[Vocabulary] Political Stomach

Status
Not open for further replies.

yamadew

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello.

While reading BBC news website, I came across this sentence:

"the key countries that would have to contribute may not have the political stomach and the temerity."

What does this political stomach mean? And is this phrase frequently used?

Thanks in advance.
 

Richard1

Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Hello,

An adjective like 'political' when used with the noun 'stomach' always conveys the same idea. There is always some controversial decision to be made, and making it is likely to upset a large proportion if not all of a population and hence cause a backlash.

In this example the suggestion is that the populations of the key countries are not generally in favour of making the level of contributions required, and to do so is likely to have a 'political' cost at any subsequent election or referendum, and result in a vote against the government in power.

It is in fairly common usage.

Regards
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Hello.

While reading BBC news website, I came across this sentence:

"the key countries that would have to contribute may not have the political stomach and the temerity."

What does this political stomach mean? And is this phrase frequently used?

Thanks in advance.
I agree with the above.
The politicians don't have the 'guts', or the 'balls' to do something which they probably should do. These are slang terms for the concept.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top