IDIOM QUIZ: THE ARREST OF SUSAN B. ANTHONY


Susan B. Anthony is one of the great heroines in American history. She fought for women's rights. She went to a polling place and cast her ballot even though she knew that she did not have the right to vote. A policeman came to her home to arrest her. He did not want to force her to go with him to the police station. He told her that she could go there by herself. But Susan B. didn't want to make it easy for him. She refused to turn herself in, and the policeman was forced to take her to jail. She refused to pay the bail, preferring to stay in jail, but her lawyer paid her bail. The judge at her trial was an opponent of women's rights, and he refused to let a jury decide. Instead he directed a verdict of guilty without allowing the case to go to a jury. Women did not get the right to vote until 1920 with the passage of the 19th Constitutional Amendment. Susan B. Anthony died in 1906. In her last public speech, at her 86th birthday celebration, Susan B. urged the next generation to continue the work.

In the following conversation, a lobbyist for the alcoholic beverage industry pays a visit to Susan B. Anthony. He wants to get her to stop her fight for women's voting rights. The alcohol lobbyists were afraid that, if women got the right to vote, they would try to prohibit the sale and use of alcoholic drinks like whiskey. As it turned out though, alcohol was prohibited with the passage of the 18th Amendment, even before women got the vote!


CHOOSE THE BEST IDIOM TO PUT IN EACH BLANK:

LOBBYIST: I hope you don't mind my ________ you, Miss Anthony.  I have something I'd like to discuss with you.
 
looking out for    dropping in on    rubbing elbows with
SUSAN B.:I would have preferred it if you had made an appointment, young man, but I'll ________ anyway.
 
lend you an ear    make a clean break    give you a shot in the arm
LOBBYIST:I've ________.  It seems that you're quite an activist for women's voting rights.
 
put my best foot forward    had second thoughts    had my eye on you
SUSAN B.: Well, sir, if you've come to ________, you can just turn around and leave my doorstep right now.
 
rake me over the coals    pin something on me    stand up for me
LOBBYIST: Please don't ________, Miss Anthony.  I've come here to help you.
 
get itchy feet    give me the runaround    get bent out of shape
SUSAN B.:Sir, that's ________.  I know that you, as an alcohol lobbyist, have no interest in helping me.
 
up to you    a lot of baloney    a lost cause
LOBBYIST:Not so.  I can make you quite comfortable.  I've come to offer you ________ for your future.
 
a balancing act    a little nest egg    a hidden agenda
SUSAN B.:What ________, young man?
   
is up in the air    is on the fritz    have you got up your sleeve
LOBBYIST:Everyone knows that your women's voting rights movement is ________.  Give it up and you'll get that nest egg.
 
a done deal    a lost cause    a tough act to follow
SUSAN B.: Young man, if you weren't ________, you would know better than to come here and try to bribe me.
 
a baby boomer    still wet behind the ears    in your birthday suit
LOBBYIST:There's no need to ________, ma'am.
 
lose your temper    show off    give me the runaround
SUSAN B.:Tell me, young man, what's your ________ the women's movement?
 
Band-Aid for    shot in the arm for    beef with
LOBBYIST:Okay, I'll ________.  We know that when you women get the vote, you'll start a movement to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol, and you'll have the voting power to make it happen.
 
look you in the face    come clean    make your day
SUSAN B.:Why, I hadn't even thought of that.  That's a very good idea.  Thanks for ________, young man.
   
upsetting the applecart    beating around the bush    the tip

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