Sound Bites

In journalism, a sound bite is a short clip of audio from an event that is the subject of a news report. A bite is, idiomatically, a small and digestible thing.

In politics, a sound bite is an excerpt of a speech that is used without surrounding context. Politicians intend for sound bites to give flattering portrayals of their speeches, and themselves, and are a core part of one's image in the media.

Example: "Professional speech-writers for presidents and other high public officials are careful to include specific sound bites that the media will use to highlight their speeches."

A careful reader may realize that the same phrase may be a sound bite in both the literal and the figurative senses. They're different things to different people.

Since politicians know in advance that reporters will largely reduce a speech to its sound bites, and at any rate, sound bites offer the politician's best opportunities to actually have their voices and faces broadcast on TV or radio, politicians "offer" sound bites to the media as if it is a familiar religious ritual. Understanding what a sound bite is, and the context that comes with it, is important to understanding even basic stories about journalism and politics in the English-speaking world.

Pain At The Pump

Pain at the pump refers to the gas pump, as it is known in America. In other parts of the world, the gas pump is known as a fuel dispenser. There is no difference in meaning. Also, gas = gasoline. Idiomatically, even non-gasoline fuel is "the gas pump" (including diesel!).

To experience pain at the gas pump is to be in a state of paying a painful level of money when obtaining fuel for one's vehicle.

Example: Some argue that American news media were more fond of doing "Pain at the Pump" news stories during the Bush administration, but have been reluctant to do the same under the Obama administration, even as prices at the gas pump continue to rise. It is not necessary to agree with this argument to understand this is how the idiom is used.

Tell Us How You Really Feel

The expression "tell us how you really feel" is said in sarcasm and irony after someone has said an anger or hate-filled statement, drawing attention to the anger and hatred (and implicitly mocking it).

Example: I was reminded earlier that on the American television show "The View," a guest made a statement about Nevada senate candidate Sharon Angle, calling her a "bitch" and concluding that "she's going to hell, this bitch." As these words were recited to me (I had earlier read them at the link here), I expressed, "Tell us how you really feel!". This is a popular culture way of expressing, wow, if that's what Joy Behar will tell us on network television, what would she say in private?...

Of course, this statement is likely exactly how Joy Behar actually feels. My reply was sarcastic and full of irony that Joy Behar would actually say it on television. No surprise at all that certain people feel that way about a female conservative politician opposing a linchpin of the Democratic Party in Congress during a very heated election battle.

Positive and Negative Advertisements

In English-language countries, positive ads (advertisements) and negative ads describe ads that are either a) ads that are positive about the candidate the advertisement is meant to support, or b) ads that are negative about the candidate's opponent, tearing the opponent down with insults and attacks.


Example: In American politics, candidates who are safely ahead usually air positive ads that advertise their own achievements and virtues. Candidates who are threatened have, in recent years, aired large amounts of negative ads attacking their opponents as morally, intellectually, and politically flawed persons who are not deserving of being elected.

Negative ads have raised the general level of cynicism about politics. This is the context in which they are described in the Western media.

Enthusiasm Gap

An enthusiasm gap is an idiom that has been created in American media and politics to describe a difference in the enthusiasm between supporters of two rival factions, mainly political parties.


Example: In 2008, voter enthusiasm was greatest among natural supporters of the Democratic Party and voters for Barack Obama. In contrast, the 2010 mid-term elections have, by all appearances, a large enthusiasm gap favoring the Republican Party as Obama's "hope and change" campaign has disappointed the expectations of many of his own 2008 voters.

A Wave Of Ads

When we figuratively refer to a wave of something, we mean a large series, with one coming after another. Thus, the effect is like a large wave washing ashore, with sustained (but finite) force.

Thus, a wave of advertisements (ads for short) is a series of one advertisement after another.

Example: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has run a wave of ads for the 2010 U.S. mid-term elections, most supporting Republican candidates.

To Trust Blindly

To trust a person, or a news source, "blindly" is to trust it without question; without the slightest doubt that the source may be mistaken.

Example: Yesterday, I read a story called "Wired youth forget how to write in China and Japan."  According to the story, young people in China and Japan - countries with very high literacy rates - are forgetting how to write with a pen, and gradually, how to even read "kanji," the Chinese characters that are the foundation of both writing systems. This amnesia is supposedly due to young people doing so much "texting" (sending text mesages) with cell phones using pinyin or kana, which function more like alphabets.

Today, I spoke to a resident of China, a Chinese native speaker, who is learning English. After answering a question of his, I mentioned the above news story. He replied, "But the truth is not like that." I answered back, "I'm used to the media exaggerating so I didn't trust the article blindly." I retained skepticism that the article was truly accurate and represented the full story.

The opposite of trusting blindly is to take something with a grain of salt, which is featured in my eBook, "Food for Thought."

"I'll Let You Kick This One Off"

In idiomatic speech, to "kick off" something is to begin something; that is, to be the first to do something.

Example: In a recent "The Early Show" segment on CBS, two political commentators were being consulted by a CBS hostess about recent political events: (Republican) Ann Coulter, and (Democratic) Tanya Acker. The first question concerned credit for the U.S. withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq for President Obama. The second question concerned what the Associated Press now calls the "NY Mosque" controversy.

Ann Coulter had answered the segment's first question before Tanya. When the hostess posed the second question, she said, "Tanya, I'll let you kick this one off." This meant, Tanya would be permitted to answer first for the second part of the segment. It is in this sense that she was "kicking off" the second part.

(English Idioms takes no political positions, but this is a real-life example of the idiom.)