20 March 2008
Port Louis — Hello and welcome again to the English Language Clinic. In last week's article, I discussed the modern meanings of several expressions.
At the end of the article, I asked if you knew the meanings of three other phrases. The first of these was 'upskill'. Used as both a noun and verb, to 'upskill' is either to teach an employee a new skill or to learn a new skill. The second term was 'wedge issue'. This is a common term in American English and describes a divisive (likely to divide) political issue, raised by one party to divide the supporters of another party.
The final expression I mentioned was 'the elephant in the room'. This refers to a substantial and controversial issue, which is obvious to all but is not talked about in order to avoid an uncomfortable situation. This is an example of a metaphorical idiom; imagine an elephant standing in the middle of an office, yet nobody mentioning its presence!
There are a number of idioms in English, which convey an opposite meaning to the metaphor of the ignored elephant. Both 'a storm in a teacup' and 'making a mountain out of a molehill' describe the sense that a small and relatively trivial problem has been treated with a disproportionate amount of attention. In both cases the issue in question could be described as having been 'blown out of all proportion', or that those involved have 'made a meal out of it'.
Please send your comments, queries and questions to "Dr Danny" by emailing the following address p.etienne@lexpress.mu
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