Idioms About Units of Measure

Idioms About Units of Measure Idioms About Units of Measure Idioms About Units of Measure By Mark Nichol A number of idiomatic expressions refer (often hyperbolically, or with lighthearted exaggeration) to units of English measure to describe something figuratively or make an observation. This post lists and explains many such phrases. To be â€Å"every inch a (something)† or â€Å"every inch the (something)† is to so closely match a stereotypical look or embody a trait that the comparison holds thoroughly, figuratively, from beginning to end. â€Å"Within an inch of (one’s) life† means â€Å"to an extreme degree†; to beat someone to within an inch of that person’s life is to physically attack that person so severely that he or she is very close to (figuratively, an inch away from) death. To move by inches, or inch by inch, or to inch along (or inch one’s way along) is to progress very slowly, in very short increments, whether literally or figuratively. (Other prepositions may, depending on the context, replace along.) â€Å"Come within an inch of† refers figuratively to very nearly accomplishing a goal or experiencing something. The phrase â€Å"every inch† (sometimes â€Å"every square inch†) hyperbolically refers to complete coverage, as in â€Å"Every inch of the room was strewn with toys.† To say â€Å"Give (someone) an inch and (that person) will take a mile† is to express that someone given a modest concession will take advantage to extract more from the giver. â€Å"Give an inch,† on its own (or â€Å"Budge an inch† or â€Å"Move an inch†), is usually part of a statement alluding to someone’s unwillingness to compromise, as in â€Å"You never give an inch.† To say that someone does not trust someone else an inch is to express an utter lack of faith in that person. Something that is inch-perfect is extremely accurate or well judged. Idioms that include the word foot almost invariably pertain to the anatomic feature rather than the unit of measurement, but to say that one would not touch a person or a thing with a ten-foot pole suggests in no uncertain terms that one does not want to be associated with that person or thing. The phrase â€Å"all wool and a yard wide† alludes to the high quality of a person or an object, while to say that someone goes or went â€Å"the whole nine yards† expresses that the person is or was very thorough in accomplishing something. A country mile is a longer-than-expected distance, perhaps from the notion that traveling a mile in a rural area seems longer than passing over that distance in a more congested area. The expression â€Å"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step† expresses that a formidable task is easily begun by focusing on a small initial effort. â€Å"A mile a minute† suggests doing something, such as talking, at extreme speed in a state of excitement. To say that someone can detect or observe something from a mile away hyperbolically suggests that the thing is easily noticed; however, to say that someone is miles away (or a million miles away) is to note that the person is preococcupied and not attending to a nearby activity, while to be miles from anywhere or nowhere is to literally be physically isolated. Saying that someone is a mile off or missed by a mile means that the person is mistaken or wrong to a great degree; the latter can also literally refer to someone missing a target by far or being very inaccurate in aim. â€Å"A miss is as good as a mile† means that a small failure is as just as significant as a large one. To be miles apart from agreement suggests that the parties are very much opposed. The phrase â€Å"by a mile† refers hyperbolically to accomplishing or failing to accomplish something by a significant amount. â€Å"For miles† (and â€Å"for miles and miles†), however, neutrally refers to at least several miles in such statements as â€Å"The property extends for miles in each direction.† To go the extra mile is to make greater effort than is required, while something that stands out or sticks out a mile is extremely obvious. â€Å"More bounce for the ounce† is slang referring to getting more value for one’s money with one product or investment than another. â€Å"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure† means that a minimal amount of forethought has the same value as a significant expenditure of effort to resolve an issue that developed because of lack of foresight. Other comparisons are made between commonsense and theory and between discretion and wit (in the latter case, encouraging people to withhold clever comments that may embarrass another person). To pack or pile on the pounds is to quickly gain weight. The phrase â€Å"pound for pound† means â€Å"considering the weight involved.† (In combat sports such as boxing, participants who compete in different weight classes are sometimes ranked in skills according to various criteria; this type of ranking is called â€Å"pound for pound.†) â€Å"Pound of flesh,† from Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, alludes to an unreasonable debt, based on the character Shylock’s insistence on receiving a pound of flesh that a borrower agreed, with overconfidence, to surrender as collateral. The phrase â€Å"800-pound gorilla† refers metaphorically to an entity so powerful that it can ignore limitations others are bound to. (It alludes to the riddle â€Å"Where does an 800-pound gorilla sit?† the answer to which is â€Å"Wherever it wants.) The phrase â€Å"come down on (one) like a ton of bricks† figuratively expresses that punishment will be or has been dealt out severely, as if the person being punished was or will be buried beneath a crushing weight. When someone refers to â€Å"tons of† something, he or she is hyperbolically expressing abundance. To say that something â€Å"weighs a ton† is to exaggerate the weight of an object that must be carried or lifted that is unexpectedly or excessively heavy. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a UK Business LetterAbstract Nouns from Adjectives5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation

