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Reader question: Please explain this sentence: “He’s a good player, but to say he’s ‘world class” would be stretching it.” Stretching what? My comments: Stretching the point, that is, the view point. To paraphrase: The view point that he is a good player is valid, but to say that he is “world class” would be a stretch, an exaggeration. In other words, it would be inappropriate to call him “world class”. He is not. “Stretch” is the word to analyze here. If you stretch a rope, you pull it to make it longer. If you stretch your arms and legs, you loosen up before doing more strenuous exercises, such as running or playing basketball or mountain climbing or what have you. By extension, you can stretch a rule, i.e. allowing something that would not normally be allowed by a ruler or limit. For example, you ask for leaving work early and your boss may say: “I’ll stretch the rules and let you leave early today, but just this once. Not again.” That means you cannot be doing this again and again – or you will be stretching your boss’s patience to the limit and even beyond. Likewise, you can stretch the truth by exaggerating it, by making something sound bigger or better than it really is. To say, for example, that Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth is correct. To say it is 10,000 meters tall will be stretching it – exaggerating the truth (Mount Everest is, in fact, 8,848 meters high). | 
