hail mary

[kpkroy]

- this is a hail mary

- I wonder if this move was Palin's "hail mary" throw.

- Ah y es, the Obama trillion dollar hail mary pork pass.



i looked up what hail mary is on the dictionary, and it said, western prayer by roman Catholics.

which wouldn't make sense in any of the three sentences.
Is there any other meaning for this phrase?

 

[meobeo]

- this is a hail mary

- I wonder if this move was Palin's "hail mary" throw.

- Ah y es, the Obama trillion dollar hail mary pork pass.

According to this link: Hail mary | Define Hail mary at Dictionary.com, "hail mary" (also "hail mary pass" or "hail mary play") means "last-ditch attempt at the end of a game, where completion is considered unlikely". So we can understand those sentences figuratively as:

- This is a last effort.

- I wonder if this move was Palin's last attempt.

....

 

[Barb_D]

Yes, that's it exactly. You don't have any other choices that are likely to succeed, but you will lose (or not achieve your goal) without doing something, so you try this very unlikely thing and pray that it will work.

(The actual prayer isn't really part of the process. It just adds to the idea that it's not probable that it will succeed.)

 

[kpkroy]

thank you