Wrest control

Wrest control

Today’s expression is “wrest control,” and wrest is w-r-e-s-t. To wrest control is to gain control of something , usually by force . In today’s lesson, you heard that the passengers of United Flight 93 wrested control of the aircraft from the hijackers and crashed the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. The passengers on this plane knew the hijackings were being used for terrorist purposes . They didn’t want their plane to be used to hit another target . So they fought back against the hijackers, gained control of the plane, and crashed it into a field instead. It was a remarkable act of bravery .

In many cases, you wrest control of an object from another person. In Lesson 215, I talked about how a man with a knife threatened people attending a conference in London . Several bystanders forced him outside and pinned him down . The police got there and wrested control of the knife from the man. They fought for, and gained, control of the knife, and then they arrested the man.

In some cases, you can wrest control of something intangible . Have you ever been in a meeting that’s pure chaos ? If the meeting is really unproductive , you might try to wrest control of the meeting if someone has caused it to veer out of control .

I’m watching a series called “Call My Agent.” It’s French, and I’m watching it because it stars Camille Cottin and I liked her in “Stillwater.” It’s about a talent agency that represents movie stars . I won’t give you any spoilers, but some of the partners in the agency are trying to wrest control from the new principal owner , who wants to sell out to foreign investors . Put together , the rest of the partners only own 40 percent of the agency, so they can’t control big decisions. The one other partner owns 60 percent. So the partners that together own less than half of the agency are trying to wrest control from the other: they are trying to gain control. It’s going to be hard, but they’re trying to do it.

In the U.S., most social distancing and mask-use rules happen at the state and municipality levels . But the state governments and the local governments don’t always agree on what rules should be in place. Many governors have taken measures to impose their rules on their entire state. But the local cities are trying to wrest control of the issue back from the governors . Cities and school districts want the freedom to set their own rules about mask usage and social distancing; those could be stricter or more lenient than the state rules, depending on the place. But the local mayors are trying to wrest control of the issue from the governors.

JR’s song of the week

It’s Thursday, so we have a song of the week from JR. This time, he picked “Lovefool” by the Swedish rock band The Cardigans. You’ve probably heard of it. “I don’t care about anything but you,” the lead singer Nina Persson sings. It’s in the 90s movie adaptation of “Romeo + Juliet” and the movie “Cruel Intentions.”

See you next time!

If you have never seen the movie “United 93,” I highly recommend it. We talked a few weeks ago about movies “inspired by ” true stories, but this was a very rigorously researched movie that pieces together all the available evidence to tell the most likely story of what happened on that flight. Remember, that was the flight that crashed into a field, where the passengers took control back from the hijackers.

Well, that’s all for this Plain English lesson, number 397. Remember, you can find the full lesson online at PlainEnglish.com/397, and that full lesson includes a how-to video, practice exercises, transcripts, the fast audio, and more. We’ll be back again on Monday when we’ll talk about the 9/11 museum in New York City.