Idiom: "Cut the grass"

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me if "cut the grass" is an idiom? If yes, what's the meaning?

Tom

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

To me, "cut the grass" basically means the same thing as "mow the lawn". In other words, it does not have any special idiomatic usage that I'm aware of.

What context did you see this in that led you to believe it was an idiom?
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Amy
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ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

[Lost_Soul]

I noticed that Alan used this idiom on this forum somewhere.
I bet it was in the sense of "to set everything straight"

Here's the link to his post The post
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Alex

How much upchuck would a woodchuck upchuck if a woodchuck could upchuck ?

(a guy from Russia)

[Tom]

Hello, Amy

Here from Alan: cut the grass

Thanks a lot

Tom

[Yankee]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the context.

I can only tell you that I understood Alan's comment quite literally. I read no other idiomatic meaning into it. It sounded to me as though he was suggesting that mowing the lawn would be preferable to answering my and/or other questions.

He never did answer my question in that post, so I don't see how the meaning could possibly be "set things straight". In addition, I understood Alan's quote from Keats (in that same post) as an indication that he felt I didn't need to know the answer either. And that takes us right back to the idea that Alan seemed to feel that mowing the lawn was preferable to answering the questions that had been asked. That was the way I understood his post.

But, who knows. Maybe there is some special slang meaning for "go and cut the grass" in BE.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi,

Such profundity in a simple throw-away comment! I meant cut the grass in its literal sense. To pay for my sins I'll suggest an expression that might have been mistaken for 'cut the grass' and that's 'cut the mustard' meaning to be successful or up to standard.

That may elucidate - I hope so.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A funny thing happened...

[Yankee]

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Ah, but should the evasion of questions really be viewed as a success?
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Amy
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ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

[Bigarma]

By way of introduction, I am Australian and we doing have some unusual expressions.

Here's how it could be used in Australia (and maybe elsewhere) ........

"Fred was quick to move in. He cut Dan's grass."

In this sense, it means to take an opportunity from someone else that they were perhaps more entitled to.

It is often used in relation to the pursuit of the opposite sex - particularly where there is pre-existing knowledge that someone is "interested in" someone else.

For instance, if Fred knew that Dan was interested in Olivia, but asked her on a date before Dan had the opportunity, it would be fair to say that Fred had "cut Dan's grass".

Hope this is of interest / amusement.

That is all
Arma

[Alan]

Hi bigarma,

Delighted to hear from you and welcome to the site. I hope you continue to send in your comments, answers, thoughts. It will certainly be a refreshing breath of fresh air to have an Australian perspective. There have been many references to British and American English over the recent months that it would be very interesting to hear for a change about Australian English.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Good Bye Summer

[Lost_Soul]