Reader’s question:  Obama administration kicking construction when it's down

Nearly a quarter of the nation's construction workers are unemployed and contractors are facing a series of government mandates and proposals that will only serve to kick the industry while it's already down.

Could you explain “kick someone/something when it is down”?

My comments:

Here, it is suggested that the Obama Administration’s new policies will be unfavorable to US construction workers. In normal circumstances, that’s okay.

That’s not okay, OK?

OK. In normal circumstances, that’s bad. These days, it is worse, compounded by two years of recession and all the hardships construction workers have suffered because of it.

That’s why the administration’s policy proposals are likened to “kicking someone when they’re down”.

In normal circumstances, to be knocked down in, say, the boxing ring is ok.

It’s no okay (I got you). In normal circumstances, to be knocked down in a fight (any fight) is bad. To be kicked then (when you’re on the floor and powerless to fight back) is worse.

The equivalent Chinese expression is “dropping a piece of rock into the well after seeing someone falling into it.”

A lot of people are very good at doing that.

Bad, I mean. They’re very bad.

Opening credits

Hold a candle to

Jump the gun

Right on cue

Lower 48 states

Pick up steam

Personal chemistry

Put it on the back burner

Butt-brush effect

Make the cut

Poker face

Win hands down

Out on the street

Fly-by-night

Apple polisher

Might-have-beens

Think the world of

Ante up

Sit on the fence

On top of the world

Button your lip

One for the books

Pass the buck

Raw deal

Fire sale

Spill the beans

Sacred cow

Cheek to jowl

Peaches and cream

Know-it-all

A long shot

Miss the boat

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Zhang Xin 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.