5

I don't know in the sentence I will refer to, what does "Lance Armstrong your way" mean, is there any irony or not? The situation is between a man and a woman, and the man wants to deny a mistake he had made. Her friend had heard a sentence which the man had said, and then the woman says:

She was in the other room, you bastard! In the next room, ok, so don't try and Lance Armstrong your way outta this one!

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    It could just as well be Don't try and Lenny Bruce your way outta this one. He said, "In fact, if your old lady walks in on you, deny it. Yeah. Just flat out and she'll believe it: "I'm tellin' ya. This chick came downstairs with a sign around her neck `Lay On Top Of Me Or I'll Die'. I didn't know what I was gonna do..."
    – bib
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 21:37
  • 2
    You should try concocting adhoc allegorical idioms yourself. For example - Don't try a George W Bush on us. - Please don't try any Bill Clinton maneuver on that intern. - I am afraid she is going on a Mary Kay Letourneau on one of her students. - Mum, eating breakfast you make is like chewing on newspaper. - In presenting yourself as the persona of this company, would you be attempting a Steve Jobs or a Mark Zuckerberg?
    – Blessed Geek
    Commented Sep 20, 2013 at 9:06

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

A common phrase is "Don't lie your way out of this one" or "You can't just think your way out of this one", which mean "Don't lie in order to resolve this situation" and "Just thinking won't resolve this situation" respectively.

The writer verbifies (i.e. using a non-verb as a verb) "Lance Armstrong" to mean "act in such a way that lance armstrong would act." This is pretty ambiguous, but this could be referring to him being accused of taking performance enhancing drugs and him denying it.

Improve this answer
2
  • 3
    I'm not an avid sports fan - in fact, I've no idea what particular sport Lance Armstrong is famous for. But I do know he's famous for lying about his use of drugs. More specifically, perhaps, he's famous for being accused of lying, since I also have no idea whether the accusations are true. Anyway, my point is I seriously doubt anyone would "verbify" his name with any other meaning.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 20:43
  • 4
    Armstrong is (or was, as he is banned) a competitive cyclist whose incessant denials of use of performance enhancing drugs went even to the extent of a suit under the favorable English libel law. (The suit was settled with Armstrong receiving 300,000 pounds.) The accusations were, however, true.
    – Andrew Lazarus
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 20:50
9

I'd interpret this as a newfangled way of saying:

"Don't try to weasel your way out of this one."

As a verb, to weasel means to obtain some sort of personal gain through questionable behavior. Some dictionaries also list weasel out as a phrasal verb; Collins defines it as:

to evade a responsibility, esp. in a despicable manner

As a noun, a weasel can be a devious or sneaky person.

So, in the wake of the doping scandal, Lance Armstrong is an outed weasel. He denied allegations for several years, but that was found to be all lies. So, substitute "Lance Armstrong" for "weasel," and we've got the quote you presented to us.

I don't think it's an establish idiom yet, but it has some potential.

Improve this answer
3
  • 2
    I am not sure that weasel is the right word. He wasn't really sneaky and everyone knew he was lying for a long time. I would think the term needed would need to reflect the power that he had and the fact that he was using his power to negotiate facts.
    – Tom
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 21:45
  • 1
    @Tom - I didn't mean it's an exact match, but I do think the O.P. is asking about a variant of the phrase weasel your way out of.
    – J.R.
    Commented Sep 20, 2013 at 0:57
  • 1
    FWIW, I think to Lance Armstrong is needed precisely because weasel means to Clintonesquely redefine terms or to Blairily change the accusation to a less dangerous one, whereas Armstrong unblushingly faced down his accusers with a Goebbelian Big Lie.
    – Tim Lymington
    Commented Sep 20, 2013 at 13:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .