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Reader question: Please explain this sentence: “They supported him tooth and nail in the last election.” Tooth and nail? How to translate that into Chinese? My comments: Whatever you do, don’t translate them literally. Here, you see, “tooth and nail” is a metaphor and is not meant to be taken word for word. You may just say that they supported him whole heartedly, going great lengths and giving their all. In other words, they did all they could in support of him. Still, it’s rare to for someone to say they support somebody tooth and nail. Usually, people fight against others tooth and nail. Teeth and nails, you see, are what animals use when they get into fights. Dogs, lions, hyenas, etc. Humans no longer fight with bare teeth and nails. That’s crude. Humans are better than that. Humans fight each other instead with knives, pistols, cannons and, at least on two occasions, nuclear weapons. So there. When weaponry of any kind is absent, however, humans are not above fighting with bare teeth, feet, knuckles and nails. Not at all. I mean, humans are no better than animals in the fighting department when push comes to shove – when, that is, humans lose their cool and let their animal spirits assume control. When people fight each other tooth and nail, in other words, they’re pretty desperate. Not pretty, but very desperate. | 
