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have lead weights on his ankes? What does the idiom mean?

 
 
Nancy88
 
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 05:25 am
Does this idiom mean someone is very healthy and good at running?
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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 708 • Replies: 9
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Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 05:33 am
I assume you mean ankles. I've never heard of this as a stock phrase, but it could mean that someone moved slowly, as though they had lead weights on their legs. At the same time, when i was a boy in school, people sometimes put weights around their ankles when they ran to build up their leg muscels.

We can't answer these questions unless you provide a reasonable amount of context. If you will quote the passage in which you read this, you have a better chance of getting a reasonable answer.
Nancy88
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 05:51 am
@Setanta,
I used to move people around all the time at AT&T, and later at GM, to see who could swim and who had lead weights on their ankles. I’d take a person from marketing and put her into an operational job, or swap out a person in communications and put him in a technical job. Or pluck somebody out of the management line three or four levels down and put her into a senior position.

Thank you very much Setanta. It should be ankles. I am reading a new book written by Ed Whitacre.
engineer
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  2  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 06:00 am
@Nancy88,
In this context, it means who "will sink" meaning they will fail in their new position.
Nancy88
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 06:08 am
@engineer,
Many thanks, engineer! I got it. It carries a figurative meaning here. Similarly, "swim" here means capable of handling the new job. Am I right?
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 06:12 am
Thanks for providing the context, Nancy. Engineer has helped you out as a result.
Nancy88
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 07:37 am
@Setanta,
I should say thank you Setanta.
0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 07:38 am
Naw . . . it's no big deal. Your thanks to Engineer were appropriate.
engineer
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 12:24 pm
@Nancy88,
Nancy88 wrote:

Similarly, "swim" here means capable of handling the new job. Am I right?

You've got it.
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JTT
 
  2  
Reply Tue 19 Feb, 2013 01:22 pm
@Setanta,
Quote:
Your thanks to Engineer were appropriate.


Is this a dialectal thing or a hypercorrection?
0 Replies
 
 

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