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English Idiom: Box someone in
Box someone in is an interesting idiom.
It relates to a situation in which someone (usually with power) reduces the options and alternatives of another person.
By doing this, the dominant person forces the other to take an action.
Let me give a clear example.
Imagine that a company needs to downsize, but it does not want to lay off its employees because if it does, it will have to pay severance packages.
For this reason, it would be much cheaper for the company if the employees quit.
The company, therefore, decides to box in the employees.
First, the company stops paying for worker transportation to and from the office.
Then, the company stops paying bonuses.
Finally, the company reduces salaries by a significant amount.
The company has now boxed workers in, and the only option employees have is to quit.
This may be an extreme example, but I think many Japanese can relate to or at least understand it.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 9th-grade education (age 15).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 59.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
