Jokowi Center, a team of volunteers helping Joko gather suggestions and examine candidates for his cabinet lineup, launched a poll on its website jokowicenter.com on Thursday, allowing Indonesians nationwide to cast their votes for names provided by the site, or nominate their own favorites.>>
WITHIN A WHISKER means very close but not actually happening. And to CRY FOUL is to allege unfairness. Jakarta Globe: <<Indonesia’s outgoing leader on Monday came within a whisker of telling retired general Prabowo Subianto to admit defeat so that the country’s most bitterly fought leadership contest could be resolved.
Prabowo has almost certainly lost the July 9 election but on Sunday cried foul and demanded the General Elections Commission (KPU) investigate vote cheating before he would accept its result. The commission is due to announce the result on Tuesday.
“Admitting defeat is noble,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters in a clear reference to Prabowo.>>
ON THE ROPES: failing, almost defeated. The idiom comes from boxing. The National (Abu Dhabi): <<This latest return has not solely been fuelled by appetite for his music. Mooted since 2006, the eventual delivery in October 2013 of Morrissey’s memoir Autobiography ratcheted up, with fortuitous timing, wider interest in a career that seemed on the ropes—though a big concert draw, Morrissey had been without a record deal for four years.>>
A DARK HORSE is a candidate or competitor that is not expected to do well but suddenly emerges with a serious chance to win. France was considered a dark horse in the World Cup competition, but today they have a chance to advance to the semifinal round.
PUT THE KIBOSH ON (pronounced with a long I, accent on the first syllable): to stop something. Jakarta Globe: <<Jakarta. Acting Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has put the kibosh on a proposal submitted by city councilors to fly to the United States on a study trip.
“They are proposing an overseas visit, to the United States. I don’t know how many people, but they won’t be regional councilors soon – so why would they want to go there?” Basuki said.>>
SHOOT FROM THE HIP: act quickly based on one's feelings, speak without closely considering one's words. Of American origin but now more widely used. Forbes: <<If you ask executives whether they study the available data before making an important decision or just shoot from the hip, it’s likely that just about every one will say they take the data-driven approach. A study reveals the fascinating truth: decision-makers do indeed look at the data, but only one out of ten does what the data suggests if it contradicts his or her gut feeling!>>
➤ Book of Idioms
➤ Idioms about Animals
➤ Idioms of Expression
➤ Idioms on Food
➤ Idiomatic Expressions
➤ Origin of Idioms
➤ Proverbs
➤ Idioms on Situation
➤ Idioms on Temperature
