Hasn’t looked back? 一发而不可收

Reader question:

Please explain “hasn’t looked back” in this headline:

Cherie Chung a screen goddess, the Marilyn Monroe of Hong Kong, fans said – how she retired from acting at the height of her career and hasn’t looked back (SCMP.com, November 24, 2023)

My comments:

Cherie Chung, as old timers surely remember, was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1980s and 90s. She quit the show business in 1994 at the height of her career – and hasn’t looked back since.

The fact that she “hasn’t looked back” means that she’s continued to thrive and that she hasn’t regretted her decision since.

We sometimes cannot figure out exactly what “hasn’t looked back” or “hasn’t looked back since” means literally, but this is actually a very common idiom.

What’s implied, often, is that they have moved on from a past experience and continued to be successful. They haven’t thought about it twice whether they have made the right decision to move on from that past experience.

Usually, we look back when we are doubtful of what we’ve done, right? Otherwise, we’re just busy looking forward – to a better future.

In our example, Cherie Chung has not looked back because, apparently, she made the right decision. Apparently, she’s been doing well since and, old timers supporting old timers, I hope she’ll continue to do well and enjoy life.

Anyways, that’s what “hasn’t looked back” tells us and what you need to do to really understand idioms such as “haven’t looked back” is to read the context.

Usually, the answer lies in between the lines.

And let’s do exactly that by reading a few recent media examples:

1. Last year, Travis Kelce revealed just how many calories he consumes each day to keep his 6-foot-five, 260-pound physique in football-ready shape. It was a whopping 4,000 calories, and now the Kansas Chiefs star’s personal chef Kumar Ferguson is revealing all the details on what exactly that diet includes.

Ferguson – who grew up alongside Kelce and “cooked for all the bros” throughout their childhood – was actually working as a truck driver when his old pal called him with a request. He needed to beef up his diet and decided to employ Kumar, despite the fact that he had never worked in a professional kitchen before.

“I flew out four days later and we haven’t looked back since,” Ferguson told Kansas City Magazine. Since 2016, he has been cooking three meals a day for the athlete, including oatmeal with fresh fruit for breakfast and seafood Alfredo for dinner.

And while Ferguson draws much of his culinary inspiration from experiencing different cuisines while on the road, he’s also tapped into Kelce’s childhood favorites, too.

“His dad is actually a grill master, so that’s where I got filets in our diet,” Ferguson said, while noting that he incorporates a soul food flare with unexpected seasoning. Deep-fried Australian lobster tails with yum yum sauce and tangy Hawaiian heat wings are among the tight end’s other favorites.

- Travis Kelce’s Personal Chef Revealed What He Eats In A Day & The Calorie Count Is Unbelievable, Yahoo.com, January 12, 2024.

2. On January 19, 2024, Nikola Jokic helped lead the Denver Nuggets into Boston to defeat the Celtics 102-100, handing them their first home loss of the season in the process. Jokic was phenomenal as expected in this game, recording 34 points (on 14/22 shooting), 12 rebounds, and 9 assists. Following the game, he also officially surpassed Michael Jordan for the #1 spot in all-time player efficiency rating (PER).

Since PER is an advanced statistic that can move up and down, there was a chance that Jokic and Jordan would continue to jump back and forth between the #1 and #2 spots. In reality, however, Jokic topped Jordan’s 27.91 PER mark and hasn’t looked back. It’s been one month since the initial surpassing, and The Joker hasn’t looked back since, currently boasting a 27.96 PER. Jokic, Jordan, and LeBron James are currently the only three players in NBA history with a career PER greater than 27.00.

Top 10 all-time NBA/ABA PER rankings:

Nikola Jokic (27.96)

Michael Jordan (27.91)

LeBron James (27.07)

Anthony Davis (26.85)

Shaquille O’Neal (26.43)

David Robinson (26.18)

Wilt Chamberlain (26.16)

Bob Pettit (25.45)

Giannis Antetokounmpo (25.28)

Kevin Durant (25.20)

Player efficiency rating obviously isn’t everything when evaluating players, but anytime a metric’s top 10 rankings include nothing but hall of famers and future hall of famers, it likely has some meaning. And at least for now, Jokic is the PER leader, ahead of the two greatest players in NBA history… and that likely has some meaning as well.

- This astounding stat proves Nikola Jokic is one of the greatest of all time, HoopsHabit.com, February 18, 2024.

3. A Dallas woman has shocked and saddened the internet after revealing the heartbreaking circumstances that led to her adopting her neighbor’s dog when she was just three months old.

In a viral TikTok video, Aubrie Mitchell said that it’s been two years since she “stole” her neighbor’s puppy after they allegedly “left her outside [for] multiple days in a 12-degree snow storm.”

The Texan said that she contacted animal control and reported the situation to them, but that didn’t change anything, so Mitchell tried to confront her neighbors personally, but there was no answer. After four days passed, she’d “finally had enough” of seeing the pup left outside and she took the dog in herself.

“I unlocked the gate, and she ran out to me. They never once looked for her,” she wrote on TikTok. Mitchell hasn’t looked back since that day, and the dog, named Junie B, has been living her best life ever since, especially when she gets to enjoy a pup cup all to herself.

…

While the circumstances of Junie’s rescue are unusual, there are millions of pets just like her who are searching for their forever home. Data from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimates that 6.3 million companion animals enter shelters each year, 3.1 million of which are dogs. Fortunately, around 2 million of those pups get adopted, but there are many more waiting for their lucky day.

- Woman Adopts 3-Month-Old Puppy After Neighbors ‘Left Her Outside’, NewsWeek.com, February 21, 2024.

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  编辑：丹妮）