|
Reader question: Please explain this passage: Without much of my help, she does well on her own. Sure, sometimes she wants to wear shorts in the dead of winter and I must put my foot down, but 99 percent of the time she dresses as she pleases. What does “put my foot down” mean here? My comments: Sounds like a mother telling a tale about how to help develop a dress code for her daughter. Dress code? That’s a set of rules on clothing, i.e. how to dress yourself, what to wear on different occasions. “Put my foot down” means the mother has to be strict with her daughter sometimes, in order to enforce the rules – here essentially forbidding her daughter to “wear shorts in the dead of winter”. Apparently she has to stamp her foot hard on the floor to make a thumping noise and appear stern looking, looking mad and angry and perhaps unloving while she gives the young girl a lecturing. Stamping her foot down is a way of emphasizing who is boss – or mom, I shall say. Anyways, that’s what “putting one’s foot down” literally means. Literally, when we want to assert ourselves and make a point and emphasize it, we sometimes stamp our foot on the floor, utilizing the thumping noise we make as an assistant. It’s like when we want to demonstrate our resolve and determination, we sometimes slam our fist on the table. | 
