A slippery slope is a situation where problems and risks are part of the environment. The phrase is normally used as a warning to describe a series of unwanted possibilities. The metaphor sometimes relates to climbing a slippery slope, in which situation the likelihood is to slip downwards. In this sense it refers to a counterproductive proposition, achieving the opposite of the intended destination. The other metaphoric use relates to a situation where the position of the person on the slippery slope inevitably deteriorates. |
Examples of Slippery Slope:
| If you do this, you're on a slippery slope. Political grandstanding is a slippery slope. http://www.drury.edu/ess/Logic/Informal/Slippery_Slope.html http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/slippery.htm http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/slipslop.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/cumming/ling50/like.htm http://faculty.virginia.edu/jalexander/public_html/hiphopglossary.htm |