|
Reader question: Please explain “head and shoulders better” in this sentence: Bobby Jindal's tax plan is head and shoulders better than Donald Trump's. Why “head and shoulders”? My comments: Bobby Jindal and Donald Trump are two Republican candidates in the run for the White House. Let's say Jindal has a tax plan that gives a lot of tax break to the rich. Donald Trump, in contrast, has a tax plan that gives even more tax break to the rich. Therefore to the speaker, Jindal's tax plan sounds more progressive, I mean, less unbearable to the 99 percent (as against the extreme rich, the 1 percent). Both being Republican, I cannot imagine anything else about either's plans, but anyway, that's how, I assume, why the speaker considers Jindal's plan to be better than Trump's. The question is, of course, why “head and shoulders better” when “better” suffices. Take the two candidates' plans as the two persons themselves. You stand them side by side and can see one man is taller than the other, having his head and shoulders above the other. Naturally, if one person's head stands higher than the other person's, then he is the taller person. As the taller person, his shoulders should be taller than those of the shorter person also, assuming the taller person isn't taller because he has a giraffe-like neck. Therefore when people compare two persons in terms their physical stature, they say someone is literally head and shoulders taller than the other, meaning decidedly taller and in every way. | 
