The Meaning of Headlines: 'hang up the hat'

The Meaning of Headlines: 'hang up the hat' - education

France 24 published an article on February 6, 2016, with the headline: ‘Is French grammar ready to hang up the 'hat'?’ What does ‘hang up the hat' mean?

The Free Dictionary defines ‘hang up your hat’ as an idiom meaning ‘to leave your job forever.’

The article commences with the statement, ‘France’s education ministry on Thursday came under fire over teaching reforms that will allegedly see the circumflex accent, better known as ‘the hat’, disappear from French language textbooks.’ What! The eradication of the circumflex? The circumflex in the centre of the debate is the hat-shaped, or inverted v-shaped configuration in the French alphabet.

Eradicating the circumflex would affect about 2,400 words in the French language. The article states that French education ministry denied any order to eradicate the circumflex or that it was ‘destined to bite the dust.’ Bite the dust is another idiom meaning – according to the Free Dictionary – to break, to fail, or to die.

The reforms apparently were approved, not by the education ministry, but in 1990 by the Academie francaise, the country’s authority in language matters. The reforms were recommendations, not obligations, says the article. However, during the current criticism ‘over the alleged plot to assassinate the circumflex’ education officials said both spellings – with and without the hat – are acceptable. The article concludes that the circumflex ‘may nevertheless become extinct for a reason beyond the ministry’s control – the school textbook publishers have agreed to accept the recommendations that the Academie francaise made 25 years ago.

Scorecard for the France 24 headline is 100%. With the phrase ‘bite the dust’ and words, such as assassinate and extinct, there is much emphasis in the article on the death of the circumflex. French grammar may indeed be hanging up the hat, putting it out of its job forever. And if not, I’ll eat my hat! And that’s an idiom for another day.

http://www.france24.com/en/20160204-france-grammar-row-hat-circumflex-twitter-language

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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