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Reader question: Please explain this sentence, “push comes to shove” in particular: If push comes to shove, we’ll sell the house and move back to China. My comments: This means if the situation gets really bad for the family (or whatever), they will have to sell their property and go back to China. “Push comes to shove” is the idiom to remember here, which essentially means one may have to take drastic measures if the situation keeps getting worse, however drastic the measures may be. In other words, got to do what you’ve got to do. If you push something, you use your hands to move it back. If you push the door open, for instance, you pressure it and the door yields back. If you push someone in the chest, for another example, you put pressure on their chest to move them away from you. Shove, on the other hand, is a push with much stronger force. Hence when a pushing match becomes a shoving match, it means the once gentle pushes are becoming hard-fought shoves. In other words, the situation has escalated and the participants are now more seriously involved. Hence, figuratively speaking, if push comes to shove, one must get real, stop fooling around, brace up and push your concentration level up a notch. In other words, time’s come to test your mettle, show your true colors and do the gutsy thing. Do whatever it takes to win a competition or generally speaking accomplish your goal. That is, you’ll perhaps have to do what you have not prepared to do under normal circumstances, you know, when sailing is smooth and the waters are calm. | 
