[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.(See also, gloves off.) In the Washington Post example, the speaker was explaining India's strong laws protecting workers.Examples of this idiom can be found in the 1800's.Now it may confuse people because of the different but more frequently-used meaning of kid—child—and its derivatives such as kidflick (a movie for children), kidvid (a video for children) and kid stuff (suitable for children or trivial).■■■■■■kill two birds with one stoneIf you're sending photos from your computer to a frame, you can also send photos at the same time to places like Facebook or Twitter to kill two birds with one stone.—The Wall Street Journal (blog, 7/1/2011)"I figured I could kill two birds with one stone," she said."I can have the fish and I could have vegetables as well." —dvidshub.net (4/29/2012)Nonetheless, they begin to inflate their perception of their competence at problem solving.This kills two birds with one stone.They don't feel guilty for having cheated, and since they've forgotten about the cheating, they feel better about their performance.—The Washington Post (8/10/2012)Killing two birds with one stone means accomplishing two goals with one action.The expression is so well known that it is sometimes shortened to kill two birds.Killing birds with stones was an ancient activity, and English is not the only language in which this idiom exists.In 1656, Thomas Hobbes wrote: "to kill two birds with one stone, and satisfy two arguments with one answer."■■■■■■kiss up to, suck up to, kiss ass, brown nose, brownie pointsInstead of raising taxes on the rich, they see him kissing up to corporate interests.—Sacramento Bee (4/11/2011)But it just feels unseemly for the Fed, the world's most powerful central bank.to be trying to kiss up to the public.—The Washington Post (3/31/2011)"When you're an auditor who's trying to protect a long-term relationship, you have to suck up to the client, and the client knows it." —The Wall Street Journal (1/14/2012).surrounded by brown-nose courtiers whose well-being hinges on presidential favor, he must have succumbed to megalomania.—American Thinker (8/19/2013)Sprint and Kyocera deserve brownie points for coming up with an innovative design.The device feels sturdy.—USA Today (4/12/2011)Kiss up means flatter; be excessively nice to gain favor, as in "kiss up to the boss."The expression came into use sometime after 1950, perhaps as a more polite version of kiss ass.An older phrase with a similar meaning is suck up to, which has been traced to the 1860's.Another expression with the same meaning is brown nose.The phrase is widely considered acceptable because its vulgar origin is mostly forgotten.It is used as an adjective in the American Thinker example.The noun form, referring to a person, is brown noser.A related phrase is brownie points: imaginary credit earned by a person who does something to win favor.Some people now use brownie points simply as a synonym for praise, as in the USA Today example.■■■■■■kitchen sinkDudchik's strength is his kitchen-sink approach, not his insistence on high quality.—The Hartford Courant (10/23/2011)Traders "tend to think that they're going to throw the kitchen sink [at the problem]".—Dow Jones Newswires (10/21/2011)Typical of Ives' everything-and-the-kitchen-sink style of composing, he weaves into his sonatas various snippets of Americana, little quotes from old hymn tunes and folk songs.—NPR (10/21/2011)A variety of phrases that include kitchen sink are based on the expression everything but the kitchen sink, which means almost everything you can imagine.A common form of the expression is "throw everything but the kitchen sink," meaning attack in an unrestrained way.This was often changed to "everything including the kitchen sink." These and similar phrases were used so frequently that kitchen sink became an adjective, as in the Hartford Courant example.The earliest example in my searches is in a 1926 news story:.the wealthy 52-year-old real estate man.ironed out some of his difficulties with "Peaches," who fled his sumptuous apartment taking with her everything but the kitchen sink.—Dubuque Telegraph-Herald (10/31/1926)■■■■■■knee-jerkRemember, when someone upsets you, the first response that comes to mind is usually a bad one.Self-defense instructors call this a "knee-jerk response." —Silver City Sun-News (8/10/2011)"One of the things I hope we don't see from our federal government is this knee-jerk reaction from Washington, D.C." —Texas Governor Rick Perry, referring to new gun-control legislation.(12/18/2012)"You shouldn't have a knee-jerk reaction to anything that comes across Twitter." —Keith Bliss, a brokerage executive, after a false news report caused a sudden drop in stock prices (4/23/2013)"The sort of knee-jerk reaction to anything that President Obama proposes.is not reflective of all Republicans on Capitol Hill." —Jay Carney, press secretary to President Obama (7/31/2013)A knee-jerk reaction or response means doing or thinking something automatically, without thinking about it carefully.The phrases are metaphors based on a familiar medical test: a doctor taps the front of a patient's knee with a soft hammer, causing the leg to jerk forward if the patient has normal reflexes.During the 1960's and 1970's, knee-jerk liberal was a common expression among conservatives.Liberals sometimes retaliated with knee-jerk conservative.Knee-jerk is sometimes used with other words to indicate lack of thinking, or automatic action:The stock markets have gone down, but they have been looking more solid after an initial knee-jerk plunge.—Knowledge@Wharton Today (8/10/2011)Knee-jerk, referring to the medical test, has been used since the 1870's.Isolated examples of knee-jerk used metaphorically have been found as early as the 1920's, but the idiom doesn't appear to have become common until after the 1950's.■■■■■■knock (someone's) socks off"I think there's a chance that Huntsman is going to be a sort of Republican version of Obama with all the positives and negatives that entails.He can give you an analysis of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party that will knock your socks off." —The Wall Street Journal (6/30/2011)The Albondigas ($12), plump lamb meatballs served in a lovely, complex gravy with shaved Manchego, knocked our socks off.—reataurant review, The Palm Beach Post (4/22/2012)Russia wants to knock your socks off.Denmark is stylish and sophisticated.Ireland is up for a party—on a budget.There are more than 200 countries at the Olympics, and they have two ways to stand out.One is on the medal podium—the other is by partying.—Associated Press (8/2/2012)If something knocks your socks off, it is unusually impressive or exciting or amazing.An 1845 example cited by the Oxford English Dictionary refers to fighting ("You must knock the socks off those Old School folks! ") but I could find nothing to explain the origin.■■■■■■knock on wood"It's a formula that has, knock wood, stood the test of time." —Zap2It (4/28/2011)And so far, knock on wood, there hasn't yet been a massive downdraft for the whole market quite like that event last year.—(8/2/2011)"[The Occupy Orlando protest is] catching people's imagination and also, knock on wood, nothing sort of negative or discrediting has happened." —Associated Press (10/19/2011)"For my career, I hope, knock on wood, that it happens but.I'm not going to cry myself to sleep if it doesn't." —Jennifer Lawrence, when asked if she thought about winning an Academy Award (2/24/2013, before she won the award)Some people believe that knocking on wood will prevent bad luck [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]