International New York Times covered the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) corruption
arrests on May 28, 2015 with one of many headlines, including: “Body blow for
an organization, and for its longtime president.” What is a “body blow” for an
organization?
The article explained that Sepp Blatter, the FIFA
president who has lead the organization for 17 years, was seeking re-election
on Friday May 29, 2015 for a fifth term. On Wednesday May 26 several FIFA
officials were arrested in Zurich and accused of widespread corruption, dating
to the 1990s.
While the article does not mention “body blow” in the
main text, it adds that Blatter has had serious charges against him in the
past, but “such caustic words have always bounced off Mr. Blatter like a header
off the crossbar.” This is a reference to a footballer hitting the ball with
his or her head towards the goal, but it hits the bar across the two goal
posts, thus deflecting the ball away from its intended target – the goal.
A “body blow” is a hit or punch to the body. The
online MacMillan Dictionary defines body blow as “a serious problem or a great
disappointment, especially one that is sudden and unexpected … a disppointment,
shame, blow…”
The article is correct that both FIFA and its president,
Blatter, are facing a serious problem or disappointment. The arrests did come
unexpectedly, even though criticism has been long term.
There are other phrases too that describe Blatter and
the organization: “Mr. Blatter created his own celluloid reality” [a reference
to a hagiographic movie about himself] and “Mr. Blatter’s preferred method is to
sweep scandal under a threadbare carpet” [a reference to hiding accusations
under a thin carpet].
The article continued on another page, with a new
header: “FIFA and its chief, again in cross hairs.” The phrase, “cross hairs”
is another metaphor (a figure of speech that identifies something as the same
as an unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities
between them). This time cross hairs refers to ‘” one of the fine fibers …
crossing in a focal plane of an optical instrument to center a target or object
or to define a line of sight (Dictionary.com). In other words, if a person is
“in cross hairs” it means that the person (and/or organization) is in the
firing line, like being in the sights of a weapon. The implication is that
someone or something is about to fire that weapon – right at FIFA and Mr.
Blatter.
Therefore the article is saying, quite categorically,
that FIFA and its president, has received a serious problem to deal with and it
will be under extremely close scrutiny, poised to be “brought down” with one
shot – by Friday’s internal presidential election and/or the outcome of the
FIFA officials’ arrests.
Scorecard for the International
New York Times headline: 98% for the correct usage of English metaphors, but mixing
the methods of attack – person-to-person boxer-type punches with
machine-to-person weaponry. However, both aim to afflict pain and anguish, and
ultimately their downfall. There are several metaphors in the one (long)
article, but they are well used. Interesting article.
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