Tim Chen 8872 Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary
blow someone further up the chain?
the following sentence is extracted from the novel "Cut&Run"
"The voices were low, but Zane heard enough. Burns’ parting shot was clear, and Zane’s lips twitched as he turned to lead the way. This Ty Grady must be some kind of special superstar for the Assistant Director to put up with that behavior. That or he was blowing someone further up the chain, Zane thought uncharitably."
What does the sentence "he was blowing someone further up the chain" mean? My guess is he kept irritating someone to the level of his or her acting out on him.
And there's another saying "he is still yanking your chain", and the context is that someone keep saying things to provoke another person. What does it mean?
Thanks in advance!
"The voices were low, but Zane heard enough. Burns’ parting shot was clear, and Zane’s lips twitched as he turned to lead the way. This Ty Grady must be some kind of special superstar for the Assistant Director to put up with that behavior. That or he was blowing someone further up the chain, Zane thought uncharitably."
What does the sentence "he was blowing someone further up the chain" mean? My guess is he kept irritating someone to the level of his or her acting out on him.
And there's another saying "he is still yanking your chain", and the context is that someone keep saying things to provoke another person. What does it mean?
Thanks in advance!
Top answer
), and "someone further up the chain" means someone in a high position in the organisation. "to yank someone's chain" means to try to provoke another person, exactly as you say. I'm not certain of the origin, but it is not closely related to "chain" as used above.
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My guess is that "blowing" is used in sense 7 at http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/blow (not sure if I will be asterisked if I try to explain it here!), and "someone further up the chain" means someone in a high position in the organisation.
"to yank someone's chain" means to
"to yank someone's chain" means to
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You mean someone give a higher-up a blow job? to brownnose someone in a higher rank of position?
It really didn't get me to think of that, and now I know better....
Thanks very much for the help!
It really didn't get me to think of that, and now I know better....
Thanks very much for the help!
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