Pull their own weight?

[it'smeagain]

Hello. What this does phrase mean: Some on our team is not pulling their own weight. I can't understand this. Does it mean that one person is not doing their best? Thank you in advance!

[Alan]

Hi,

Yes, you're right it does mean you're not doing your best and making the right sort of cooperation. Imagine the sport/game called tug of war, in which two teams are pulling on a rope with the idea of each team trying to pull the other team over to their side. In that sport you have to pull your weight. Possibly this is where the expression comes from.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
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[Dani]

what is a red-collar? but a white one? I found what's a blue collar .. but for the rest I badly need help.

And I also have one more question, in a tehnical text, as an example of tolerance, what does "shaft and hole" mean? I found the word separately, but not yet the expression.

thanks a lot,

dani

[Mister Micawber]

.
A white-collar worker is an office or clerical worker.

Red-collar workers seems to be a very new coinage without a wide distribution yet: It refers to those persons who want to be cared for cradle-to-grave without breaking much of a sweat, figuratively or otherwise, in the workplace. (This sounds like parasite singles or NEETs to me; if you are Japanese, you will understand those idioms).

I didn't have much luck with shaft and hole tolerance, and I am not an engineer. Evidently it is a sort of mechanical or automotive connection where the shaft of one part of the machine fits into a matching hole in an adjoining part. Tolerance in general is used to indicate how much variation in size is allowable for efficient operation. Shaft-and-hole tolerance has an influence on torque (circular force), so presumably the shaft is fitted into the hole, and then force is applied to one or the other by twisting it.

Sorry, that's the best I can do.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber