How to get away with it. “Get unscathed”: the meaning of phraseological units, synonyms and antonyms

Physicists at the University of Rochester have created a material that cannot be wet, and drops of water simply bounce off it.

The lotus is considered a symbol of purity: growing in dirty swamp water, stunningly beautiful and pure flowers are born. It would seem, what could be in common between the symbol of purity and physics? It turns out that there is something in common, and it is called the scientific term - hydrophobic properties of the surface. If the surface is hydrophilic, then water can easily spread over it and form a uniform film (an example of such a surface is glass). But if you spill a few drops of water on a Teflon frying pan, they will not stick to the surface, and if you tilt it at a certain angle, the drops will begin to roll off - this is an example of a hydrophobic surface.

And there is also such a property as superhydrophobicity. On such surfaces, drops of water cannot gain a foothold at all, and begin to roll off at very small angles of inclination. For example, dew drops on the grass have a spherical shape; the surface repels water, preventing it from getting wet. Lotus leaves are the most beautiful example of a superhydrophobic surface created by nature. The secret lies in the microstructure of the leaves; they not only repel water, but also contribute to the self-cleaning of the plant. Drops of water, rolling off the surface of the leaf, take away particles of dust and dirt, leaving the flower perfectly clean. By the way, the wings of butterflies and other insects have the same property, otherwise they simply would not be able to fly under the weight of adhering dust.

Man has learned to make artificial hydrophobic surfaces that are not wetted by water. But two physicists from the University of Rochester, Anatoly Vorobyov and Chang-Li Guo, went further and were able to make a material from which drops of water bounce like a tennis ball off a wall. It would be more accurate to say that they came up with a method by which such a unique property can be given to different materials. How did they manage to do this?

To treat the surface, the researchers needed a powerful sapphire laser that generates short, femtosecond pulses. By focusing the laser beam on the surface of the metal, parallel grooves about 100 µm wide and 75 µm deep were applied to its surface. This size is comparable to the thickness of a human hair. On the resulting ribbed surface, somewhat reminiscent of a bed of hilled potatoes, even smaller nanostructures formed, which made the grooves and furrows “rough.” It took the experimenters about an hour to laser process a metal plate measuring 2.5 x 2.5 cm.

The result is amazing material. For their experiments, physicists took three metal plates made of platinum, titanium and brass. After processing, the shiny metal surface became completely black - it stopped reflecting light. But the most impressive discovery was made when water was dropped onto such a laser-modified plate - the falling drop simply bounced off it. The surface turned out to be so water-repellent that a drop that fell on it was able to retain up to a third of its kinetic energy and bounce back. Naturally, the metal plate itself remained completely dry. To test the self-cleaning properties of the created material, the researchers applied a layer of dust taken from a regular vacuum cleaner to it. After that, ordinary water began to drip onto the surface - each drop “glued” fragments of dust onto itself, taking them with it. And the material itself remained in pristine purity, no worse than a beautiful lotus flower.

Drops jumping on a plane are, of course, beautiful and interesting, but how can such material be useful? The lotus flower turned out to be not only a symbol of purity, but also helped people of science figure out how to make our world a little better. First of all, self-cleaning surfaces will help save water. This is very important where every liter of water counts. In addition, such materials may have anti-icing properties - the formation of ice on aircraft controls is fraught with very dire consequences. Superhydrophobic surfaces will be more resistant to the formation of mold and other microorganisms. The property that the surface of the metal becomes completely black can be useful for effectively absorbing solar energy.

There are 1.5 thousand phraseological units in the Russian language. They are unique means of language. The benefit of stable expressions is the formation of beautiful and varied speech.

Meaning

The phraseological phrase “get away with it” has two interpretations:

"Escape from punishment." This explanation of the phraseological unit suggests that the subject himself performs the action: avoids deserved censure. For example: “He constantly lies, dodges like he’s in a frying pan, but in the end he always gets away with it.”
"Remain unpunished." In this meaning, we do not see the direct actions of the person himself, since he could have gone unpunished due to the fault of other people. For example: “I don’t understand how he managed to get away with it. He was just lucky!”

