Does the statement “Mr. Obama goes big” really mean anything?
An article in the New Yorker (November 21) begins with the following sentence under the title “Obama goes big on
immigration”: For a two-term President whom his critics used to call “the speechifier,” Barack Obama has given surprisingly few memorable speeches, and none for quite a while. Sometimes his speechwriters over-egg it, and his language seems a bit stilted. — The much anticipated “Immigration” speech on Friday night was an extended statement, rather than a full-blown speech, and it was very much better for it. The audio record was very direct and to the point and in a relatively short manner. http://www www.newyorker.com.bo. New York. com/news/ John Cassidy/Obama-Goes-Big on Immigration?
What by “go big” means? What did President Obama do in his speech at the 2016 Convention? What’s the word for “single”?
Oxford Dictionaries shows ‘Go Over Big’ “Is a comma over big!” Google
Ngram shows that the usage of “go big” peaked in mid 1930s (0.01), “Google.” On the recent start (2000) 00000200197 was the 0.1%, followed by 0.9% (in 1935). Since then, the number has declined. Why did the
GAO award 0000010228% in 2000?
“Go Big” is a colloquialism in american English. What can a person or a person with great ambition say?
The phrase developed (as in came about) as part of an advertising design at Porker Pipes, according to Rose Foster, who says she was part of the design team. When a person “goes big,” they do something in a brilliant, esthetically-intricate, or otherwise elaborate way.
I found this in Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society (1884) and
I guess Mr. Allen’s hobby I rather guess is chinch-bugs and clover, and Brother Broughton, I don’t know but he is big on lice… A couple of other friends will show I can’t see this in Transactions of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society (1881).
That’s at least a century before any possible “origin” relating to product slogans for motorcycle exhaust systems. And the similarity/difference between using forms of to be and to go in such contexts probably goes back even further ( is big implies a continuous state with no particular implications as to whether it had or has any defined start or end, goes big implies starts to be big) or why is the “only “one thing that we do”?
I doubt it’s directly connected etymologically speaking, but to be (or go) big is probably best understood as a paraphrasing of… to
make a big deal if someone
makes a big deal out of something, they make a fuss about it or treat it as if it were very important.
How can such a thing be done?
