On solid ground
Today’s expression is “on solid ground.” You can use it in two ways: first, it can mean that you are safe in a given situation; the second meaning is that you are justified in doing something. You first heard it earlier when I said that I thought Mattel was on solid legal ground in using Frida’s image in the Barbie doll. It’s my opinion that they are justified—legally—in using her image because they have a contract with the Frida Kahlo Corporation, which owns the rights to the artist’s image. Since Mattel paid the true owner of the rights, Mattel—in my opinion—is on solid ground. They are justified in what they are doing.
The more common way to use solid ground, though, is to mean safe and secure. If someone says he wants to get his family’s finances back on solid ground, that means he wants to save some more money, so that his family is safer and more secure financially. Germany and, most recently, Italy both had elections that require uncomfortable coalitions of political parties. Those coalitions probably won’t be on solid ground because the elections didn’t produce a clear winner. In France; however, Emmanual Macron won a strong mandate as French president—he’s on solid ground, at least for now, because he won with an impressive majority.
The opposite of being on solid ground is to be on shaky ground. Who or what is on shaky ground right now? Benjamin Netanyahu and Michel Temer, leaders of Israel and Brazil, are on shaky political ground now, since both find themselves under investigation and losing popularity. Some people think stock markets around the world, especially in the United States, are on shaky ground because they’ve been going up for so long. It might not be safe to assume they’ll continue to go up even further in the future. US stocks, at least, appear to be on shaky ground. But who knows? Maybe if the economy continues to improve, stocks will be on solid ground for some time to come.
See the difference? Solid ground means safe, secure, justified, or in a good position; shaky ground means the opposite.
I’ll tell you one more thing on solid ground: the Yankees’ 2018 lineup with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. It’s the middle of March, so that means baseball season is starting up here in a few weeks and I, for one, am really looking forward to it.
That’s it for today’s episode of Plain English. Please remember to click “subscribe” in Apple Podcasts or “follow” in Spotify so you get all the latest episodes directly on your phone. And if you want to connect on Facebook or Twitter, you can find me under the user name PlainEnglishPod. Thanks for listening and we’ll be back here on Monday; Monday’s topic is going to be St. Patrick’s Day. See you then!
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