The meaning of the phraseological unit “get away with it” is understood without a dictionary, since it has figurativeness. You probably know the established expressions “pull the gimp”, “you can’t see a thing”, which are not associated with anything at first glance. Their meaning is found only in specialized literature: a dictionary of phraseological units, etymological reference books, etc.

The meaning of the phraseological unit “get away with it” is based on a metaphor. If we take the statement literally, then it describes something unreal. To get out of the water without getting wet, you need to come up with a special system of protection against liquids. Hence the meaning: a person will go to all sorts of tricks, invent various schemes, so as not to receive a well-deserved “flogging”.

Synonyms

The meaning of the phraseological unit “get away with it” can be conveyed by other expressions similar in meaning:

"You can't take it with your bare hands." This is what they say about a cunning person who can stand up for himself. This is the antonym of the phraseological unit “take with bare hands,” i.e., without effort and additional means.
"Don't miss" - man. Used to clarify personality, for example: “He’s a good guy.”

“It will get through without soap” is another synonym for “getting away with it.” This is what they call cunning people and deceivers. The expression comes from the proverb “to get into the soul without soap,” that is, to act by deception, causing harm, pain.
“It cuts the heels as it goes.” This is what they say about a departed person. This expression comes from a Russian fairy tale about two thieves: the older and the younger. The experienced one gave the task to take the eggs from the duck so that it would not notice. The young thief not only followed the instructions, but quietly stole the soles of the old thief, cutting them off with a knife.

Antonyms

We have compiled a list of expressions that have opposite meanings. If “get away with it” means “always remain unpunished,” then its antonym will mean “be constantly extreme.”

"Getting caught up in history." This is what they say about an often naive person who has gotten himself into trouble. Phraseologism is negatively colored, pronounced in a condemning manner. For example: “Your spoiled boy has gotten himself into some kind of trouble again!”
"Out of the frying pan into the fire". This is what they say if a person finds himself in a worse situation than before. This phraseological unit implies an unfavorable or even dangerous situation. The phrase expresses disdain and condemnation. For example: “Once again you are out of the frying pan and into the fire!”

“From bag to bag” is a rare phraseological unit used in the same meaning - from bad to worse.
“To please/get caught like chickens in cabbage soup.” This phraseology means that a person finds himself in unexpected trouble. This feeling is compared to the feeling of a rooster falling into soup. Why this particular bird? In Russian villages, cabbage soup was cooked with beef and pork, and chicken was used on rare occasions. What situations could these be? Either unexpected guests, or lack of livestock, or even hunger. Therefore, getting a rooster into the soup is unexpected.

Examples from literature

Phraseologisms are best revealed in literary and journalistic texts. Let's look at some passages:

“... in any high-profile criminal incident one had to look for the sleek face of Lev Naumovich. But he always got away with it.” This is an excerpt from “La Gioconda of Mtsensk District” by writer Irina Pavskaya. The author uses an interesting word to describe the hero - cunning. This enhances the meaning of the phraseological unit. Here the hero is an outright criminal, but does not suffer punishment, because he commits evil with the hands of naive “boobies.”

"...he came out unscathed where others were swallowed up by the evil waves of repression." An excerpt from “Ten Decades” by publicist B. Efimov. The author creates an interesting metaphor about repression. The word "wave" is taken from the same semantic field as the word "water", i.e. it has a common "theme". This is another advantage of catchphrases - to serve as a field for creating new meanings, interesting images, and the unique style of the author.

