show ankle

English

Etymology

Probably an allusion to the flirtatious practice by some young women, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, of raising a long skirt sufficiently to reveal a bare ankle but no more than that.

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

Verb

show ankle (third-person singular simple present shows ankle, present participle showing ankle, simple past showed ankle, past participle shown ankle)

(idiomatic) To provide a hint or to reveal partial information in order to gain attention or arouse interest.
- 1984 November 28, William Beecher, “Reagan under Pressure to Modify Arms Stance”, in Boston Globe, USA, page 1:
  "He figures that to do so, he'll have to be able to show a little ankle, to give some idea of new positions the United States is prepared to take."
- 1987 November 23, “Suddenly, A Visit by Cuomo Enlivens a Benefit For Casey”, in Philadelphia Inquirer, USA, page B01:
  No one expects Cuomo to declare his candidacy tonight But Carduff said "we expect him to show some ankle".
- 2005 June 7, Erin Joyce, “SQL Server 2005 Queues Up for Prime Time”, in InternetNews.com, USA, retrieved 5 September 2011:
  Microsoft showed some ankle and then some with advanced tools, database and server features in the latest builds of SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006.
- 2006 October 18, “On the right track”, in The Telegraph, UK, retrieved 5 September 2011:
  Now, it seems, the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, is ready to show a little ankle by welcoming a proposal from Lord Forsyth's tax commission to abolish stamp duty on shares.
- 2011 August 12, “Football & Sport: Manchester United: A Comparison of Sneijder, Cantona, Scholes And Ronaldo”, in Sabotage Times, UK, retrieved 5 September 2011:
  Sneijder showed some ankle last week with a veiled ‘come and get me’ plea that was promptly rebuffed by David Gill stating that the deal probably won’t go ahead now.

Usage notes

Usually used with intervening words between show and ankle which characterize the amount of "ankle" shown, such as a little, some, a lot of, etc.

Translations

to provide partial information

Finnish: nostaa helmaa

References

Discussion of the expression “show ankle” by William Safire (New York Times, Sunday, March 11, 2007)