In deep water?

Reader question:

Please explain “in deep water” in this sentence: A significant portion of these individuals are in deep water financially, with their lifestyle funded more by credit than cash flow.

My comments:

First, paraphrase:

Many of those individuals are in financial trouble because they don’t make enough money to enable them to afford a lavish lifestyle.

In still plainer words, a lot of them find themselves in debt because they buy too many things on credit.

That is, by using their credit cards, which are issued by banks expecting them to pay their money back in future.

If, one day, the banks find out that they’ll never be able to pay it back, they’ll stop those individuals from buying anything on credit.

Then those individuals won’t be able to buy anything because they don’t have cash on hand.

And they’re constantly out of cash because they don’t have much of a cash flow to begin with, i.e. there’s not much cash to “flow” into your hands at all.

Obviously, without money flowing in, there’ll be no money flowing out.

That’s cash flow in a nutshell.

Anyways, a lot of people are in deep trouble because they borrow too much.

Yes, as you can guess, being in deep water means being in deep trouble, from which they are unable to extricate themselves with ease.

You can view these individuals as poor swimmers who find themselves drowning and suffocating in deep water.

In similar saying, they’re in over their head, i.e. submerged in water that’s over their head.

For people who cannot swim, no doubt, that is trouble, big trouble.

Hence, figuratively, being in deep water becomes synonymous with being in great trouble or difficulty, from which it’s almost impossible to extricate oneself without substantial loss or sacrifice.

“In deep water” comes straight from the Bible, by the way, as TheIdioms.com explains:

It is a Biblical metaphor. In Psalm 69: 14 it says:

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

That’s “out of deep waters”. Here are “in deep water” examples from recent media:

1. Australian Open 2025 runner-up Aryna Sabalenka found herself in deep water after a video of her went viral after the end of the women's singles final on Saturday. The Belarusian suffered a shock 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 defeat at the hands of Madison Keys, the No 19 seed, in the summit clash.

Sabalenka, who was touted to become the first woman in this century to complete a three-peat in Melbourne, was left infuriated after the loss as she smashed her racquet at the end of the match, before storming off the court before the start of the post-match presentation.

Later, a video emerged from the locker room emerged after the presentation ceremony on the Rod Laver Arena, captioned: ‘Let’s all pee on it.’ The video showed Sabalenka, her boyfriend Georgios Frangulis and her fitness coach Jason Stacy looking at the runners-up trophy, which was placed on the floor, pretended to urinate on it.

The viral video left fans disgusted as they slammed the world No. 1 for her “classless” act and called for Tennis Australia to ban her from the next edition of the Australian Open.

- Aryna Sabalenka accused of ‘disgusting, classless’ gesture at Australian Open runners-up trophy in viral post-match clip, HindustanTimes.com, January 27, 2025.

2. An AI doctoral student in California told TechCrunch in a report published today that his immigration status in the U.S. is currently under threat after spending a decade in the country – just one of about 1,000 international students whose visas have been revoked recently.

The actions have been seen by some as having a chilling effect on foreign tech talent needed in the U.S. to keep it at the forefront of the industry, especially in artificial intelligence.

The student told TechCrunch that his/her status in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, has just been terminated. The student, who wanted anonymity, fearing reprisals for discussing the matter, was notified by the college’s international student center. The termination was related to a criminal records check, despite the student saying their record was clean.

“The most likely cause may be an interaction with the police many years ago, even before I entered graduate school,” the student told TechCrunch. “I was conducting research in the AI field and had planned to continue my research after graduation.”

In what’s become a season of fear and paranoia for international students in the U.S., there have been reports of men in suits appearing at various universities and dragging students to unmarked cars from where they’ve been taken to detention centers.

It’s believed that about 1,000 international students or recent graduates have had their visas revoked throughout the country over the last few weeks, with the Trump administration stating that visas are a “privilege” and that privilege can be taken away at any time. Students have reported not knowing the reason when their university has informed them that their visa status has suddenly changed.

For some, the reason was likely that they’ve taken part in protests, such as pro-Palestinian protests, and then comes a revocation out of nowhere. “I could be next,” a student at Georgetown University told the BBC, fearing the articles he’d written about Israel and the war in Gaza could land him in deep water.

In some cases, airing views about war or human rights issues isn’t the only problem. One student reported receiving an email from her university that informed her: “ISS [International Student Services] is writing to inform you that your SEVIS record was terminated …” She was befuddled, thinking it might be a scam email, only after some research to find out others had received such an email and it seems over nothing more than parking tickets. She had had two in the past.

Once students’ SEVIS status is terminated, they have a grace period, usually 15 days, either to leave the U.S. or to fight for restoring their status. If they can’t override the order, they risk being deported.

- Foreign students face deportation under Trump immigration crackdown, SiliconAngle.com, April 21, 2025.

3. His cryptic 8647 shell arrangement landed him in deep water when it was interpreted as a call to assassinate the Commander-in-Chief.

But longtime anti-Trumper James Comey sure knows what he’s doing when it comes to unsubtle political statements.

DailyMail.com can reveal the washed-up Fed previously posted a photo of a clam shell on a beach prior to the 2024 election painted with the words ‘Vote Harris’ in blue.

‘Saw this at the beach,’ the former FBI chief claimed in the October 10 post, which reeled in 2,733 likes.

‘Ariel understands the assignment,’ he added, an apparent reference to Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

Comey, who was fired by President Trump in May 2017 after a four-year stint as FBI Director, has a history of fishy posts.

One week ago, he posted a photo of himself relaxing on the beach engrossed in a novel – his own.

And photos from 2023 show the quirky retiree, 64, attempting to grow a wispy Robinson Crusoe beard.

When he’s not posting endless plugs for his recent thrillers, FDR Drive and Central Park West, Comey’s feed is a treasure trove of woke causes.

His Instagram is awash with posts promoting trans rights, same sex marriage and, naturally, his steadfast support for Democrat dud Kamala Harris.

But it’s the now deleted May 15 snap of seashells spelling out ‘8647’ on a sandy beach that prompted a wave of fury.

Trump supporters decoded his ‘cool shell formation’ as a chilling threat to ‘86’ (slang for kill, cancel or get rid of) the 47th President of the United States, a survivor of two assassination attempts.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to investigate while Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, suggested Comey ‘should be behind bars.’

Trump himself scoffed ‘a child knows that meant assassination.’

Comey deleted the post, claiming in a follow up message to ‘oppose violence of any kind’.

He was interviewed by the Secret Service but thus far no further action has been taken against the married dad of five.

- James Comey’s shell game: ‘Threatening’ post about Trump wasn’t the only time he used a mollusk to send a message, DailyMail.co.uk, May 20, 2025.

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）