"got out over their skis"

[Ben Zimmer]

And now this from the Commander in Chief:

---
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/biden-got-out-over-his-skis-says-obama/
“He probably got out a little bit over his skis, but out of generosity
and spirit,” Mr. Obama said when asked whether Mr. Biden had “jumped
the gun” by going first a few days earlier.
---

--bgz


On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 6:15 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>
>
> Urban Dictionary has an entry for the figurative use of "out over our
> skis" with a date of 2006 (if the date is accurate).
>
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=out%20over%20our%20skis
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> out over our skis
>
> To get entirely too far ahead of yourself
>
> Look, I just said that I liked the girl, not that I wanna marry her.
> Let's not get out over our skis, here.
> by McClure Oct 13, 2006
> [End excerpt]
>
> On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 5:49 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Maybe others have noted this before, but it was new to me when I just
> > read
> > it online in Institutional Investor:
> >
> > Building up cash reserves may seem like a no-brainer =97 who could say
> > no t=
> > o
> > virtually free money in a time of uncertainty? =97 but experts have
> > concern=
> > s.
> > =93A lot of people got out over their skis in terms of how they were
> > investing their cash right before the crisis, and I have some worries
> > again
> > today,=94 says Barry Smith, global head of State Street Global
> > Advisors=92 =
> > cash
> > business.
> >
> >
> > http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/3008047/Asset-Management/Will-=
> >
> > Governments-Hijack-Corporate-Cash-Stashes?ArticleId=3D3008047&LS=3DEMS64135=
> > 3
> >
> >
> > I see some similar 2010 and 2011 usages in Google.
> >

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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