saw off the branch one is sitting on
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.33 in modern English
49
Scrabble Score
29
Letters
3
Syllables
14
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To pursue a course of action that will lead to self-destruction.
Example Sentences
- "A critic's role, he wrote, is that of “sawing off the branch on which one is sitting”: One can and may continue to sit on a branch while sawing it. There is no physical or moral obstacle if one is willing to risk the consequences."
- "Since the theory of action must necessarily start with the actors, then the actors who saw off the branch on which they sit cannot give their action any meaning."
- "If we insist that all thoughts are simply chemical or physical phenomena, and conclude that reason is therefore unlikely to yield true beliefs, we will saw off the branch of the tree we are sitting on."
- "BUT, if you persist in your slanders against God's Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you are sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives."
- "The model is wrong. Papatūānuku is the basis of real wealth. Her wellbeing should not be the cost of accumulating wealth. We are literally sawing off the branch we sit on."