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| A Smooth Sailing |
Smooth Sailing
The opposite of rough sailing, smooth sailing implies particularly easy progress with little effort required.
Smooth sailing would be sailing in calm waters.
Example: In a normal election year, incumbent politicians (those who are running for re-election) usually have smooth sailing when running against their challengers. Incumbents generally raise much more money than those who would challenge them; failing this, they have established political connections, name recognition, and existing public support. The 2010 mid-term elections appear to be an exception to this general rule; incumbents are endangered by widespread dissatisfaction with the government and its management of the stagnant U.S. economy.
Rough Sailing
Rough sailing is an abbreviation for rough weather sailing or sailing in rough waters. This gives the impression of very difficult progress requiring much greater effort than normal progress.
Example: Thanks to widespread disaffection with Congress and the generally poor state of the national U.S. economy, Democrats have rough sailing ahead of them as they approach the mid-term elections in November. While dissatisfaction with both parties is high, Democrats, who enjoy majorities in the House and Senate, possess power, and therefore, have much more to lose from general dissatisfaction with government.
Sailing To Victory
Figuratively, to sail to victory is to achieve victory easily, with little effort.
As a sailboat seems to move gracefully and with little effort - certainly less effort than rowing - sailing has become an idiom, in general, for success with minimal effort.
Example: Unions and other groups forming the core of the United States' Democratic Party believe that if President Obama implemented the policies that they (unions etc.) advocate, the Democrats would be sailing to victory in the mid-term elections.
President Obama has implemented far less than what these groups advocate, however. This has left these core Democratic Party voters depressed, frustrated, angry and less likely to vote for Democratic Party candidates. These voters and groups, convinced that they are crucial to victory, claim that this state of affairs makes victory far less likely.
Going Solar
To go solar is to convert a house so that it will collect solar energy through the use of solar energy panels (or some kind of equivalent). It does not imply powering a house by electrical power alone, but suggests a great effort to maximize the percentage of power drawn from solar energy. The most reliable use of this energy is often to heat water.
Example: The White House, under President Obama, recently announced that it would place solar energy panels on the roof of the White House for the purpose of solar energy collection. Major media outlets widely reported that the White House was going solar, with the same meaning.
Note that this is not the first time the White House has been the site of solar panels; President Jimmy Carter was the first to do so. Solar panels were also used by President Bush (Sr.) for heating water in a limited capacity. Other recent presidents have shunned the appearance of transforming a national monument into an experiment.
Zombie Banks
A "zombie" is a fictional undead creature, usually the animated corpse of a human being. A zombie is among "the living dead," something that is neither fully dead, nor alive in any normal sense.
Thus, a "zombie bank" is a bank which is technically "alive" (i.e. not in bankruptcy) but which is incapable of meaningful, productive, or new financial activity. Such a bank may exist, but it does not truly live.
Examples can be found from most major sources of news during the last few years. The "zombie bank" phenomenon creates demand for clarity and honesty about banks which report that they are healthy, but which have hidden liabilities that make them into the walking dead, that is, walking, but not with any life in them.
➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary .
