a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down »
An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant when a pleasant aspect is deliberately introduced.1999, Eli Yassif, The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253335833, page 372,One is known as the "sweetening parable," that is to say a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Thus, when the aim is to preach to the people, to guide them along the "bitter," arduous path of upholding burdensome precepts and prohibitions, a tale can lighten the load, make the "medicine" easier "to swallow."2001, Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir, Little, Brown, ISBN 0316736368, page 319,It put some fun into the tedious business of preparing for a presidential debate. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, right?2004, John Hoover, How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive... Without Killing Your Boss, Career Press, ISBN 1564147045, page 11,If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a barrel of laughs can wash down the big pills you might need to swallow.
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aim at »
To design for a particular audience.
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all it's cracked up to be »
As good as claims or reputation would suggest.
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ask for the moon »
To claim or desire something that one cannot have.
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big mouth »
The mouth of someone who talks too much, especially by making exaggerated claims or by inappropriately revealing information.
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big up »
To proclaim or exaggerate the importance of.
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bill of goods »
A set of misleading or deceptive claims; misinformation.
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boot camp »
A short, intensive, quasi-military program generally aimed at young offenders as an alternative to a jail term.
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claim to fame »
That for which one has bragging rights; one's reason for being well-known or famous.
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cue up »
The act of taking aim on the cue ball with the cue in a game of snooker, or billiards, etc.
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divide and conquer »
A combination of political, military and economic strategies that aim to gain and maintain power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy.(computing) Applied to various algorithms, such as quicksort, that solve a problem by splitting it recursively into smaller problems until all of the remaining problems are trivial.(as imperative, proverb) In order to rule securely, don't allow alliances of your enemies.
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far be it »
A disclaimer stating that the person speaking will not do something.
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full marks »
To exclaim complete satisfaction with someone's efforts.
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hatchet job »
A treatment which serves primarily to disparage its subject; a piece of criticism which aims to destroy a reputation.
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kernel of truth »
A core accuracy at the heart of a claim or narrative which also contains dubious or fictitious elements.
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