Book of Idioms, Episode 21

AYS ARE NUMBERED: If your days are numbered, that means you are going to die soon. The idiom is also used for physical things or abstract entities: The central bank has been trying to stimulate the economy for several years, but the days of that policy are numbered. Bangkok Post: <<Unless we're suffering a terminal disease or are badly injured in an accident that signals our days are numbered, we can't possibly know when we're going to die.>>


THE MAIN DRAG: the most important street in a town, or a part of town. This expression is North American (I think). Detroit Free Press: <<Kebabs can also be had in sandwich form for just $3, which means that Iraqi Kabob, located on Dearbon’s main Arab-American drag, is not only incredibly tasty, it’s also an incredible deal. >>


Since we had LEARN THE ROPES yesterday, here's another rope idiom from reader Tomas Patarcic: ON THE ROPES, almost defeated. This idiom comes from boxing. From a news report on American immigration reform: <<Just when immigration reform seemed on the ropes, it got a big push forward -- from (Senator) Kelly Ayotte and (Representative) John Boehner.


MONEY TALKS: wealth and financial incentives influence people's decision-making. The Age (Australia): <<Even so, and without the government continuing to pour millions into teaching Japanese, [Japan] still ranks among Australia's top trade partners.

The reason is an old truism: money talks. Capitalism is a unifying global language—the pursuit of profit and the relentless search for new markets.>>


TO KNOW A PLACE LIKE THE BACK OF ONE'S HAND: to be very familiar with that place. China Post: <<I once knew Taoyuan — a fast-gentrifying smokestack city southwest of Taipei — like the back of my hand having lived here six years ago: the dense, traffic-wracked avenues stacked with turreted apartment towers, noodle shops, night markets and 7-Elevens.>>


CALLED ON THE CARPET: held accountable, asked to explain wrongdoing. New York Daily News: <<Hillcrest High School teacher Bernadette Camacho, 40, had been called on the carpet for yelling at her students, and then made matters worse by offering good grades to one of her students if she’d tell investigators nice things about her. The student refused.>>


BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE: following the wrong path in an enterprise, making an incorrect assumption.
New York Times CEO, quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek: <<In fact the launch of the pay model is the most important and most successful business decision made by the New York Times in many years. We have around 700,000 paid digital subscribers across the company’s products so far and a new nine-figure revenue-stream which is still growing. Much of the rest of the U.S.newspaper industry is now FOLLOWING SUIT [doing the same thing]. And developing this pay model, launching a suite of new subscription products to attract additional new subscribers, is central to our plans for the future.

What’s interesting, though, was that initial widespread skepticism: “It won’t work. It’s mad. They’re barking up the wrong tree.”>>


THROW A WRENCH INTO (or throw a monkey wrench into): to make something fail, to try to disrupt something. Oregonian (Portland): <<t’s unlikely Nike will relinquish a portion of land under the Bonneville Power Administration’s power lines for public use, said county and parks officials Tuesday at an open house for the development of the Westside Trail. ...

And this could throw a wrench in Metro’s plan to connect the gaps in the Westside Trail. In the latest master plan developed by the regional planning agency, the $30 million, multi-use trail would stretch 25 miles north-south, from the Willamette River near Forest Park to the Tualatin River at Tigard and King City. >>


HEADS WILL ROLL: people will be fired (or, in the U.S., CANNED). All our jobs are safe for now, but I'll tell you this—if profits don't improve next quarter, heads will roll.


RED TAPE: difficult bureaucratic obstacles. Jakarta Post: <<Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo says he will establish a special body to handle all investment permit-related processes under one roof, following complaints [about] red tape surrounding the setting up of a business.

Having sliced the procedure from around five months to a mere 26 days during his tenure as mayor in Surakarta, Central Java, Jokowi says he is optimistic the same could be applied here.>>


If something DOES NOT PASS THE SMELL TEST or FAILS THE SMELL TEST (the expression is generally used in the negative), it seems illegitimate or fraudulent. Mostly North American, but here's an example from the Dhaka Tribune: <<The government’s closing down transmission of Diganta Television and Islamic TV, alongside the raid on the Hefazat-e-Islam protesters camped out at Shapla Chattar in the early hours of May 6, raises questions about its respect for press freedom and simply does not pass the smell test.>>

➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary . You might also like ⏬

➤ Book of Idioms

➤ Idioms about Animals

➤ Idioms of Expression

➤ Idioms on Food

➤ Idiomatic Expressions

➤ Origin of Idioms

➤ Proverbs

➤ Idioms on Situation

➤ Idioms on Temperature