Re: Painting somebody into corner

Posted by ESC on June 17, 2006

In Reply to: Re: Painting somebody into corner posted by Bob on June 16, 2006

: : : : What is the meaning of " Painting somebody into corner"?

: : : I think it is usually 'painting one's self into a corner' but that is probably of little importance.

: : : Picture the scene: you want to paint the floor of a room. You start at the door, moving backwards, painting as you go. You will reach a corner, with everything in front of you painted, and you are unable to get out, as you are backed into a corner (another idiom).

: : : Hence, 'you have painted yourself into a corner' means that you have done something which means that you are in a position from which you can't extricate yourself.

: : : DFG

: Politicians do it all the time: they make campaign promises, and find they can't deliver. It's not a serious problem to magically extract themselves: voters have a very short attention span. "The best argument against democracy," someone (Churchill?) said, "is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

Let your mouth write a check that your a** can't cash.