Nancy Matos

Reader question: “I'm just trying to cut him loose.”

Could you explain “cut loose”?

My comments: When you want to get rid of someone, either because they are driving you nuts and being annoying or you have tired of their company and want to move on, you want to “cut him loose”. However, to “cut loose” means to relax, be free and have a good time. After drinking a few bottles of beer, one may “cut loose” either by telling a lot of jokes and being laid back with friends, or hitting the dance floor.

You can also say “let loose” as in: “The girls went downtown to hit the nightclubs and let loose.”

In the 1980s (and still today at “80s nights” at local dance clubs) Kenny Loggins urged people to do just that in his hit song “Footloose”, from the movie of the same name:

Tonight I gotta cut loose, footloose Kick off your Sunday shoes Please, Louise Pull me offa my knees Jack, get back C'mon before we crack Lose your blues Everybody cut footloose

But remember this was a song from the 1980s—don’t go around telling people to “cut footloose” or you will be stared at strangely or laughed at. Just “cut loose” will do.

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。

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Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.