pins and needles

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Today morning I read a NYT’s article namely “Ethics Law Isn’t Without Its Loopholes”. There are in the following below excerpt a few expressions which drew my attention for the fact that it is rare to see them.

“Everybody is on pins and needles because we are dealing with a criminal statute,” said James B. Christian Jr., a partner at Patton Boggs, whose federal lobbying revenues rose last year by 22 percent, to $42.7 million. “Filing the reports will be very cumbersome and burdensome.”

Would you be kind enough to verify my speculations concerning the meaning of the terms in bold?

pins and needles = a tingling sensation felt in a part of the body numbed from lack of circulation.
in a state of tense anticipation

dealing = regard as, take for, treat as, consider to be.

revenues = state income, receipts

filing = woking, processing,

report = an official or formal statement of facts or proceedings. (bill)

The bill has reached the reportstage

cumbersome = difficult to handle

burdensome = onerous (troublesome)

Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Regards.

V.

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by vil

Dear teachers,

Today morning I read a NYT’s article namely “Ethics Law Isn’t Without Its Loopholes”. There are in the following below excerpt a few expressions which drew my attention for the fact that it is rare to see them.

“Everybody is on pins and needles because we are dealing with a criminal statute,” said James B. Christian Jr., a partner at Patton Boggs, whose federal lobbying revenues rose last year by 22 percent, to $42.7 million. “Filing the reports will be very cumbersome and burdensome.”

Would you be kind enough to verify my speculations concerning the meaning of the terms in bold?

pins and needles = a tingling sensation felt in a part of the body numbed from lack of circulation.
in a state of tense anticipation

The author means the second, but has the wrong idiom. It ought to be "on tenterhooks".

dealing = regard as, take for, treat as, consider to be. To take action with respect to something

lobbying revenues = state income, receipts moneys contributed by interested parties to assist in lobbying the government

filing = woking, processing,

report = an official or formal statement of facts or proceedings. (bill)

"filing the reports" = registering them with the state organisation in preparation for the debating of the contents of the bill.

The bill has reached the reportstage

cumbersome = difficult to handle

burdensome = onerous (troublesome)

Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Regards.

V.

.

[AntieAnnie]

Originally Posted by vil

Dear teachers,

Today morning I read a NYT’s article namely “Ethics Law Isn’t Without Its Loopholes”. There are in the following below excerpt a few expressions which drew my attention for the fact that it is rare to see them.

“Everybody is on pins and needles because we are dealing with a criminal statute,” said James B. Christian Jr., a partner at Patton Boggs, whose federal lobbying revenues rose last year by 22 percent, to $42.7 million. “Filing the reports will be very cumbersome and burdensome.”

Would you be kind enough to verify my speculations concerning the meaning of the terms in bold?

pins and needles = a tingling sensation felt in a part of the body numbed from lack of circulation. - this would be the literal translation
in a state of tense anticipation - this is a great way to describe the sentiment in the article.

dealing = regard as, take for, treat as, consider to be. - correct interpretation.

revenues = state income, receipts - "revenues" generally refer to the money brought in by any business before any expenses are paid. For example, if Microsoft had revenues of $50 billion last year, that would refer to the revenues before any payroll was paid, any materials were purchased, etc. (I have no idea whether the amount that I used is anywhere near being correct)

filing = woking, processing, - actually "filing" in the article would be better defined as "submitting" the report (either to the courts or to another regulatory agency)

report = an official or formal statement of facts or proceedings. (bill) - I probably wouldn't translate "report" as "bill", but rather, as a statement (either in words or numbers) stating the facts of what happened.

The bill has reached the reportstage

cumbersome = difficult to handle - "cumbersome" is difficult to handle because it is big. In this case, I would imagine that there is a great deal of paperwork with a lot of facts to research.

burdensome = onerous (troublesome) - correct

Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Regards.

V.

Please see my responses directly within your quote... I hope this helps!

[vil]

Hi Anglika,

Thank you for your very expert explanations of the matter in question. You gave me a broad hint to perceive the words not as a detached independent terms but as a united whole in an unbreakable connection with the adjoining determinative words which very often change drastic their original meaning.

Regards.

V.

[Anglika]

You're welcome.

It is one of the important skills in reading to recognise where words are used in collocation and not merely for their own meanings. It takes practice.