Andy Robin, Kavet Gregg How to get away with it. The art of getting out of life's most awkward situations
Acknowledgments of the authors
Preface
Introduction: Our Arsenal
Our arsenal
1. Unhappy Hour: How to Survive Parties and Other Gatherings
1. You are dressed too formally or not formally enough.
2. You came without a gift
3. Are you at a loss when choosing a greeting: a hug, a kiss or a handshake?
4. You forgot someone's name
5. You missed the mark on your gender/status
6. You're just pretending you know what you're talking about.
7. You're having a drink with an alcoholic.
8. You got caught in a lie while telling a story.
9. You don't like food
10. You leave too early
2. Service sector: what to do to avoid being spat in your sandwich
1. You are talking to a person who allegedly stole something from you.
2. This isn't the first time you've lost your prescription drugs.
3. You find out that the person you are about to fire has money problems.
4. Should I leave a tip?
5. You are being scammed for money.
6. You undressed too early at the doctor's
7. You “did it yourself” and regretted it.
8. You changed hairdresser
3. Workplace: how to protect your dignity from nine to six
1. You are having an office romance
2. You want to end an office romance
3. You fell asleep in a meeting
4. You constantly meet with the same colleague
5. You get fired
6. You are fighting an undeclared war
7. You sit next to your boss on a plane.
8. You were put in the same room with a colleague
4. Sex: how to hear the cherished “Yes, yes, yessss!”
1. You shouted out the wrong name during sex.
2. You mistakenly thought that wedges were being placed under you.
3. The person you want to break up with has met with misfortune.
4. You were too quick to undress
5. You regretted asking your partner about his fantasies.
5. Friends and Family: How to Hide the Worst About Yourself from Those Who Know You Best
1. You missed a family event.
2. You were asked to rate your girlfriend/boyfriend
3. You gave a gift and got caught
4. You didn’t call your relatives when you were in their city.
5. You didn't call back
6. You're trying to get guests out.
7. You encourage someone who shouldn't.
8. You left a bad message on your answering machine.
9. You feel obligated to buy your friend's work.
10. You ruined a borrowed item
11. You buy sensitive items
12. You are asked for a recommendation by someone who is not worthy of it.
6. Closer to the body: Very private matters in public places
1. You are looking for a toilet
2. You're in a toilet that doesn't lock.
3. You are in the toilet, from which you can hear everything perfectly.
4. You need to hide your erection
5. You clog someone else's toilet
6. You passed gas in public.
7. You don't have any toilet paper on hand.
7. Clash of Civilizations: How to Curry the Favor of 6.3 Billion People
1. You order from a foreign cuisine menu
2. You have exhausted your knowledge of a foreign language
3. You can't tell one person from another
4. You participate in unusual ceremonies
5. You can't tell if people are speaking English to you.
Afterword
About the authors

Andy Robin, Kavet Gregg

How to get away with it. The art of getting out of life's most awkward situations

Andy Robin, Gregg Kavet

SAVING FACE: How to Lie, Fake, and Maneuver Your Way

Out of Life\"s Most Awkward Situations

Originally published by Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet or corporate networks, for private or public use without the written permission of the copyright owner.

If the book you purchased does not have a cover, you should be aware that the copy is stolen. In the publisher's reports, it appears as “unsold and destroyed,” and neither the author nor the publisher received any profits from the sale of the “stripped” book.

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events and incidents are either invented by the author or used in a fictitious context. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is purely coincidental.

We thank Tricia Boczkowski of Simon Spotlight Entertainmentmet for the project idea; our editor Patrick Price for improving it, and all those who helped us get out of awkward situations before we learned how to do it ourselves: Lindy, Anna, Roxanne, Peter, Jackson and Kirsten Larson.

Preface

Awkwardness is like pornography difficult to define, but easily recognized: cold sweat, stupor and the feeling that everyone is looking at you.

Ask anyone to list the ten worst moments of their life. Most likely you will be told about a bereavement and a couple of bouts of illness or acute pain, but there is a good chance that the remaining seven or eight will include disgusting, annoying, terrifying awkwardness.

All our lives we try to avoid awkward situations, but... we find ourselves in them again and again. We get stuck, don't know what to do, and end up saying and doing things that make everything worse.

The problem is that we weren't taught this. No one has ever systematically studied awkward moments or suggested easy ways to deal with them.

Nobody except us.

From our own experience, we have tried thousands of remedies that can help in such situations. Most of them turned out to be completely untenable. We were slapped, yelled at, sued, and expelled from everywhere. We lost our jobs, became estranged from our relatives, and had our sex life pretty much ruined. And all for your sake, dear reader.

But some methods still worked. On the pages of our book you will find specific recommendations on how to get out of all sorts of unpleasant situations. How to greet someone whose name you can't remember? How to evade responsibility by clogging your wife's parents' toilet? How to break up an affair with a colleague? How to return a car with a burned out engine to your neighbors?

So, although awkward situations await you literally everywhere, you will no longer have an excuse to hide at home like some clean-shaven Ted Kaczynski. Go out, communicate, work, live, desire and love. But always keep this book handy. Because you never know in advance at what point a situation might... um... turn awkward.

Introduction: Our Arsenal

The techniques described in the book suitable for anyone, from a brain-damaged simpleton to an unbridled genius.

However, all readers will benefit from learning a few techniques and then combining them into a system we call “our arsenal.”

Our arsenal

Lies should become your good friend. You will have to lie again and again, in small things and in big ways. Practice the art of lying.

Lie so that people believe you. If there's anything worse than not lying at all, it's lying unconvincingly.

Modern telecommunications equipment

Because the telephone frees us from personal confrontation, we will use it extensively throughout the book. But to maximize its capabilities, you will need to put a variety of modern gadgets at your service: an answering machine, voice mail, caller ID, a forwarding, waiting and selective call blocking system, as well as the STAR 69 multifunctional system.

Carefully study the capabilities of your phone. What is the maximum number of messages his voice mailbox can store? What is the connection code for the “anti-determinant”? In what places does your phone usually not receive reception, so that at the right moment you can be successfully “disconnected”?

Dejected look

Let this be your default facial expression. Looking dejected makes people forgive you for a lot of tactless or deadly stupid things you do. Practice this facial expression in front of a mirror. One of these thoughts will help you get into the right frame of mind: your mother has just died; you are already a week late in delivering a major project; you are terminally ill. Situations like these cause the same internal torment that usually excuses irresponsible actions.

Lack of money

Money is a great thing. But for our purposes, lack of money is more useful. Well, or at least the appearance of it. Citing a lack of money, you can reduce prices for services, fire a housekeeper or kick out workers, save on a gift and cancel the agreement. To be even more convincing, complain often about the emergency expenses you have recently experienced. You lost your case in court. Your child has thrombophlebitis and requires treatment. Your car fell into a karst sinkhole. You need to excavate, reconstruct and replace the foundation of the house.

Scapegoats

Nothing relieves us of responsibility faster than having someone to blame on, be it a secretary, assistant, wife or husband. They don’t even have to really exist - the main thing is that they are guilty. Set the stage early by complaining about the scapegoat: “I have the worst secretary in the world! I need to find someone else. By the way, do you have a decent secretary in mind?” For more extreme cases, it is worth considering an identical twin.

So we have completed our arsenal. Keep it clean, tidy and ready for action. You'll need it soon.

1. Unhappy Hour: How to Survive Parties and Other Gatherings

God himself ordered We begin our book with an examination of a party - that planned sequence of absurd rituals designed specifically to confuse and confuse all those invited through a barbaric culling of antisocial elements. Arrival and departure, greetings and farewells, gifts, food, conversations and appearance - all this is regulated by a myriad of unwritten laws. If you make a slight mistake, the destructive gaze of the other guests will immediately turn on you, crushing your ego and echoing painful waves of shame in your soul.

If you hope to survive the party, your only option is to take these tips to heart. Learn the rules, practice the tricks, and visualize the path to escape now, without waiting for your “moment of truth” to arrive one fine holiday evening, many months later.

