Windows

Posted by Henry on December 09, 2003

In Reply to: Windows posted by ESC on December 08, 2003

: : : I am looking for metaphors that equate to "window of opportunity"

: : : Where did that come from?

: : Strike while the iron is hot.
: : Make hay while the sun shines.

: This reference had a long passage about the term. It said, in part:

: WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY - "availability for action or attack. Space jargon provided the source for the term 'launch window' in the mid-1960s.Another metaphoric 'window' comes from the positioning of bank tellers at one time behind barred windows. The nation's 'credit window' referred to the Federal Reserve's willingness to offer credit; the 'gold window' named the Treasury's willingness to convert gold into dollars. From these 'windows' came the sense of 'small space or short period to get something accomplished.' The phrase 'window of vulnerability' appeared in the 1970s.'Window of opportunity' describes the view from the other side of that window, providing the chance to pass through an opening in space or time. 'Time' magazine first reported the phrase in its November 12, 1979, issue: 'Frank Barnett of the National Strategy Information Center, a hawkish think tank, warned of a 'Soviet window of opportunity' in the 1980s.' The optimism of the 1980s made the phrase popular." From Safire's New Political Dictionary by William Safire (Random House, New York, 1993).

There are weather windows too.