PE 12/12 Figure Skating versus Ice Hockey

Whoa! Hold your horses! The hockey game is on and I’m watching it.

* hold one’s horses: to stop what one is doing; patiently wait before doing something

ex> Hold your horses, I’m almost done and then we can leave for the party.

Note> To “hold one’s horses” means to prevent one’s team of horses from running out of control. The expression first appeared in Homer’s Iliad.

Hockey? That’s such a barbaric sport. Figure skating, now there’s a real sport. So graceful and controlled.

* barbaric: uncivilized; violent

= brutal; savage; ruthless

ex> The way we treat some animals is barbaric.

I’d better just button my lips at this point.

* button one’s lip: to be quiet; stop speaking

Ex> When my mom makes a bad dinner, sometimes I have to button my lip so I don’t upset her.

Note> Sometimes the expression “zip your lip” is used.

What were you going to say? Come one, spit it out. I can already guess what you’re going to say.

* spit it out: to say what one is hesitating to say

ex> It is hard to get a teenager to spit it out when he is keeping a secret.

I think you’re missing the point. Hockey is a high-adrenaline sport, so there are bound to be some frayed tempers. But these guys go backwards at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour and can stop on a dime!

* miss the point: to not understand the main intention of what was said

ex> When talking to my children, they tend to miss the point of my conversation or argument.