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Reader question: Please explain this sentence, particularly “trial balloons”: Politicians lacking vision launch trial balloons left, right and centre in the hope that somewhere along the line they’ll get it right. My comments: When politicians are flying balloons around, they’re not having fun. It’s not like they’re flying kites as people do in the park. No, nothing like that. When politicians send what are called trial balloons into the proverbial sky, they’re instead testing public opinion. How’s that? The balloon in “trial balloons”, you see, originally refer to the hot-air balloons scientists send high up in the air to test the weather, such as the direction and speed of the wind. Therefore, metaphorically speaking, when politicians are launching trial balloons, they’re really saying they plan to do this and that – to gauge and measure public opinion, to see if the public agree with them or not. They’re called trial balloons for a reason, emphasis on trial, trial as in “a trial run”, meaning it’s tentative, temporary, not final final. In other words, if the public like their idea and agree with them, then they’ll launch their plan officially. If the public don’t like it, then they’ll just say that they are just talking, that they don’t mean to really do it. In this case, they’ll simply scratch their plan and start something else anew. | 
