Some lexical questions

[usignolo]

"A Walk to Remember" by Nicholas Sparks

1)she pushed two fifty.


I wonder why the author used such a structure.



2)Miss Garber was big into the "self" stuff, which put her really ahead of the curve as far as psychotherapy is concerned.


a)I wonder why the author used the phrase "was big into"

b)The next problem part of the sentence is "which put her really ahead of the curve".

I wonder why the author used an expression "ahead of the curve" together with put". The phrase "ahead of the curve" is used as a substantival structure not as a verbal one in this very case.

Thanks in advance!!!

[SoothingDave]

Not a teacher.

These excerpts seem very informal in their use of English. More like common conversation.

"Pushing 250" means that he is guessing the woman weighs around 250 pounds.

"Big into" means the person was a fan or very much interested in the subject.

"Ahead of the curve" means she was in favor of the idea before it became more generally popular.

[BobK]

Not a teacher.

These excerpts seem very informal in their use of English. More like common conversation.

"Pushing 250" means that he is guessing the woman weighs around 250 pounds.

"Big into" means the person was a fan or very much interested in the subject.

"Ahead of the curve" means she was in favor of the idea before it became more generally popular.

I didn't initially think of the obvious context for this '250'. It could, for example, have meant she was pushing £2.50 across the bar! This use of '250' places the text maybe in the USA, as does the use of 'big into'.

For the 'curve' expression, think of a graph that plots acceptance against time. As acceptance grows over time, the curve rises. If you are ahead of that curve, you do something before everyone else does. I assume this piece of jargon may also have arisen in America (in the context of business management), but it's widespread in the UK now.

b