|
Reader question: Please explain “turn the corner”, as in this headline: U.S. starting to turn the corner on jobs (Reuters, April 2, 2010). My comments: It means more people in the United States are getting jobs and coming back to work, a sign that the economic recession is over. News jobs, you see, means businesses are recruiting workers again, which in turn means economic activities in general are picking up. Another way of looking at it is: The worst is over. Or in the words of Mr. Micawber (Charles Dickens’s character in David Copperfield), finally, “something will turn up”. Or hopefully so – because for Mr. Micawber himself, it almost never did. Anyways, “turn the corner” literally means turning around a corner in the street. As you turn around a corner, you get on to another street. As it is another street, you’re embarking on a new road. It’s a new road. It’s a new direction. And it’s renewed hope. Hence figuratively speaking if a person who’s been fighting against a great illness “has turned the corner”, it means he is getting better. He will live. If a struggling economy begins to “turn the corner”, it means a recovery is imminent. Or in other words the economy has begun growing again, instead of shrinking. In any case, turning the corner suggests someone or something is beginning to improve after a difficult period. | 
