kick the ball in the long grass
kick the ball in the long grass (idiom)
/ˈkɪk ðə bɔːl ɪn ðə lɒŋ ˈɡrɑːs/
Meanings
- To delay action and put off dealing with something difficult or controversial.
- To sideline an issue so it loses attention or is forgotten.
- To avoid making a decision by postponing it indefinitely.
- To conceal or bury a problem so it is not visible or discussed.
Synonyms: defer; stall; procrastinate; sideline; put off; delay; shelve; postpone; sweep under the rug; kick the can down the road.
Example Sentences
- The government chose to kick the ball in the long grass on tax reform until after the election.
- The committee simply kicked the ball in the long grass, and the proposal was never discussed again.
- Rather than take a stance, the minister kicked the ball in the long grass, hoping the issue would fade away.
- Management tried to kick the ball in the long grass by burying the safety report deep in the files.
Origin and History
The Image Behind the Phrase
The idiom “kick the ball into the long grass” conveys the idea of delay, avoidance, or concealment. The imagery is simple: when a ball is kicked into tall grass, play is disrupted because the ball is difficult to find. This picture naturally lends itself to political and social metaphor—an issue is “lost” or “set aside” in the same way.
Three main explanations for the origin have been suggested:
- Sporting origin: drawn from football or other games where the ball is lost in the long grass.
- Golfing origin: associated with a ball ending up in the rough, where play is hindered.
- Political metaphor: arising directly from parliamentary and journalistic language to describe burying or postponing an issue.
British Provenance
The phrase is firmly rooted in British English. Every significant early example comes from the United Kingdom, especially in the context of parliamentary debates and political reporting. It was politicians, journalists, and commentators in Britain who gave the expression its figurative life.
Early Printed Evidence
The history of the phrase can be traced through several key printed records:
December 1895: In a letter later published in Letters from England, 1895, by Eleanor Marx and Edward Aveling, the following line appears:
“That, incidentally, is what ‘statesmen’ always say when there are any measures they intend to kick into the long grass and certainly do not want to put before the House.”
This example demonstrates that the phrase was already being used metaphorically in political commentary by the end of the 19th century.
29 May 1962 (House of Commons): Geoffrey Rippon, MP, remarked:
“The difficulty about a committee is that it is apt to knock the ball into the long grass and produce some years later an unacceptable report.”
This shows the idiom was circulating in Parliament in the early 1960s.
23 November 1966 (House of Commons): Another MP used the phrase explicitly, adding:
“Kick the ball once more into the long grass? … that is a good expression because when a ball is kicked into the long grass it is lost.”
This moment reveals that speakers themselves understood the phrase as metaphorical, tied to the idea of losing or hiding the ball.
Early 1970s newspapers: By this decade, the phrase was appearing in British press coverage, cementing its status as a widely recognized political idiom.
Assessment
The phrase’s exact sporting root remains debated, but its figurative use is indisputably political and British in origin. The evidence suggests that the metaphor first appeared in political writing of the 1890s, lay largely dormant, and then resurfaced vigorously in parliamentary speech and newspaper reporting of the 1960s and 1970s.
In conclusion, “kick the ball into the long grass” is a British political idiom drawing on simple sporting imagery to describe postponement, avoidance, and concealment. Its earliest printed appearance dates to December 1895, with consistent parliamentary use emerging by the 1960s and general press adoption by the early 1970s.
Variants
- kick something into the long grass
- push into the long grass
- punt into the long grass
- kick the can down the road
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