If he’s the Trojan horse, I’ll be the anti-virus.

Today’s English
August 16th, 2017

Have you heard of the phrase “Mexican standoff”?  It’s used when there is an everlasting argument between two people or groups, especially when there is zero chance for an agreement between them.  It’s just like holding each other at gunpoint – no proceed or retreat is possible.
1. I can’t say yes or no.  It’s simply a Mexican standoff.
2. She couldn’t resign the job, nor could she continue. It was a Mexican standoff.
3. Let’s get away from them.  Their argument is just a Mexican standoff.

Mano a mano is another phrase that points out any fight, quarrel or argument between two people.  If an argument is very strong to eliminate all oppositions, it’s called in English as a sledgehammer argument.  You can see in real life some people who will always disagree with you whatever decisions or statements you make.  This is what we say in English through the phrase “argue the toss.”

1. Everyday there is  mano a mano between me and my wife.
2. His sledgehammer argument won everybody’s favour in the debate.
3. Whatever you say, he will argue the toss. (=he will disagree with you.)

You can find some people who will be in an organization or team but do everything against it.  There are two beautiful phrases in English - Trojan horse and black sheep.  The first one refers to a person who works against his own group, organisation or team whereas the second one stands for a person who brings shame to his own family or group.  You will raise your eyebrows to know the story behind black sheep.  It’s said that the black wool from a black sheep born to the white flock is considered to be commercially undesirable as people find it difficult to dye. Thus it brings shame to the whole flock.  Think, then, why the song goes “baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?”.
Why Trojan horse? After a fruitless ten year war, the Greeks built a huge wooden horse inside which soldiers hid themselves and found victory over Troy when the horse was taken into the city by Trojans as a victory trophy. Today it refers to even a computer malicious programme intended to harm your system or steal away your data.

1. At last we identified the Trojan horse in our team.
2. I was shocked to see him the black sheep in our group.
3. If he’s the Trojan horse, I’ll be the Plumbytes anti-malware.

“I'm sorry to say that the subject I most disliked was mathematics. I have thought about it. I think the reason was that mathematics leaves no room for argument. If you made a mistake, that was all there was to it.”
- Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”