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Through The Barrel Of A Gun
In politics, using English, the expression through the barrel of a gun means only one thing: through the use of armed violence; the opposite of peaceful, lawful politics.
Example: (Warning! Quotation does not imply endorsement of claims) (Subject: Sudan) "Abdullahi al-Azreg, Sudan's ambassador to London, dismissed predictions of looming mayhem as insulting and exaggerated but admitted there were serious problems. ..."The SPLM is ruling the south through the barrel of a gun. It is intimidating the voters," he said. "The last election [in the south in April] was not fair, it was not transparent, it was rigged. If the referendum is the same, we could not accept it, we would reject it. If there was fraud, we would say so straight."
This is to say, the south of Sudan is (according to this ambassador) being ruled through (in his view) illegitimate armed violence. When "the barrel of a gun" is used, organized armed violence is usually implied.
(Quoted from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/18/us-pragmatism-sudan-fading)
Man Up
A phrase entering greater popularity is man up, an idiom urging the other party to behave in a less submissive manner.
Example: The best example is from the recent debate between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and challenger Sharon Angle, where Angle urged Reid to "man up" and face the United States' long-term financial issues. This implies that Senator Reid was hiding from these problems rather than face them.
The implication, particularly if the target of the idiom is a man, is that the target has been behaving in an "unmanly," cowardly, timid, "chicken" manner. Unsurprisingly, this implication is considered insulting.
➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary .
