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Reader question: Please explain "taking up space" in this sentence: As a political analyst, if you're not making enemies, you're just taking up space. My comments: A political analyst is a pundit who tries to see through what a politician says or does in order to help the public form an opinion - or perhaps change an opinion. Politics being politics, one's analysis may make friends or enemies for the analyst. Politics being politics? By that I mean people have different political positions, either on the left, right and middle of the road, either progressive, conservative and anything else in between, the green, e.g. Because of that, that people have their different politics, what you say, whatever you say, is likely to cause disagreement, offense or even enmity. Enmity denotes feelings of an enemy, someone in opposition, someone hostile. Hence the remark that if you're not making enemies, you're taking up space. Meaning? This means you're not doing your job. If you don't have your readers enthused and sometimes riled up, you are not doing a good job. Instead, you're merely eating your meals, as the Chinese say, and wasting your time and ours as well. Oh, taking up space. Taking up space? It's easy to get the hang of this idiom by imagining a large piano in a small room. You know, for example, some parents buy a large piano for their prodigal child to practice on - in the hope that someday, the child will become the next Lang Lang or something. | 
