shoehorn
to force something to fit
TRANSLATION
shoehorn = etwas oder jemanden in etwas hineinzwängen
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"The rights of our citizens, as guaranteed by the Constitution, should not be SHOEHORNED into a tight timeframe: we should have the time for a vigorous and thorough debate."
U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi in a speech to the U.S. House of Representatives
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"I think the diversity problem is not going to be solved by SHOEHORNING in a token woman or minority into a game where they may not fit."
The Guardian
Did you
know?
shoehorn
verb
1. forced or compressed into an insufficient space or period of time
2. forced to be included or admitted
(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)
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ORIGIN
A shoehorn (der Schuhlöffel) is a device made of metal, wood or horn used to ease the foot into a shoe. Thus shoehorned is an idiomatic way of describing when something has been forced to fit into something else.
Shoehorns appear to have originated in the late Middle Ages or Renaissance; in English a "schoying horne" is mentioned in the 15th century. Elizabeth I of England bought 18 shoe horns from her shoemaker Garrett Johnson between 1563 and 1566, then in 1567 ordered four more in steel from the blacksmiths Gilbert Polson and Richard Jeffrey, and then needed no more until 1586. Presumably these were used by many people in her household.
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SYNONYMS
cram, crowd, crush, jam, ram, sandwich, squeeze, stuff, wedge
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Practice OWAD in a conversation today, say something like:
“Look, they've just agreed the contract. We can't now SHOEHORN another clause into it.”
