MrPernickety  +  802338 Wed, 01 Jul 09 09:41 PM Hi,   I came by this sentence (in italic) the other evening, and I'm not sure which way to take it. Could you give me some help telling me what the bold part of the sentence means precisely?   He will either be through and out the other side, or he'll meet his end   Unfortunatelly, I can't provide any context, but the main idea behind all this is that he either will take on the difficulties that surround him on all sides and win, or the difficulties will get the better of him and he will fall by the wayside   Thanks ! MrPernickety Joined on Sat, Oct 25 2008 Regular Member 741 Amendment XXX to the US Constitution: No man shall be held accountable for any promise he makes while drunk unless it was a bet. Sentences, Context

	optilang  +  802341 Wed, 01 Jul 09 09:45 PM Hi I agree with your interpretation. I would have expected to hear - 'he will get through and out the other side, ..... optilang Joined on Tue, May 13 2008 Poland Senior Member 2,521 OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

	CalifJim  +  802349 Wed, 01 Jul 09 10:03 PM MrPernickety “what the bold part of the sentence means precisely?” It's like going through a tunnel.  You go in one side, and you keep going through it, and eventually you come out the other side.  The tunnel image (or anything similar) can be used to see the metaphor that is intended.  In English, to go through (meaning endure) is used for difficulties of various kinds.  There was a blizzard, and all the roads were blocked.  You wouldn't believe what we had to go through to get here!  [what difficulties we had to endure] be through can be taken as a variant of go through in this specific case.  Adding and out the other side calls our attention to the fact go through is in itself metaphoric. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,428 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Metaphors, Sentences, Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Languages

	Philip  +  802407 Thu, 02 Jul 09 12:34 AM I was expecting something similar to in one ear and out the other, which is pretty common, and would most likely be understood by someone who hadn't heard it before. Philip Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005 Veteran Member 8,738 At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

	CalifJim  +  802822 Thu, 02 Jul 09 07:24 AM Philip “I was expecting something similar to in one ear and out the other” Excuse me.  Did you say something, Philip? CJ CalifJim

	MrPernickety  +  803990 Fri, 03 Jul 09 06:24 AM Thanks for such comprehensible answers, I hope to God your answers haven't gone in one ear and out the other for me ))) MrPernickety