put your head on the chopping block/ stick your head <out> <above the parapet>

N

Ngu7

Senior Member
Hungarian
Any difference between these three idioms?: put your head on the chopping block/ stick your head out/ stick your head above the parapet?

They have some overlap that makes me think they are similar in some ways.

Here are some sentences:

By supporting this unusual cause, advocates put their heads on the chopping block/stick their heads out for this cause/ stick their heads above the parapet as they support something that is not part of the mainstream and thus they might face ostracism and harsh criticism for their endeavors.

I hope you're aware that you are putting your head on the chopping block/ are sticking your head out/are sticking your head above the parapet by vouching for him even though he's very inexperienced and probably won't be able to perform well enough.


Thank you in advance!:)
 
    • As far as I know, there is no such idiom as stick your head out. It's used literally, of course, as in "stick your head out of the window to get some air", but I have never come across stick your head out used as an idiom.

    Were you thinking of stick your neck out?
     
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    The only versions that makes sense to me are "[to] put your head(s) on the chopping block" and "[to] stick your neck out." The first one is much more drastic; it basically means you're taking the risk of being fired. The second is milder; it just means that you're willing to speak up rather than keeping silence.
     
    The Newt said:
    The only versions that makes sense to me are "[to] put your head(s) on the chopping block" and "[to] stick your neck out." The first one is much more drastic; it basically means you're taking the risk of being fired. The second is milder; it just means that you're willing to speak up rather than keeping silence.
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    What about the third one? When would it make sense?
     
    Wordy McWordface said:
    As far as I know, there is no such idiom as stick your head out. It's used literally, of course, as in "stick your head out of the window to get some air", but I have never come across stick your head out used as an idiom.

    Were you thinking of stick your neck out?
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    I know. I have accidentally written ''head'' instead of neck because of the idiom ''put your head on the chopping block'' which came before it.
     
    I find out something new about English every day on this forum.

    Today's revelation is that the 'parapet' idiom is apparently unknown to AmE speakers. Keep your head below the parapet... Put (or stick or raise) your head above (or over) the parapet.... I would have thought that these idioms would be universally understood. In fact, when I first answered this question, I was on the point of saying that the 'parapet' expression was the commonest of the three idioms and the only one in my active vocabulary. Quite a surprise.
     
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    The Newt said:
    The one about "the parapet"? I've never heard it and it sounds weird to me.
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    Have you come across "stick your head above the trench"? Obviously the same saying but with more modern references.

    I can't believe AmE speakers do not have an idiom that describes metaphorically extending one's head out from a place of safety, but can quite understand it might do so in a different way.

    The Newt said:
    The only versions that makes sense to me are "[to] put your head(s) on the chopping block" and "[to] stick your neck out." The first one is much more drastic; it basically means you're taking the risk of being fired. The second is milder; it just means that you're willing to speak up rather than keeping silence.
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    As for the third, it is not so much milder as placing a different emphasis. "Putting one's head on the chopping block" and "sticking one's neck out" are both positive actions; choices to risk varying degrees of one's safety to achieve a particular result.

    "Putting one's head above the parapet/trench" suggests rather more that the normal culture is that everyone should keep as invisible as possible, that ANY behaviour that might get one noticed is risky and that in this instance the person in question is simply doing something that might draw attention to themselves. It has close parallels with the Japanese saying that "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down".
     
    The definitions vary somewhat:
    ​
    put your head above the parapet​
    idiom UK​
    to take a risk (Collins and Longman)​
    to be brave enough to state an opinion that might upset someone (Cambridge)​
    to do something that may cause people to criticize you (Macmillan)​
    to do or say something one thinks is important even though it may have bad results (Merriam-Webster)​

    And a recent example used by M-W (quoting an American journalist working in London, I think):
    After Prigozhin, who will stick their head above the parapet in Putin's Russia? Those figures are likely to underestimate the total spent on Russia’s war effort.—Clare Sebastian, CNN, 28 Aug. 2023
     
    Of those definitions, I like the Cambridge one the best. But none of them quite captures the whole picture, does it? There's the element of risk in the first, bravery in the second, and the belief in the importance of one's actions in the fourth. What we really need is a combination of all of them...

    I think courage is an important element here: daring to speak up or act, knowing the risks of exposing yourself to the line of fire. Another key element is the assumption that there are also other people in the same position who are playing safe, cowering out of sight beneath the parapet. The image of one person with the courage to stand up while the other remain hidden is a powerful one.
     
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    I think I prefer Merriam-Webster’s “do or say”. But I agree that it’s about bravery – in the sense of speaking out (maybe even as a whistle-blower), rather than merely “stating an opinion”.
     
    Wordy McWordface said:
    I find out something new about English every day on this forum.

    Today's revelation is that the 'parapet' idiom is apparently unknown to AmE speakers. Keep your head below the parapet... Put (or stick or raise) your head above (or over) the parapet.... I would have thought that these idioms would be universally understood. In fact, when I first answered this question, I was on the point of saying that the 'parapet' expression was the commonest of the three idioms and the only one in my active vocabulary. Quite a surprise.
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    Well, it's not entirely unknown to US-English speakers, because I know it. But then, I read books...
    I think it's fair to say that it would be recognized by those who recognize the word "parapet" and that this is probably less than half of the US population.
     
    Wordy McWordface said:
    Today's revelation is that the 'parapet' idiom is apparently unknown to AmE speakers.
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    Where do you find a "parapet"? On a castle wall. The US doesn't have castles. Why would we be familiar with a name for a specific part of a castle?

    There are probably another 20 words for parts of a castle. US people don't know those words either.

    The exception is people who read novels that take place in real (or imaginary) medieval places, with castles and drawbridges and knights and jousting and sword fighting and all of that stuff.
     
    You find a parapet in trench warfare. A number of the survivors wrote about their experiences in WWI. I didn't have any idea there were parapets on castles.
     
    dojibear said:
    Where do you find a "parapet"? On a castle wall. The US doesn't have castles. Why would we be familiar with a name for a specific part of a castle?
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    WW1 trenches had parapets as is mentioned in All Quiet on the Western Front.
    1695392574684.png
     
    I was today years old when I found out that those things were also called parapets. I only knew about the castles. (Parados, funk hole, and duck board are also new "Words of the Day.") ;)
     
    Myridon said:
    I was today years old when I found out that those things were also called parapets. I only knew about the castles. (Parados, funk hole, and duck board are also new "Words of the Day.") ;)
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    Same here. I've known 'parapet' forever, but only in the castle sense.
    But that doesn't mean I am familiar with the expression 'stick your head about the parapet,' although I can figure out what it means pretty quickly (and then duck before I get shot). .
     
    sdgraham said:
    WW1 trenches had parapets as is mentioned in All Quiet on the Western Front.
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    I never read that book.

    But I've read about soldiers standing on a castle wall (battlement), hiding behind the parapet (or its merlons, I suppose) so that they are not hit by enemy arrows. Perhaps I've read more about warfare in 1620 than warfare in 1920.

    para1.jpg
    para3.jpg
     
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