He flip-flopped has often been used to criticize a politician or, indeed, any person who changes their position on a topic. In this regard it has become a negative term. But is it always thus?
Isn't a flip-flop simply a 180 change of direction? Is this always bad? I don't think so. For instance if you are driving and realized that 50 miles back you turn on the wrong road and you turn-around, you make a flip-flop and head back ... isn't this wise and good?
Another. You realize the course your life is on is not what God wants. Shoud you not flip-flop and go in the direction God desires?
I am sure there are better examples, but you get my drift. After all we do say, "Don't throw good money after bad." If we realized we are wrong, regardless of the subject, and do not turn around are we not rejecting this phrase either literally or figuratively?
Flip-flops
Discussion in 'Other Discussions' started by Crabtownboy, Jun 21, 2011.
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Crabtownboy Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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I think the lifestyle of true believers is "flip-flopping" or a lifestyle of repentance. -
See, I see flip-flopping not as just changing one's mind and going in the opposite direction but going back and forth with no apparent reason. It's the "flip-flop", not just a "flip". However, I just looked up the definition of the idiom and it seems that it's a change in direction that annoys people. So it's not just changing one's mind but doing it in a way that annoys people.
I still see it as going back and forth though. :) -
Yeah. The connotation of flip flop is more going back and forth...think of a fish flip flopping on the bottom of the boat! Waffle...that is a better definition of giving on an idea or backing down from the strength of it.
Change of heart is a great way to state someone went from one belief to another. -
If we are totally honest, do not our spiritual lives flip-flop way too much?
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Bobby Darin sang:
Bing bang, I saw the whole gang
Dancing on my living room rug, yeah
Flip flop, they was doing the bop
All the teens had the dancing bug
A little different meaning there,lol.
Cheers,
Jim -
Or does the REASON (not excuse) makes a difference.
Suppose a politician runs on a platform, for example; I promise to put up a traffic light at Main and First St, but after the election, and a traffic study it is shown the traffic light would be a hindrance. So now he votes NO - but six months later he receives a petition signed by 65% of his district voters - they want the light - so now he votes YES - Did he flip, flip-flop, or just go by the will of the people? -
I don't wear them. I remember seeing a thread or poll on here about crocs within the past few months. I'm not a big fan of crocs either.
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Here, flip-flops are backless sandals. (I've just noticed the reply from Thousand Hills on the same lines, and he is in America, so unless he's a British ex-pat or something, it seems flip-flops can mean footwear in the U.S., too. :) )
The word we use here for the 180-degree turn of the OP is: "U-turn".
The use of "flip-flop" to mean a turn around is probably as rare here as many other "Americanisms", such as sidewalk, realtor, check (in the sense of a piece of paper telling you how much to pay in a restaurant), railroad, parking lot and drug store (which to my British ears sounds like a warehouse for cannabis and heroin!) -
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It's so rare that Mr. Blair and Mr. Cameron use the term freely in Parliament. And MPs don't seem puzzled at all. -
...amd I thought the thread was about footwear:laugh: