VOOZH about

URL: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/pushover.1637995/

⇱ pushover | WordReference Forums

Menu
Install the app
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.

pushover

Bonjules

Senior Member
German
Hello,
in the Spanish forum came up the question whether this word can refer to a thing or concept rather than to a person.
A thesaurus lists it as such. I've never, in 30 years in the US heard it used other than referring to a person. What do you think?
saludos
I tend to agree with you.

To check on us both, I did some internet searches. Aside from the use we both predict, it is also used in sports, referring to a team. This seems to me an easily understood transferred use: a team is a group of people.

I found "pushover" used in reference to things only in technical writing, where it is used literally. People do "pushover analysis" of buildings and bridges, for instance, to see how much force it would take to make them fall.

Do any of these sources provide an example sentence in which a thing is said to be a pushover?
The only time I've ever personally heard pushover to refer to anything other than a person was a number of years ago when I was contemplating the purchase of a house. My real estate agent friend described one of his listings as a pushover, because the house was in such bad shape that it would be cheaper to push it over and rebuild than to attempt to fix it up (I didn't buy it). 👁 Smile :)
pushover

Do native speakers know why it means the meaning it has?
Or do they just memorize from an early age?
I don't think that children consciously memorize the meaning of words, and 'pushover' is not a word I'd expect a small child to know. I always have thought that it refers to someone who can easily be displaced, in a figurative sense. A pushover is not likely to hold their ground (also a figurative, idiomatic expression).
I don't think that children consciously memorize the meaning of words, and 'pushover' is not a word I'd expect a small child to know. I always have thought that it's figurative, and refers to someone who can easily be displaced, in a figurative sense. A pushover not likely to figuratively stand up to or for something.

Thank you so much!

What I'd like to know is whether native speakers know why it has that meaning.
Or do they just use that word?
I assume that native speakers who know the very common English words 'push' and 'over' would easily connect the meaning of those words with 'pushover' if they were asked.
The larger question is whether one consciously connects any word with a figurative meaning with its literal counterpart: like mouth of a river, carpet of leaves, etc.
native speakers who know the very common English words 'push' and 'over' would easily connect the meaning of those words with 'pushover' if they were asked.

Ohhhh

This is what I was so curious about.

Thank you so much, again, Roxxxanne!
Back
Top Bottom