Kazuo asks:
There is an expression which I cannot understand in the article titled Deadly games in Reader's Digest November, 2005 issue. The expression appears in the following sentences.
QUOTE:
Indeed, like several of the boy's teachers, Hallman says Moore had plenty of
friends, was bright and well-mannered. "I could chew his tail," Hallman
recalls, "and he'd say, 'Yes, sir.'"
UNQUOTE.
I couldn't understand the meaning of "chew his tail". I thought that it is a kind of idiom. I checked many dictionaries but I couldn't find the expression as an idiom. I appreciate very much if you explain the meaning of "chew his tail" and if it is an idiom or a slang.
We have a lot of slang expressions in English about the backside, buttocks, tail, or (most often) ass. These are usually very undignified. When someone says, "I'll kick his ass," it means "I will beat him until he turns to run, and then I will kick him when he can't even defend himself." In other words, my victory will be complete.
So when the teacher says "I could chew his tail," he means, "I could treat him insultingly." But the boy is so polite that he would not resist such treatment.
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