Timeline for Idiom request for describing a situation in which someone give advantages to their enemy or opponent
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
23 events
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Apr 30, 2016 at 18:57 | comment | added | Mike Jones | worth mentioning: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugzwang | |
| Feb 26, 2016 at 16:35 | comment | added | nmtoken |
And there is also to give someone the upper hand
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| Feb 26, 2016 at 12:39 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @DCShannon: Your link above starts with This expression has its origin in card playing, most likely Bridge, or Whist. Those games go back to the 16th century (C16). But OED doesn't explicitly mention that origin, and I note they say In early use play is often transitive with the desired advantage or result as the object, which I think steers us away from that "theory". I don't say I reject it out of hand, but I'm not fully convinced as yet. | |
| Feb 26, 2016 at 7:06 | vote | accept | Soudabeh | ||
| Feb 26, 2016 at 3:09 | comment | added | DCShannon | @FumbleFingers I don't know what you mean by C16, and I'm confused by everything after it. The one source I found said that the pluralization of hand came later on. Playing into someone's hand is perfectly sensible in every card game I can think of that involves any degree of strategy (not War). | |
| Feb 26, 2016 at 3:03 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @DCShannon: I'd never thought about the etymology / "literal" meaning until I saw your comment (which at the time I accepted at face value). But actually, on further consideration, I'm not particularly convinced. I'm pretty sure even in C16 it would have been possible to say He's playing into my hands - which is nonsense in relation to Bridge, and more than a bit odd for any other card game context I can imagine. | |
| Feb 25, 2016 at 22:59 | comment | added | DCShannon | @Charon Yeah, I didn't look super hard for a reference. I was already aware it came from cards. | |
| Feb 25, 2016 at 20:35 | history | edited | Charon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 25, 2016 at 12:43 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @user568458: There's certainly no rule saying I shouldn't downvote for reasons like that. And it's obviously had the desired effect - Charon has duly incorporated DCShannon's point into the answer, and I've reversed my downvote. And if in future someone posts a question asking about the meaning/origin of to play into someone's hands, I'd now be able to closevote it as a duplicate. Wins all round! :) | |
| Feb 25, 2016 at 11:08 | comment | added | Charon | @DCShannon - thanks, I've included your source in my answer. It would be nice to have some evidence or corroboration for the origin that it asserts, though. | |
| Feb 25, 2016 at 11:01 | history | edited | Charon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 25, 2016 at 10:42 | history | edited | Charon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 25, 2016 at 9:35 | comment | added | user56reinstatemonica8 | @FumbleFingers that's pretty harsh... It's certainly very welcome when people provide non-obivous etymology, but is there any rule written anywhere saying it's essential? I'm sure I'm not the only native speaker who has used this phrase without knowing that (I'd always wrongly assumed it came from sports like rugby) | |
| Feb 25, 2016 at 2:22 | history | edited | FumbleFingers | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 25, 2016 at 2:22 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | What @DCShannon said. I'm in a nit-picky mood, so I'm downvoting because if the etymology of a figurative usage isn't blindingly obvious, it must be explained in the actual text as presented here. | |
| Feb 25, 2016 at 1:57 | comment | added | DCShannon | @Soudabeh Might be useful to note that this phrase comes from playing cards. | |
| Feb 24, 2016 at 19:01 | history | edited | Charon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 24, 2016 at 18:52 | comment | added | Charon | @Soudabeh No problem :) please notice however that I've made a little edit to my comment. | |
| Feb 24, 2016 at 18:50 | comment | added | Charon |
I'm not sure of your context but I don't think it's idiomatic to use finally there, I'd simply say saying those discouraging words would be playing into the enemy's hands
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| Feb 24, 2016 at 18:47 | history | edited | Charon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 24, 2016 at 18:45 | comment | added | Soudabeh | Thanks for your quick reply,@Charon. Can I say "Those discouraging words would finally play into the enemy's hand"? | |
| Feb 24, 2016 at 18:40 | history | answered | Charon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |