Pbenjay's Blog

YUP, it’s DONE! 

Of course I had to go “balls to the wall” while “under the gun”.  And now to explore the origins of these motivational expressions!

Balls to the Wall

It probably doesn’t mean what you think, or do you?  Well it does mean, as in my case, to go all out, full throttle as fast as you can.  And full throttle is the key to the meaning and origin of this phrase.  It’s a military aviation term;  Many planes have a ball-top grip on the control sticks.  The throttle, the mechanism to accelerate the engines, is pushed all the way forward towards the firewall which prevents an engine fire from entering the rest of the plane.  The joystick, which if pushed forward to the firewall sends the plane into a dive, so literally putting the balls to the wall would send the plane into a maximum speed dive and figuratively going balls to the wall is doing something all-out with maximum effort.

Under the Gun

This one’s so simple, I’m sure you already know it or will figure it out in a second.  Want to get someone to do something real quick – point the gun at them!  And as in my case, you can do it to yourself although that does sound rather suicidal.

I managed to get the hat done before dinner, scrape the hot glue off my fingertips, pack up the ribbons, sweep away the scraps of leaves and wire clippings.  The end result is slightly different from I had planned – not sure how I forgot about the “mirror” effect.  I had done the whole hat before I realized my error!  However, I figured a flower here, a ribbon there, a bit more crinoline and probably  I could make it work.  I think I did, do you?

Purple and Yellow - So EASTER!