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Reader question: What does “learn the ropes” means in this passage: The best way to learn the ropes about politics is to do volunteer work for a candidate for city office. You'll do everything from passing out campaign leaflets to arranging political rallies. My comments: If you don’t know the ropes, you’ve got to learn the ropes. This idiom is said to have originated from seafaring mariners, to whom the skills and knowledge of how to tie knots and which rope hauls up which sail is of, obviously, vital importance – if they want to sail far and be able to weather many a potential storm along the way. New recruits have to learn them, the ropes, that is. Hence “the ropes or rope” becomes synonymous with the basics or fundamentals if you prefer the big word, of a particular trade or job. In the above example, it’s suggested, quite correctly, that you learn the best about politics by getting involved. It is the same to say that the best way to learn to swim is to plunge oneself into the water. Hopefully they reemerge unscathed – and can then declare themselves a swimmer, or one who knows the ropes of swimming (although this is a bit awkward sounding). Frederich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, once said: We learn the rope of life by untying its knots. Wise man. Anyways, here are recent media examples: | 