Sex Education is the Only Way to Eliminate Many Issues, Including Teen Pregnancy

Sex Education is the Only Way to Eliminate Many Issues, Including Teen Pregnancy Sex Education – Teach It! Every society has its array of problems. Rape, incest, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are just a few examples of societal issues regarding sexual intercourse between human beings. Thankfully, sex education is incorporated into many curriculums all over the world – teaching preteens about the birds and the bees, about the reproductive systems, etc. – and it’s certainly effective in cutting down on these problems; but sex education does not and cannot on its own eradicate rape, incest, teen pregnancy, and STDs; it needs the help of two other elements, as well: 1) Legalizing prostitution between consenting adults should not only be legal but encouraged. 2) Every school district in the world should teach middle and high school students personal finance, success planning, and entrepreneurial skills. A World Void of Sex Education Would Change the Way Humans Live Sex education is certainly a big piece of the pie. Without it, there is no direction in which to steer one’s life; a world void of sex education would change the way humans live – people’s lives would be entirely reactive, rather than proactive. With no sex education, it would be normal for 13-year-olds to give birth; or for men to rape others; for people not to practice safe-sex methods and use contraceptives, and then get abortions as frequent as flu shots, or even contract and spread sexually transmitted diseases like colds. But, no – we in America begin sex education generally around our fourth-grade year in school, just a year or two before puberty sets in. There may be some Family Health segments in the middle-school curriculum, but by the time we enter high school, we no longer see sex education in the classroom. That is a problem in the effort to eliminate these major problems that most societies face. Do you want to eliminate these problems in society? Then also legalize prostitution for adults, age 18 and up. The world should use the Netherlands as an example. Cities like Amsterdam have â€Å"red light† districts, with prostitutes, exotic dancers, and peep shows. The government regulates the field like any health job – with health checks, certain health standards, and codes, and so on. If countries were to enact laws legalizing prostitution (the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment), then the number of rapes, instances of incest and STDs would plummet. When adults have quick access to sexual intercourse, they satisfy a powerfully motivating instinct, one that too many people cannot reason within, and so they rape others; or people (teens included) have impulsive, random sex with strangers, then contract AIDS. In addition to sex education, legal prostitution would eliminate many problems in society. It should be legal and eve n encouraged, especially when it comes to sex-hungry young adults. Sex Education Doesn’t Solve Everything In addition to sex education, school systems should also incorporate courses that teach middle and high school students the principles of success, of life planning, goals, business and entrepreneurship and personal finance. This would help cut down on, if not one day completely eradicate, various societal problems – such as teen pregnancies, for one, because it would encourage and train students to look way into the future to see what kind of life they wanted to live, the career they wanted to have, the person they wanted to be. They would see their future and make goals for success and develop a plan that gets them to this objective – and most times, they will see that having a child too young and starting a family before they even finish college is a life full of financial and emotional strain. These courses would help students take control of their lives, planning them out step by step and making goals for themselves to ensure their success. This would certainly cut down on problems like teen pregnancy and unprotected sex. Let’s conclude this argument by saying once again that sex education is of course an effective method in preventing such issues like teen pregnancy, but there is more to it than that. Equally important is the legalization of prostitution, which would cut down on rape, incest and other sexually related crimes: people would have the option of paying for their sex, and it’s more humane than them taking their sex, stealing it from the protesting bodies of unwilling people. Also, when we teach young people how to have success, they don’t make bad decisions, such as an unwanted pregnancy.