Winning English - Mastering Idioms, Slang, and References
Pull out all the stops • Break the rules • Bend the rules • Get the gist
This week in the United States, where I live, we celebrate Halloween. It’s a fun holiday that, strangely, focuses on scary things, like ghosts, monsters, and jack o’lanterns. (See a picture of jack o’lanterns below.) Children get free candy by visiting houses, and many adults enjoy putting Halloween decorations on their houses. Some people enjoy Halloween decorations so much, they pull out all the stops!
Photo by Call Me Fred on Unsplash
“To pull out all the stops” has two meanings.
First, it can mean to do all you can to achieve a goal. For example, if you do everything you can on a big project at work, you have “pulled out all the stops”.
Second, it can mean to do something in a big way. If you want to see some people “pulling out all the stops” with Halloween decorations - decorating in a big way - see the pictures in this article.
By the way, this saying comes from the musical instrument the organ. An organ blows air through pipes. If you push in a “stop” on an organ, it stops the air. But if you “pull out all the stops” on an organ, all the air will flow, and it will be loud.
Sometimes if you are pulling out all the stops for a project at work, you might want to break the rules to be successful. That’s probably a bad idea. But you might be able to bend the rules - or stretch the rules - just a bit.
Photo by Michael Walter on Unsplash
“To break the rules” means that you are disobeying the law or not following guidelines. You could get in trouble with the police or maybe your boss.
But sometimes you can do many unusual or unexpected things without “breaking the rules”. You can “bend the rules” or “stretch the rules”. Picture a rubber band. You can stretch a rubber band very far without breaking it. Maybe you can do that with the rules.
Sometimes idioms and slang words can be difficult to understand. But I hope after you read the explanations here, you at least get the gist !
“To get the gist” means you understand the general meaning of something, like a word or a phrase, even if you don’t understand it perfectly.
You can also use this phrase for situations. Sometimes it can take a lot of time and effort to understand a situation in complete detail. However, if we “get the gist of it”, that might be good enough.
Thanks for reading Winning English! Make sure to listen to the podcast, too, to improve your learning. Talk soon!