1. You are dressed too formally or not formally enough.

Thinking about what to wear, a person spends an average of 5 minutes a day. But when we go to a party, this time increases to five hours.

Sometimes there are hints in invitations, but unfortunately, they are usually very vague and misleading. Collocation evening dresses stands for: “We’re having a party. Don't come naked." Relaxed evening style means "dress like a schizophrenic." Black tie, creativity- the trickiest of all the tips. Are you invited to a Republican fundraiser or a gay pride parade?

But no matter what the invitation says, you will most likely miss the mark and will look either like a pompous snob or, on the contrary, a sloppy simpleton. And the only question is how to justify your appearance in this form.

explain where you come from

Tell people you just got home from work. If you are dressed too pretentiously, then you are a big boss. If your outfit is not up to par, you are a creative person: a musician, a sculptor, Richard Branson, well, and so on.

explain where you are going If people know who you are, refer to where you're going after the event: a pool party, a debutante ball, a scavenger hunt, or the Grammy Awards.

Get away with it GET DRY FROM THE WATER. COME OUT DRY FROM WATER. Razg. Express Remain unpunished, avoid deserved punishment . Neither before nor after he had set his sights on someone else’s, but here, in a drunken shop, one trickster encouraged him to cheat with government-issued alcohol. The trickster came out of the water unscathed, and Vasily Petrovich was immediately caught(N. Pochivalin. Past).

Phraseological dictionary of the Russian literary language. - M.: Astrel, AST. A. I. Fedorov. 2008.

See what “getting away with it” means in other dictionaries:

get away with it

Get out / get away with it- Razg. Disapproved Avoid deserved punishment, remain unsullied, uncompromised in difficult and unpleasant situations. DP, 426, 661; BMS 1998, 90; SPP 2001, 22; SERGEEVA 2004, 205; BTS, 139, 172; Versh 6, 432…

come out dry from water- get out / get away with it Unscathed. More often owls. past vr. Avoid deserved punishment; to remain unpunished (about cunning, dexterous people). With noun with value persons: teenager, young man... came out unscathed; to whom? a criminal, a violator... will not get away with it... ... Educational phraseological dictionary

GET DRY FROM THE WATER. COME OUT DRY FROM WATER. Razg. Express Remain unpunished, avoid deserved punishment. Neither before nor after he had set his sights on someone else’s, but here, in a drunken shop, one trickster encouraged him to cheat with government-issued alcohol.... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Get away with it- Gorky. The same as getting away with it. BalSok, 29… Large dictionary of Russian sayings

May you stay dry on the water- Novg. The same as getting away with it. NOS 1, 104 ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

WATER- For water. Arch. In the absence of anyone AOC 4, 153. Mad water. Alt. Spring flood. SRGA 1, 65. Big water. 1. Arch., Sib. High water. AOC 4, 147; SBO D1, 38. 2. Arch. Tide. AOC 4, 147. Breaking water. Don. Beginning of ice drift. SDG 2, 31 ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

List of South Park characters

Books on the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.- Books on the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Many modern writers became interested in the game world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. As a result, a series of books were written that interpret the world of the game in their own way. The series is published by Russian publishing houses Eksmo and... ... Wikipedia

South Park characters- All the characters listed below are heroes of the animated television series “South Park” and the full-length cartoon “South Park: Big, Long and Uncut.” Characters are listed only once, in the subsection dedicated to them. Characters ... Wikipedia

Books

, Robin Andy, Kavet Gregg. Understanding the variety of cutlery is not so difficult. But what if you fall asleep at a meeting or get caught giving away a gift? The authors of this book explore dozens of awkward... Buy for 292 RUR
How to get away with it. The art of getting out of the most awkward situations in life, Robin E., Kavet G.. Dealing with the variety of cutlery is not so difficult. But what if you fall asleep at a meeting or get caught giving away a gift? The authors of this book explore dozens of embarrassing...