Achilles heel

Reader question:

What does “English is his Achilles heel” mean exactly?

My comments:

It means that English is his weak point – and probably a fatal weak point.

He, whoever he is, has applied for a job, say, at a multinational firm in Beijing. He’s found to be more than qualified in all areas except English language. And he fails to get the job because of this single inadequacy.

This will be an apt situation for saying English is his Achilles heel – It’s what fails him.

Achilles heel refers to Achilles’ heel. Achilles, of course, is the hero in Greek mythology which is full of lovely, I mean personable, gods who all seem to have the same human emotions as you and I. Anyways, Achilles’ mother, in an attempt to make his son immortal, set out to wash Achilles in a magic river. In doing so, she held Achilles by the ankle and therefore immersed every part of the baby’s body except the heel she held in her hand. She forgot to change hands – to hold the boy’s other ankle and wash the boy’s other foot. The long and short of it is Achilles’ body became impenetrable by weaponry except for one spot – at the unwashed heel.

And sure enough Achilles eventually died of a wound after being hit by an arrow on that very heel.

Anyways, use this cliché with care and apply it only in situations when one’s weak point proves fatal. It’s not ok, for instance, to say English is your Achilles heel when you simply mean to say you’re not particularly good at it.

Besides, who are you? Achilles?

Exactly. Preferably always use this term on someone powerful, someone powerful but who has a single, fatal, vulnerability.

George Orwell (1903-1950), in Politics and the English language, lamented the overuse of what he called old and “dead” metaphors and in the essay, he mentioned Achilles’ heel:

A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically “dead” (e.g., iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can generally be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. Examples are: ring the changes on, take up the cudgels for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, no axe to grind, grist to the mill, fishing in troubled waters, on the order of the day, Achilles’ heel, swan song, hotbed. Many of these are used without knowledge of their meaning (what is a “rift,” for instance?), and incompatible metaphors are frequently mixed, a sure sign that the writer is not interested in what he is saying. Some metaphors now current have been twisted out of their original meaning without those who use them even being aware of the fact. For example, toe the line is sometimes written tow the line. Another example is the hammer and the anvil, now always used with the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would be aware of this, and would avoid perverting the original phrase.

Anyways, here are two recent media examples of Achilles’ heel:

1. The New Orleans Hornets have used their successful month to take hold of eighth place in the talented Western Conference, a key step for this improving franchise.

Chris Paul scored 38 points to lead five New Orleans starters in double figures and the Hornets beat the Golden State Warriors 123-110 on Wednesday night for their fourth win in five games...

Paul shot 14 for 19 from the field, made all nine of his free-throw tries, dished out nine assists, grabbed six rebounds and made three steals. Marcus Thornton added 18 points, David West 17 points and 12 rebounds and Emeka Okafor had 12 points and 12 boards for the Hornets, who are 11-4 in January and won three of four on this road trip...

“This was a big trip for us. We won in some tough venues,” Paul said. “Everyone knows the road has been our Achilles’ heel so far.”

- Hornets whip Warriors 123-110, AP, January 27, 2010.

3. The latest developments follow a recall of 4.2 million Toyota vehicles in late 2009 over concerns that floor mats could bend across gas pedals, causing sudden acceleration.

The problems, Wrigley said, hit Toyota extra hard because it has touted quality for years to gain advantage over competitors.

“Quality was their differentiator and now it’s their Achilles heel,” she said.

- Safety woes to hurt Toyota image. Can it recover? AP, January 27, 2010.