> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Michael Everson
> Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 1:25 PM
> >You are certainly right that this is not a slam-dunk;
>
> This noun must have been on TV a lot in the US
> recently; I have seen it a lot but it remains
> obscure, apart from being a basketball reference.
> What does it mean? That I am right that the
> proposal is not a shoo-in? Or, indeed, that I am
> right that it is not a foregone conclusion that
> the proposal will be accepted?
The last. "Slam-dunk", implying "very easy to do" by reference to the most difficult shot in basketball - one most of us can only dream of making, is indeed the by-product of American sports announcers, the same people who use the fabricated word "athleticism" because they lack the linguistic skill to use the real word "athletic" properly. But what else can you expect from that bunch of athleticism supporters?
/|/|ike
