English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm reading a book in English. About emotional intelligence. When I encountered the "Proverbial Couch" phrase, I really got frustrated because I could not find the meaning in any of the dictionaries. I would appreciate if you guide me. the entire paragraph is:
Much of self-management comes down to motivation, and you can use the expectations that other people have of you as a powerful force to get you up off the proverbial couch.
Welcome to EL&U, Ali."The proverbial couch" is a reference to the term couch potato. Merriam Webster defines it as
: a lazy and inactive person especially : one who spends a great deal of time watching television
Proverbial is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as
as used in a proverb or other phrase:
So "...to get you up off the proverbial couch" means that the expectations of other people will provide you with the impetus to stop being lazy, stop being a 'couch potato' and make a success of your life.
