Surging and Ebbing

In politics, and other areas, to surge is to accelerate forward rapidly, while to ebb is to decelerate backward rapidly.

You can surge to make relative progress without making absolute progress, and vice versa.

Example: "The Washington Redskins surged back from behind but lost the game to the New York Jets by 2 points." The surge did not result in victory, but resulted in narrowing the 20 point gap by which the Redskins had been behind at halftime.

Example 2: "Sen. Nelson says he sees the campaign of Kendrick Meek surging following strong performances in recent debates."

Playing Your Cards Right

To play your cards right is to skillfully exploit an opportunity.

Example: (Subject: Payments by BP (formerly known as British Petroleum) to Gulf coast residents for economic losses.)

For those who played their cards right, BP's money brought a summer of quiet windfall. Ted Melancon, a shrimper from Cut Off, La., worked for BP for 130 days.

Band-Aid Solution

A band-aid is a small covering placed over small cuts to protect an injured area, limit bleeding, and speed healing. Properly speaking, Band-Aid is a brand name, but is so widely known that it has become an idiom in itself.

A band-aid solution is a quick fix incapable of dealing with problems of a large scale, providing temporary relief only, and usually, inadequate temporary relief at that.


Example: "Education is in crisis. What we need is comprehensive reform, not band-aid solutions that won't work and only delay the inevitable!"