This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
  1. KudoZ™ Top
  2. English
  3. Environment & Ecology

pull the ladder up behind smb

English translation: prevent others from enjoying what they enjoy

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:pull the ladder up behind smb
Selected answer:prevent others from enjoying what they enjoy
Entered by: Jack Doughty

11:17 Feb 29, 2016
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Environment & Ecology
English term or phrase: pull the ladder up behind smb
HI !

Just came it across in Samuelson's textbook

Are threre enough recources to allow the poor to enjoy the consumption standards of today's high-income countries, or will today's rich pull the ladder up behind them?

Can you, please, help?
What does 'them' refer to?
- standards or the poor
And what's the meaning of this expression?
Many thanks !

Best regards,

Rastislau
kirobite
Belarus
prevent others from enjoying what they enjoy
Explanation:
Will the rich countries keep all the resources for themselves, denying others access to them?

Them: not the standards, not the poor, but the rich. Using "themselves" instead of "them" would have made this clearer.
Sou pulling up the ladder behind you (behind yourself), means that after you've got what you want, you prevent others from getting the same, which makes you a "dog in the manger", to use another idiom.
Selected response from:

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:31
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +10prevent others from enjoying what they enjoy
Jack Doughty
5 +2the rich
Lubosh Hanuska


  

Answers


13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +10
prevent others from enjoying what they enjoy


Explanation:
Will the rich countries keep all the resources for themselves, denying others access to them?

Them: not the standards, not the poor, but the rich. Using "themselves" instead of "them" would have made this clearer.
Sou pulling up the ladder behind you (behind yourself), means that after you've got what you want, you prevent others from getting the same, which makes you a "dog in the manger", to use another idiom.

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:31
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Victoria Britten
22 mins
  -> Тhank you.
agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
23 mins
  -> Thank you.
agree  Veronika McLaren
57 mins
  -> Thank you.
agree  BdiL
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
agree  Armorel Young
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
agree  Sheri P: More generally, it means not helping others reach the same high level you yourself have reached. It's often used to refer to high-achieving women who don't help other women who follow them.
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
agree  Tushar Deep
4 hrs
  -> Тhank you.
agree  B D Finch: Though disagree with "dog in the manger", which means someone jealously guarding something that is no use to themselves. Dogs don't eat hay.
5 hrs
  -> Тhank you. Yes, on reflection, it's not a very close parallel.
agree  jccantrell
7 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Harry Crawford
7 days
  -> Thank you.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
the rich


Explanation:
The rich refer to themselves - in the sentence "them" means "the rich". The author doesn't specify a particular group of "the rich" but mentions "high income countries" (those that traditionally benefit from the world's resources as they are benefiting from the monetary/financial/trade system that they themselves setup). By "pulling the ladder" the author means the rich can setup another obstacle which they can build into the system that would prevent those from low income countries to gain access to their resources.
I hope that clarifies it?

Lubosh Hanuska
Australia
Local time: 08:31
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SlovakSlovak

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  BdiL: One uses the ladder to metaphorically "climb up" to higher economic or social status and becomes rich/powerful. If the ladder is pulled up after the climbing by that same "person", the rest are left below, without access to affluency. Maurizio
1 hr
agree  Tushar Deep
4 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:
ProZ.com term search
Search millions of term translations
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search