Push the boundaries
Today I’m going to show you how to use the English expression, “push the boundaries.” There are a few ways to use this phrase; they all essentially mean this: to act in a way that goes beyond what is established or accepted.
In today’s lesson, I’m going to focus on pushing the boundaries in social situations. A person who pushes the boundaries acts in a way that’s just a little bit outside the accepted norms in a situation. Usually when someone pushes the boundaries, the person is violating a rule or violating accepted behavior—not by a lot, but it does feel like a violation.
Jerry Springer pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on television. Before Jerry Springer, you would not have seen two women lunge at each other, smack each other, and pull each other’s hair while screaming expletives. You just didn’t see that. Nothing like that was ever on TV; it wasn’t against the law, but there were accepted norms and behaviors and this was a real violation of that.
In another show, Jerry Springer invited a guest who said he had married a horse. That pushed the boundaries. The guest said he had a mature emotional—not physical—emotional connection with the horse and that he considered himself to be married to the horse. Again…this feels like a violation of what is allowed on TV, what you should see on TV, like a violation of unwritten rules.
Donald Trump pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in a public servant. The way he talked about other politicians, other countries, the name-calling, his sordid tabloid history, his controversial policies, the jobs he gave to his family members—the list goes on. Many of his actions may have been illegal—we’ll see —but even if they’re not illegal, they definitely pushed the boundaries. They broke accepted norms of how a public servant should act.
Nick Kygrios is a tennis player from Australia. He pushes the boundaries of accepted behavior among men’s tennis players. He hits trick shots, he yells, he swears, he hurls verbal abuse at his family during tennis matches, he speaks disrespectfully during press conferences, things like that. And at Wimbledon, where the tradition and the rule is for players to wear all white, he wore a colorful red shirt during a post-game interview—daring officials to make him change it.
People on the road can push the boundaries—you see that all the time. People who drive aggressively, they don’t let anyone in, they drive on the shoulder, they act in ways that we all know are not acceptable. That’s an example of pushing the boundaries.
You might remember we talked about “push the envelope ” in Lesson 526. These two are very similar. The difference is that someone who “pushes the envelope” makes you feel just a little uncomfortable, just goes right up to the limit and maybe just a little beyond what’s acceptable in a situation. “Push the boundaries” is like that, but worse. It really does feel wrong, it feels like a violation when someone pushes the boundaries.
Quote of the Week
We’ll do a quote of the week from Jerry Springer himself. He was often accused of pushing the boundaries, as I said. And some people thought his show was pushing the culture in one direction. The culture was just fine, and then the Jerry Springer Show started and corrupted everyone’s morals. Jerry Springer disagreed. Here’s what he said: “Television does not and must not create values; it’s merely a picture of all that’s out there—the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Like I said, I was not a fan of his show, but I do agree with this quote. What you see on TV, what you see in the media, is not moving the culture; it’s reflecting the culture.
See you next time!
And that brings us to the end of this most unconventional episode. If you liked this lesson, you might also like Lesson 291, which was about Regis Philbin, a daytime talk show host ; Regis was a good guy, he’s a guy you would want to invite into your living room. And Lesson 389, which was about Judge Judy . Judge Judy was not as outrageous as Jerry Springer, but they were on TV at around the same time and they attracted similar audiences and similar types of guests.
We’ll be back on Thursday with a new Plain English. See you then.
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