Talk:twist someone's arm

When it says The idiomatic sense is sometimes used ironically or sarcastically - I don't think this particular phrase is used any more ironically or sarcastically than other phrases in the English language. Maybe we should delete that part of the entry. The "sarcastic and ironic" part of the English language is probably best explained somewhere other than in a dictionary. Having said that, there might possibly be scope for a Wiktionary:Sarcasm and irony in the English language page --Jackofclubs 14:45, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

I agree; and the examples don't exactly support the description. —Ruakh_TALK 16:39, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

I also agree with respect to this term, although I'll withhold judgment on the wisdom of creating a general "Sarcasm and Irony" page. When I merged the content of twist somebody's arm with this entry, I retained and even expanded this usage note because it had been added (back in 2005) by User:Dvortygirl whose contributions and judgment I respect. But I'm amenable to removing it. -- WikiPedant 17:23, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

twist a few arms

They had to twist a few arms to get the proposal through.
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009

The current version doesn't cover this example --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:55, 31 August 2019 (UTC)

The semantics are covered. We assume that a normal user is capable of imagining a lemma for an idiom. DCDuring (talk) 17:35, 31 August 2019 (UTC)

We can't handle all such playful variations, e.g. from "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" somebody might say "life had given me a few lemons that year". Equinox ◑ 18:37, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

We shouldn't have to handle other-than-playful variations either. Almost any idiom can have other determiners (and even determiner and adjective phrases) replacing the or a or other determinatives. DCDuring (talk) 21:35, 3 September 2019 (UTC)