twist arm
Who taught: Carol and Jake
One of the things I find really annoying in America is the sound of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It really bothers me when anyone passes my house riding it at night when I try to focus on writing a new post. One just passed by my house. Please, somebody stop it!
This morning, I met Carol and Jake on my way to the office. Oh, did I tell you that? I walk to the office since it is really close to my house. It is like 10 minutes walking. It is so convenient! Anyway, during our Monday morning conversation, they told me one expression they thought during the weekend to tell me today. “Twist your arm?” Well, when I first heard it, I thought it would be like someone trying to hurt another person. You know like TAE KWON DO. Carol told me, “Close but you can use this expression more sarcastically. For example, if Jake asked me to go to ice cream store, then I could say like, ‘if you twist my arm!””
So, the definition of the expression I found is
to persuade someone to do something that they do not want to do
I personally have a good example. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I went mountain biking last Saturday. Pat was supposed to join but he told me he could not in Saturday Moring. Then, I sent text messages a few times, trying to make him change his mind to join. So, basically what happened was I tried to twist his arm to go to mountain biking with me but he eventually did not. Pat, it was the best mountain biking ever. You should have come. The more I think about the expression, I feel like the person whose arm get twisted is still a little bit interested in the thing he/she is supposed to do or he/she has no specific preference for something. Thus, if someone really asks him/her to do something, he/she would do it because by twisting his/her arm, he/she actually does something eventually. Am I right?
I am sure you would have similar experiences in you life. So, try to use this next time if you are in this kind of situation.
Arggggggg!! Another Harley-Davidson just passed by again! Dang! I hate that sound. It is so loud!