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What does this sentence –The Governor really didn’t leave himself any wiggle room on the tax issue – and particularly “wiggle room” mean? My comments: It means he has no choice but to pay taxes. Room, of course, means space, such as room for improvement. Wiggle? Worms wiggle, making tiny little movements by twisting their bodies around, shaking and shifting. Or have you ever seen an acrobat put into a tiny box to show off his or her nifty limbs? The box seems barely big enough to contain the acrobat but they are able to WIGGLE about making various improbable postures, demonstrating their “soft bones”, to use a kung-fu term. Hence wiggle room means small space for maneuver, hence for flexibility and different options. And this term is usually used in the negative, such as in the form of “no wiggle room” or “not any wiggle room”. It means no flexibility, no alternative, no other option or choice at all. Here are recent media examples: 1. Gov. Bob Riley ordered further cutbacks in the state education budget Friday because of declining tax collections and has drawn the last $116 million out of the state’s rainy day fund to prevent deeper cuts. The executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, Sally Howell, said local officials will struggle to find places to cut spending, partly because the Legislature already reduced money for textbooks and eliminated funds for classroom supplies, two areas that are often cut in tough economic times. | 
