what does"at point of gun" mean?

Forums: Esl, English, Grammar, English As A Second Language, Figure Of Speech
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@pooya1333,

"At the point of a gun" literally means at the end of the barrel of a firearm. Figuratively, it means doing something by lethal force or being compelled to do something by threat of lethal force.

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@pooya1333,

It means being forced into a decision either by lethal force or by extreme coercion.

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We usually say "at gunpoint". I don't know anywhere where people say "at point of gun". Inglish maybe?

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@InfraBlue,

Quote:

it means doing something by lethal force or being compelled to do something by threat of lethal force.

Not necessarily lethal, sometimes just (at the time) irresistible force, influence or power.

I didn't want to work for Jim but he had me at gunpoint - he controlled my department's budget and could take away all of our jobs.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Tes yeux noirs wrote:

We usually say "at gunpoint". I don't know anywhere where people say "at point of gun". Inglish maybe?

I had looked up "at the point of a gun" and found that it's the title of a book, "At the Point of a Gun: Democratic Dreams and Armed Intervention" written by David Rieff.

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@InfraBlue,

I wrote:

I don't know anywhere where people say "at point of gun"

InfraBlue wrote:

the title of a book, "At the Point of a Gun [etc]"

Can you see the difference between the phrase in what I wrote, and the one in your answer? Do you understand why I suggested "at point of gun" might be Inglish (or Chinglish)?

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@Tes yeux noirs,

I took it to be a typo.

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@InfraBlue,

InfraBlue wrote:

"At the point of a gun" literally means at the end of the barrel of a firearm.

Figuratively, it means doing something by lethal force or being compelled to do something by threat of lethal force.

I disagree. "Figuratively" speaking, neither guns nor lethal force even come into it. It just means that you had no viable option, usually because of some harm you expected to come to you if you did otherwise. It is only in the "literal" sense that the threat of lethal force is involved.

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@layman,

I agree. Now, how did you find this old thread?

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@roger,

roger wrote:

I agree. Now, how did you find this old thread?

Trawling Infrablue's old posts to find one to disagree with?

1 Reply

@roger,

roger wrote:

I agree. Now, how did you find this old thread?

It showed on my screen as a "new post." I never even looked at the date. Maybe somebody made a recent post and then deleted it, I don't know.

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@centrox,

Doesn't take me long at all to do that.

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what does"at point of gun" mean?

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