Reaching out — Ballet West's Peter Christie helps fifth-graders learn to love dance.
Q: In this sentence I think "Reaching out" means stretching your arm or your hand in order to touch or get something. What is your opinion?
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It looks like a headline from a newspaper article. Newspapers often embed words with a double meaning into headlines. In this case, “Reaching Out” could refer to a ballet movement as well as community service. But you don’t say where you found this, so I’m leaving a comment rather than a full-fledged answer. P.S. You might also be interested in the Stack Exchange’s community for English Language Learners.– J.R.Commented Nov 15, 2018 at 9:20
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I got that sentence from google's this address. Please refer to it and I hope you expert will give the answer about my question. deseretnews.com/article/685193195/…– FellixCommented Nov 15, 2018 at 9:34
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2 Answers
Newspaper headlines often embed puns related to the content of the article.
In the case of Reaching Out, that's a phrase that could mean a couple things:
- Literally, it means stretching out your arm – much like the woman is doing in the picture of the news article.
- Figuratively, it means offering some kind of assistance or aid, often in the form of community outreach.
The telecommunications giant Bell Telephone (now AT&T) once employed a long-time slogan which used a similar play on words:
The phrase reach out and touch suggests a literal meaning of the phrase, but, in the case of the phone company, it refers to reaching out (with a phone call) and touching someone (that is, touching their heart, by conveying a nice message).
In the news story you've cited, Peter Christie is reaching out to the community by teaching ballet, but the newspaper headline could have just as easily said:
Serving Others: Ballet West's Peter Christie helps fifth-graders learn to love dance.
However, the clever double-meaning would have been lost.
Another possible phrase would have been:
Helping Hand: Ballet West's Peter Christie helps fifth-graders learn to love dance.
However, that pun would put the focus on Christie's guiding hands, not the young ballerina's gracefully outstretched arm.
I think the editors got it right.
It's an idiomatic phrase.
reach out (to somebody):
— phrasal verb with reach
to try to communicate with a person or a group of people, usually in order to help or involve them:
The new mayor is reaching out to the local community to involve them in his plans for the city.
(cambridge)