toe the line = push the limits

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Wed May 16 23:19:40 UTC 2012


On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 9:12 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
> This is not the first time that I've noticed the use of "toe the line"
> to mean something along the lines of "push the limits of":

Unfortunately, this *is* the first time that I've noticed this use.
And, since I'm only in my middle seventies, I'll probably live long
enough to see it become commonplace. Besides, if Republicans can
re-interpret _poor_ to mean "rich," why not this mirror-image reading?

OTOH, I'm happy for St. Hildegard, my preference among the several
patron-saints of headache-sufferers, since I've visited both Bingen
and its twin-town, Bingerbrueck, on several occasions..
--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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