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Reader question: In this sentence – The doctor pulled no punches and told us the facts straight out – what does “pulled no punches” mean? My comments: It means the doctor tells the patient and his or her relatives everything, good or bad. Doctors don’t always do that. They are often known to pull their punches when it comes to reporting bad news to the suffering patient. That means they refrain from telling all the harsh facts about the patient’s critical conditions so as to make the patient feel better and be optimistic. A doctor might say “Take it easy. You’ll be off the bed and running in two weeks” when as a matter of fact, what the patient really faces is the dreary prospect of being bed-ridden for the rest of his life. The doctor does not tell the truth because he understands the weak-minded patient won’t be able to cope with it – he therefore tells a white lie, pulling his punches to soften the blow. Bosses do that too, when it comes to, say, firing employees. One business friend from Taiwan once told me how he minced words when he had to tell one of his employees in the face that he’d be fired. Instead of telling the man bluntly that “You’re fired and get the hell out of here now”, my Taiwanese friend focused almost exclusively on the positives. First of all, to cushion the blow, he had asked a subordinate to break the news to the person to be fired a day in advance. And when they met, he spoke glowingly about the good times they had together, how cute the man’s little boy was, etc and so forth, only finally pointing out that it is with great regret that he is compelled to remark that it seems “the good fortune of our working relationship has come to an end” and that he was looking forward to exploring other opportunities of working with the man in future. In the end, they shook hands, wished each other well and parted company, literally, in good humor. | 
