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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a stopped clock is right twice a day »
A normally unreliable person or instrument can occasionally provide correct information, even if only by accident.
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about time »
Close to the right time.
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acid test »
A rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something.
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against the grain »
To sand or plane a piece of wood parallel or nearly parallel to the fibers such that splinters forming ahead of the tool originate below the cutting surface.
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all right, my lover »
An informal affectionate greeting.
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all very well »
All right, to a certain extent.
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am I right or am I right »
Rhetorical question from somebody who has stated what they consider to be an unassailable truth.
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at once »
Immediately; now; right away.
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at this point in time »
Right now.
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bang to rights »
Caught red-handed; in a guilty state.
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banyan day »
In British naval tradition, this originally referred to a day of the week when galley kitchens served no meat on board ship.
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blanket term »
A word or phrase that is used to describe multiple groups of related things. The degree of relation may vary. Blanket terms often trade specificity for ease-of-use; in other words, a blanket term by itself gives little detail about the things that it describes or the relationships between them, but is easy to say and remember. Blanket terms often originate as slang, and eventually become integrated into the general vocabulary.
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born with a silver spoon in one's mouth »
Note. The original nautical expression is just born with a silver spoon and describes those young gentlemen who were able to enter the Royal Navy without examination and whose promotion was assured. the converse was born with a wooden ladle.
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bragging rights »
The prerogative to praise oneself for an accomplishment or for possession of a superior characteristic.
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