Under the table?

Reader question:

Please explain “under the table” in this sentence: Keep nothing under the table except your shoes.

My comments:

In other words, no cheating. No cheating is allowed.

No cheating, that is, of any kind.

Imagine, for example, a player at the poker table keep looking down and looking for something under that table.

What can he be doing?

While he’s always casting searching looks under that table, now and then he leans down and appears to pick up something on the floor.

Or imagine a student doing the same thing during an exam, constantly picking things up from the floor.

In the first example, the player involved may be picking up cards tossed to him from a fellow player.

In the exam, the student involved may be picking up paper notes from a fellow student, notes containing correct answers to the test.

Hence the warning: Keep nothing but your shoes under the table.

Under-the-table activities are suspicious because they’re done in secret instead of above board, i.e. above the table, in the open, hence honest and legitimate.

Under-the-table activities are suspicious and, therefore, prohibited.

It is really as simple as that.

Now, let’s read a few real time “under the table” examples:

1. The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has claimed that Nato has offered the regime an “under the table” deal that would see the international arrest warrants against both men dropped.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi vehemently denied that he or his father ordered the killing of civilian protesters, as charged this week by the international criminal court (ICC).

In his first interview since the charges were brought, Saif alleged that western powers had proposed sacrificing the independence of the ICC to negotiate an end to Libya's civil war.

“It’s a fake court,” he told Russian news channel RT in an interview released on Friday. “Under the table they are trying to negotiate with us a deal: ‘If you accept this deal, we will take care of the court.’ What does it mean? It means the court is controlled by those countries which are attacking us every day. It is just to put a psychological and political pressure on us.”

Documents from the ICC outline multiple incidents in which the tribunal prosecutors allege government troops fired on civilian protesters during anti-Gaddafi street demonstrations earlier this year.

Saif, 39, wearing a thick beard, insisted that neither he nor his father were responsible. “This court is a Mickey Mouse court,” he said. “Come on, they accuse me of killing people. Everybody knows, even the rebels themselves, they can’t accuse me of using force because I’m not in the army, I’m not in the government, so for me to be responsible for killing people, it was a big joke.

“Second joke – the people who died at the beginning, 159 – most of the people died when they attacked a military site and this would happen anywhere in the world – in Russia, in America, in France, in Germany and Italy. If people in the street move towards a military site trying to steal ammunition or arms, the military will prevent that, and this is what happened in Benghazi.”

- Gaddafi’s son claims Nato wants deal with Libya, TheGuardian.com, July 1, 2011.

2. The world of crowns and sashes is ablaze after a bombshell audio recording involving Italy Mora, the (now former) Miss Panama 2024, was leaked. This scandal has it all: secrets, secret makeup, and a twist that no one saw coming.

In the days leading up to the upcoming Miss Universe competition, the pageant has dominated headlines due to Miss Panama’s expulsion. But what really happened?

The leaked audio allegedly features the voice of the Miss Panama director, César Anel Rodríguez, plotting a covert move to help Italy with her makeup. The issue? This plan reportedly violated the pageant’s rules.

“Miss Universe has a room reserved for me for 20 days, and that’s where the matter is supposed to happen, I mean, where it should be done, but where are we going to get that money from (...) of course, that’s the room to fix Italy, quietly, because it’s something done under the table, it can’t be done,” is part of the audio that circulated on social media.

At 19 years old, Italy went from being Panama’s most hopeful contender to the center of the year’s biggest beauty pageant drama. She said the whole thing stemmed from “leaving the room to get my makeup done and pick up my items.”

However, Italy believes the penalty was too harsh. She expressed her thoughts on Instagram stories, saying: “I believe it was a severe measure, and it could have been resolved through dialogue or a warning.”

For his part, César Anel Rodríguez did not remain silent. In an Instagram Live of his own, he attempted to explain the situation: “As a young woman, she made a mistake that the organization cannot allow,” he said.

- Leaked Audio Reveals the Real Reason for Miss Panama Italy Mora’s Disqualification from Miss Universe 2024, LATimes.com, November 4, 2024.

3. The Qatari prime minister defended his country’s offer of a $400 million Boeing 747 jet as a gift to the Trump Administration, calling it a “normal thing” for allies and done “in full transparency and very legally”.

“I see it as a normal thing that happens between allies,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday.

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump, whose family business has lucrative commercial ties with Qatar, wants to accept the gift to the U.S. as a temporary replacement for the ageing Air Force One plane, which is due for an upgrade.

But the gift has sparked bipartisan criticism over ethical and national security concerns. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate minority leader, called it “naked corruption” and said he would block political nominees to the Department of Justice until he had answers.

What To Know

Al Thani said he did not understand why critics viewed the gift as a form of bribery or corruption toward the Trump Administration.

“I don’t see any honestly valid reason for that,” he said, adding that nothing has been done “under the table” or as a “covert operation”.

- Qatar Defends ‘Normal’ Jet Gift to Trump’s US, Newsweek.com, 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）