Turn Of Phrase

There’s a phrase I enjoy (in modified form) to describe when my middle daughter employs her black arts to irritate me in some simple, but effective way: “She has my goat in her pocket.”
     The classic saying, “to get your goat,” basically means: to irritate; annoy; make someone feel bad; a successful tease.
     According to several sources, including idiom.com and The Phrase Finder, its idiomatic debut stems from a story reporting on a burst water pipe in The Stevens Point Daily Journal, a newspaper in Wisconsin, from May 1909:
     “Wouldn’t that get your goat? We’d been transferring the same water all night from the tub to the bowl and back again.”
     Its export across the pond is listed in 1924, found within the story, “The White Monkey,” by English author John Galsworthy: “That had got the chairman’s goat! – Got his goat? What expressions they utilized these days!”

[Read more…] about To ‘Get Your Goat’

In sailing nomenclature, ‘sheet’ is the term for a rope used to secure the trim of a sail. In this context, a sail is left hanging free, leaving it to flap in the wind rather than catch the breeze; if both sails are flailing — and you add a third, useless sail, for hyperbolic effect — it means someone hasn’t just imbibed … they’re wasted!

Say you’re a chef making soup … we’ll pick chicken soup. We agree there are structural principals, let’s call them “rules,” to follow when making chicken soup: you need water, a chicken and some vegetables. 

Sticking with just the rules would, in fact, produce chicken soup; but, would it be tasty? It’s possible (yet unlikely).

Writers have access to spice — one is called “turn of phrase” — and when used effectively it can make good writing great. Using a turn of phrase can help establish your “writer’s voice,” much like the spice in your soup becomes your “chef’s signature.”

Writing’s rules (e.g. grammar, syntax, and punctuation) govern its foundational structure. Each is a necessary component for effective communication. Throw in a good turn of phrase and — POW — you’ve given your writing some flavor … zest … punch!

My preamble concluded, the turn of phrase I chose to share today is “Hobson’s choice.”

[Read more…] about ‘Hobson’s Choice’