[Ads-l] fuzz = uncertainty, ambiguity

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 04:09:43PM -0400, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 2:29 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 2:16 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > [snip]
> > > Associated Press, Aug. 25, 2003 [Factiva]
> > > In an interview Monday, [NASA administrator Sean] O'Keefe said the report
> > > "is going to have no fuzz on it, no gloves. It is going to be
> > > straightforward."
> >
> > "no gloves"?
> >
> 
> As in, "with (the) gloves off." This report (on the Space Shuttle Columbia
> disaster) pulled no punches.

(A mistaken metaphor, based on the misapprehension that boxing gloves protect the recipient of a blow; in reality, boxing gloves protect the hands of the wearer, which allows them to punch harder, and increasing the chance of injury to the other guy.)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org