”
What does due mean in when my second child was due?
I would interpret it in three ways:
just born.
about to be born soon.
just got pregnant.
Which is correct?
3
votes
1answer
98 views
When saying “nominations are in”, what does “in” mean?
What does in mean in the following sentence?
MTV Europe Music Awards nominations are in and Lady Gaga leads
It feels like "announced", but does it refer to "in the news" or something? Where does ...
29
votes
6answers
1k views
Who is “That Guy”?
I found the term “that guy”, used as “He embarked on a career as a 'that guy',” in the following sentence of the article of the New Yorker (Feb. 7, 2011) titled “the Most Interesting Man in the ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
What does “waxed rhapsodic” mean?
See context below:
Bloomberg is well known for his malapropisms and mispronunciations:
he's introduced former Yankee manager Joe Torre as "Joe Torres" [and] waxed
rhapsodic about the famous ...
13
votes
2answers
1k views
What does “proverbial man with a hammer” mean in this context?
From Programmer Q&A website, I came across the following line, which was a reply/answer to the question Design Patterns: Should I learn them?:
It depends on how disciplined you are as to ...
4
votes
1answer
229 views
What does ‘“I don’t know if there’s a cloud name for where I am right now,” mean?
Christian Lopez, a New York student who retrieved Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit and simply returned the ball to the Yankees shortstop was lauded for his honorable and unselfish act. He became the ...
0
votes
2answers
803 views
What does “You have successfully split a hair that did not need to be split” mean?
What is the meaning of the following sentence?
You have successfully split a hair that did not need to be split.
Source: this post on the Programmers Stack Exchange.
1
vote
3answers
142 views
“Or so say scientists in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.”
The sentence is from the transcript of a podcast:
What does a bookworm have in common with a black-tufted marmoset? They both like a little quiet. Or so say scientists in the Royal Society journal ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
What is the origin of being in “hot water”?
When a person is suspected of doing something that is wrong, they are said to be in "hot water". Why? Did law breakers long ago have hot water thrown on them for their punishment? Were they dunked in ...
3
votes
2answers
190 views
Meaning of “the body soon learns to stand down in the face of fat”
The following is from the transcript of a podcast.
Dieters can choose from an array of snacktackular options in which sugars and fats are replaced by artificial, low-calorie substitutes. That ...
2
votes
2answers
8k views
What does “if and when” mean, and is it the same as “when and if”?
Rather than trying to describe my beef with this idiom, I will give a bunch of successively objectionable examples. None of these are taken from real life.
As I see it, if (and when) both "if" and ...
1
vote
2answers
396 views
“It’s the height of the season”?
The question is from the transcript of a podcast:
Mmmm, blueberries. It’s the height of the season, and I’ve been tossing a handful onto cereal, into pancakes or just straight into my mouth.
I ...
2
votes
2answers
279 views
Meaning of “set such store” (not a shop)
I can't understand this sentence:
No other professor in Great Britain set such store by being called Professor.
In this case store is not a shop or a place to store something. I guess that the ...
