Reader question: Please explain “two minds” in this headline (Yahoo.com, June 6, 2016): Premier League: Arsenal made to wait with Jamie Vardy in two minds over Leicester transfer. My comments: Jamie Vardy is a professional football player for Leicester City in the English Premier League. He helped Leicester, hitherto minnows, to the championship and was named Footballer of the Year in the just-concluded 2017-16 season. Currently, Vardy is torn. He is torn between continuing to play for Leicester, the new Premier League champion or Arsenal, a much bigger club of international renown. He is torn because he is “in two minds.” Well, to make it easier to understand, he is not of one mind, or single-minded. When we say someone is single-minded, we mean that they have one goal and one goal only. Because they have one goal only, they don’t get distracted by other things and, therefore, are likely to succeed. Or at least they’re more likely to appear decisive and resolute, unwavering. Opposite that is the situation facing Vardy, who is, as it were, two-minded. To say he’s “in two minds” is literally to say that his mind is in two places at the same time. Specifically, perhaps Vardy wants to play for both clubs. Since that cannot happen, he has to make a choice between the two and he cannot make a decision. |