FITS AND STARTS, FIX (SOMEONE’S) WAGON, FLASH IN THE PAN: American English Idioms #73

FITS AND STARTS

When someone is progressing in an erratic manner, they are making progress in fits and starts. This phrase describes periods of apparent progress followed by periods of stagnation.

The expression “fits and starts” is used to describe periods of success where the person or company experiencing them will experience failure, stop for awhile, and then resume. The expression comes from the idea that there are moments where it seems like everything is going well but then they will be interrupted by setbacks.

Fits and starts is an idiom that means to have a sporadic, uneven course.
In this vernacular use, it may be used when a person says something in an vernacular that is not appropriate for the context. In more technical contexts, fits and starts may be used in conjunction with a particular characterizing property of a dynamical system.[2] This type of usage may come from the idea of a problem being overcome in spurts.

This idiom refers to a person’s ability to work on a task from time to time when they have sporadic breaks in between. For example, if you have the flu and are working from home, you may work on your project for an hour or two at a time, then take some time to rest. This type of work is referred to as “fits and starts.

FIX (SOMEONE’S) WAGON

This idiomatic expression is a metaphor for a person in a position of power who takes advantage of someone weaker. It means to cause problems for someone. It may also mean to praise highly or exaggerate the importance of something.

Fix someone’s wagon is an idiom meaning to embarrass or damage someone. It could be used for example, if the person had asked the teacher a question and then the teacher answered it with a long response that ended with “to fix your wagon”. It would mean that they’ve made themselves look dumb.

The idiom “fix someone’s wagon” is used to express that someone has been put in a bad position. This expression often arises when discussing politics and the political games people play with one another, and how they can “get back at” their opponents.

The idiom “fix someone’s wagon” is often used to describe destroying someone’s credibility or making him/her appear stupid. The idiom can also be used to make fun of people who are misinformed, like when they say things like “I read it in the newspaper” but you know they didn’t because you saw them on TV an hour ago.

FLASH IN THE PAN

The idiom “flash in the pan” is used to describe someone or something that shows potential, but doesn’t go anywhere. For example, a musician might be part of a great band for one album, but then they disappear and never produce anything else. It refers to how an object like gunpowder will emit sparks briefly before dying out.

The phrase “to be a flash in the pan” is used to describe someone, who after a brief period of time, shines brightly but quickly fades away. Typically this is because the person’s profession or scheme does not have staying power or they themselves do not have what it takes to go the distance. It can also be used to describe someone who has a short-lived success in a particular field and then moves on to try something else.

The term flash in the pan is often used when someone does something successful in the short term but their success is not met in the long term. This may be because they quickly become bored with their project or they are unable to sustain their initial achievement.

This expression refers to someone who has a sudden, short-lived success. It is a negative metaphor that suggests that the person will do nothing after this initial success or that they are not as talented as it seemed at first.