Common American Phrases in Everyday Contexts (173 page)

Pull up a chair
.
Please find a chair and sit down and join us. (Assumes that there is seating available. The speaker does not necessarily mean that the person spoken to actually has to move a chair.)
T
OM
: Well, hello, Bob! B
OB
: Hi, Tom. Pull up a chair
.
The three men were sitting at a table for four. Bob came up and said hello. Bill said, “Pull up a chair.” Bob sat in the fourth chair at the table.

Punch it
!
AND
Floor it! 1
.
Press the accelerator to the floor!
Floor it! Let's get out of here. The cops are coming!
Punch it, Fred. This thing ought to go faster than this
.
2
.
Make something stronger and more aggressive!
You have to make this paragraph read more forcefully. Punch it! Really stress the three major points
.
I suggest
that you put a lot more energy into your presentation. The substance is good, but you've really got to floor it to drive your points home.

push back (against
someone or something) to counter someone or something; to argue or fight back against someone or something.
Q: Do you think the president will push back against his critics? A: Probably not. It's just not his style
.
The author was fed up with reading reviews of his work that showed the reviewer had clearly not read the book. He decided to push back by writing an exposé of inept critics in general.

put a cap on
something to put a limit on something.
We need to put a cap on spending in every department
.
The city put a cap on the amount each landlord could charge.

put a spin on
something to twist a report or story to one's own advantage; to interpret an event to make it seem favorable or beneficial to one side of an issue.
The mayor tried to put a positive spin on the damaging polls
.
The pundit's spin on the new legislation was highly critical.

put another way
Go to to put it another way.

Put 'er there
.
Go to Put it there.

put in
one's
two cents(' worth)
to add one's comments (to something).
Can I put in my two cents' worth?
Sure, go ahead—put your two cents in.