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Phrase: Asking for it
People who invest their money in increasingly risky ventures and eventually lose everything often receive little sympathy from others.
In fact, they may hear more risk-averse investors say they were asking for it.
So, what does that mean?
What were they asking for exactly?
When you say someone is asking for it, the ‘it’ is trouble.
Asking for it means someone is doing something that will result in them finding themselves in trouble.
This phrase, asking for it, is often used to criticize people who have been doing something that is seen as very risky or even very dangerous.
For example, if you are a base jumper who illegally jumps off buildings so you can parachute down and then one day you get killed, people will say you were asking for it.
Yes, they may say your death is tragic and a terrible loss, but they will also say you were asking for it.
You can only tempt fate so many times before your luck runs out.
Sometimes, it is used unfairly to blame victims for what has happened to them.
It used to be that an attractively dressed woman who was the victim of rape would be told she was asking for it by dressing provocatively.
When I was younger, I remember judges saying this to the victims.
These days, you cannot easily get away with blaming the victim.
No woman who has been a victim of rape has ever asked for it.
However, many people in Japan still have a backward way of thinking and may still say it.
Anyways, if you partake in risky behaviour and find yourself in trouble, you can expect to hear someone say you were asking for it.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 70.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.