Skip to main content

The Meaning of Headlines: 'the gloves are off' - FIFA





Online Vice News reported information on the FIFA corruption situation with a headline, 'The Gloves Are Off, the Die Is Cast, Tyrants Will Fall: FIFA's Jack Warner Speaks' on June 4, 2015. What do the phrases 'the gloves are off' and 'the die is cast' mean? 

The article is about former senior FIFA official, Jack Warner, promising to tell his secrets of FIFA and its president Joseph Sepp Blatter. Warner, who has been indicted in the bribery scandal, and denies any wrong doing, has promised to 'unleash a tide of evidence relating to the dealings of world soccer's governing body.'

The headline is a reference to the revelations in a paid political advertisement, entitled 'Jack Warner: The gloves are off' in which Warner said he had prepared a comprehensive series of documents on FIFA's financial transactions.

According to oxford dictionaries.com the phrase 'the gloves are off' is used to 'express the notion that something will be done in an uncompromising or ruthless way.' The phrase emanates from the sport of boxing. Gloves on indicated fair play according to standard rules, and gloves off indicates bare-knuckle fighting, generally without rules. Wiktionary.org indicates that the phrase is idiomatic to mean 'to argue or compete without regard to one's actions or feelings.' It adds that literally it means 'from the sport of boxing where competitors fistfight wearing padded gloves - removing the gloves during a fight could result in serious physical injury.' Another term that means the same as 'the gloves are off' is 'if push comes to shove.' And in this case, Warner has been shoved.

Wikepedia.org indicates that 'the die is cast' is a Latin phrase (alea iata est). Seutonius said it to Julius Caesar in 49BC when he led his army across the River Rubicon in Northern Italy in defiance to begin a long civil war. The phrase is used today to mean that 'events have passed a point of no return, that something, whatever it is, will inevitably happen.'

The sport in the article is not boxing; it is football (also called soccer in some countries). However, it seems that Jack Warner is in a heated mood and is acting or reacting without regard to someone's feelings - that being Blatter and FIFA. The article states that Warner said that 'Blatter had turned against him.' Warner will do as he says - he will reveal secrets. Hence the die is cast.

Scorecard for the Vice News headline is 100% for the blow-by-blow account of a 'gloves off' reaction, and a catchy headline that adds a second phrase of inevitability.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more