Nancy Matos

Reader question: “I'm just trying to cut him loose.”

Could you explain “cut loose”?

My comments: When you want to get rid of someone, either because they are driving you nuts and being annoying or you have tired of their company and want to move on, you want to “cut him loose”. However, to “cut loose” means to relax, be free and have a good time. After drinking a few bottles of beer, one may “cut loose” either by telling a lot of jokes and being laid back with friends, or hitting the dance floor.

You can also say “l(fā)et loose” as in: “The girls went downtown to hit the nightclubs and let loose.”

In the 1980s (and still today at “80s nights” at local dance clubs) Kenny Loggins urged people to do just that in his hit song “Footloose”, from the movie of the same name:

Tonight I gotta cut loose, footloose Kick off your Sunday shoes Please, Louise Pull me offa my knees Jack, get back C'mon before we crack Lose your blues Everybody cut footloose

But remember this was a song from the 1980s—don’t go around telling people to “cut footloose” or you will be stared at strangely or laughed at. Just “cut loose” will do.

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網(wǎng)立場無關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學術(shù)問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

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Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.