[Vocabulary] down the middle of the road

maiabulela · Mar 15, 2011

Dear all,

"Those are conservative people, down the middle of the road people"

What is the meaning of "down the middle of the road"?

Thanks a lot.

The Dude · Mar 15, 2011

We would just say 'middle of the road', without 'down the'. This describes people whose politics are neither to the left nor to the right, but somewhere in the middle.

It does not mean people who drive down the middle of the road. :lol:

maiabulela · Mar 15, 2011

The Dude said:
We would just say 'middle of the road', without 'down the'. This describes people whose politics are neither to the left nor to the right, but somewhere in the middle.

It does not mean people who drive down the middle of the road. :lol:

You mean "normal simple people like us"

The Dude · Mar 15, 2011

Hey, I know I'm simple but that's for me to say, not you! :lol:

Actually it doesn't necessarily mean that. You can be a normal, simple person and still far prefer one political party to another. This really is a statement about those people not having strong political opinions.

The expression can also be used in other areas such as music or art, when someone is being described as not favouring any extreme genre.

maiabulela · Mar 15, 2011

The Dude said:
Hey, I know I'm simple but that's for me to say, not you! :lol:

Actually it doesn't necessarily mean that. You can be a normal, simple person and still far prefer one political party to another. This really is a statement about those people not having strong political opinions.

The expression can also be used in other areas such as music or art, when someone is being described as not favouring any extreme genre.

can't thank you enough :up::roll:

susiedqq · Mar 15, 2011

So your sentence does not make sense:

"Those are conservative people, down the middle of the road people"

A "middle of the road" person is neither conservative or liberal.

SoothingDave · Mar 15, 2011

susiedqq said:
So your sentence does not make sense:

"Those are conservative people, down the middle of the road people"

A "middle of the road" person is neither conservative or liberal.

The American "middle" is much more "conservative" than a simple "half-a-loaf analysis" might demand. Reagan won 49 states.

"Middle of the road" is a synonym for "mainstream."

5jj · Mar 15, 2011

susiedqq said:
A "middle of the road" person is neither conservative or liberal.

a middle-of-the-road person can be moderately conservative or moderately liberal. It's possible to be a conservative socialist. I agree with The Dude's explantions.

BobK · Mar 15, 2011

The Dude said:
We would just say 'middle of the road', without 'down the'. This describes people whose politics are neither to the left nor to the right, but somewhere in the middle.

It does not mean people who drive down the middle of the road. :lol:

Incidentally, this literal interpretation was used in a TV advert for a chocolate bar featuring two workmen painting the white line down the middle of the road. One asked 'What're your politics?' (The punchline is left as an exercise for the reader ;-) - well, it was quite funny, given the camera-angles [which didn't show what the men were doing until after the punchline].)

b

BobK · Mar 15, 2011

fivejedjon said:
a middle-of-the-road person can be moderately conservative or moderately liberal. It's possible to be a conservative socialist. I agree with The Dude's explantions.

:up: In Br Eng (as 5jj knows, but as may be of interest to others) people often use the disambiguating phrase "little c conservative"; in contrast, a proud member of the Conservative party might claim to be 'a big C Conservative'.

b

Barb_D · Mar 15, 2011

Everyone has jumped on the word conservative in the political sense, but it could just mean a risk-averse person, someone who doesn't stray to far to any extreme, but stays solidly in the midst of the pack.

(While driving down the middle of the road with traffic is a bad idea, if you're the only one on the road, it's hard to fall off either side when you're squarely in the middle.)

[Vocabulary] down the middle of the road

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