To Keep Something Coming, Make My Day, Forcing Something, Turning The Page

To Keep Something Coming
If someone says, keep X coming, this is an invitation to bring more of that thing.

Example: Brian's boss is very pleased with the work Brian has been doing for their insurance company. Brian's boss tells Brian, "Excellent work. Don't stop. Keep it coming." Brian knows his boss is strongly urging him to keep doing excellent work.


"Make My Day"
Doubling as a famous quote, "Make my day" is urging someone else to provide an excuse for a violent confrontation, which will provide pleasure to the speaker. This may or may not be used as a bluff.

More broadly, if something makes your day, it has made the day a good one.

Example 1: "Sure, throw the first punch. Make my day. I'll enjoy hitting you back."

Example 2: "I just got a call from my Uncle Jack. I haven't heard from him in two years. It really made my day! I wish he'd call more often."


Forcing Something
Literally, to force something into a suitcase (for example) would be to push and push to squeeze clothing into the suitcase. This is despite the clothing not being properly packed to fit inside the suitcase's size.

Figuratively, to force something is to attempt to succeed by effort where an action is not appropriate, suitable, or comfortable.

Example: Violet is planning to visit her sister Maggie, and Maggie's husband, Joe. Violet loves her sister but despises Joe, holding great contempt for him. Violet's friend Sarah says to Violet, "You shouldn't force yourself to be nice to him. He's a jerk." Violet replies, "Yes, but he's married to my sister. I don't want to cause trouble for her."

As in this example, people can force themselves figuratively to do something, or attempt to do something, that is against their natures and their desires, either for their own sakes or the sakes of others.


Turning The Page
Figuratively speaking, to "turn the page" on something is to leave an event or series of events behind and continue on with life.

If one phase of a series of events can be likened to a page, to turn the page is to make that series of events into history. This seeks to express that there has been some kind of fundamental shift, an irreversible change that marks a new phase in life.

Example: On August 31, 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama declared an end to U.S. combat operations in Iraq in accordance with its Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq. In doing so, Obama's staff told the news media that he would absolutely not use the words Mission Accomplished in regards to Iraq. (A careful reader of my post on "Mission Accomplished" will note that technically, President Bush did not speak the words either. They were simply on a highly visible banner.)

Instead, President Obama said, "It is time to turn the page." This wording was intended to convey that a new phase had begun in Iraq, a phase intended to be different from the old one, and better than the old one. However, even though the words are different, the meaning of "time to turn the page" and "Mission Accomplished" is extremely close, to the point of being virtually identical. It is obviously the hope of the Obama administration that listeners will view Obama's statement as having the "proper" meaning without being "tainted" by a phrase using different words, with an identical meaning, used years earlier in a way that was thought, in hindsight, to be unwise and improper.

In other words, this time, we really mean it.

➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary .