Pussyfoot

Hekner

"Even if the Sun or rising sign is more low-key, Moon in Aries people possess inner passion and fire. Emotional issues take precedence——there is simply no pussyfooting around when it comes to dealing with the feelings."

to pussyfoot (verb; informal, disapproving) - to avoid making a decision or expressing an opinion because you are uncertain or frightened about doing so


Stop pussyfooting around/about and tell me what you really think. (CALD)

mheredge

I hate having to pussyfoot around sensitive people. I much prefer the direct approach.

filauzio

I think there are some situations in which you can't avoid pussyfooting along a bit, for example when you're making your way towards the sea at the beach: perhaps it isn't long since you had your meal, so you have to be careful, by batheing first your feet, ankles, legs, then, by degrees your arms, not to go too deep before making sure your body has acclimatized to the temperature of the water; I usually get to sink neck-deep, with my feet still touching the bottom, and wait until I feel comfortable enough to start off my swimming.

On the other hand, when it comes to decisions and feelings, to pussyfoot is no good, at least in my experience; you have to be impulsive rather than hesitant; whatever the consequences, you can tell yourself: ' I have lived my life ', which fact, in itself, is not so banal and to give for granted.
Whenever I acted impulsively I seldom had to blame any wrongdoing on myself: it might be I turned out awkwardly clumsy, I used to consider myself a collector of poor figures, nevertheless I never had to regret afterwards.
Let pussyfooting to pussycats, not to have to brood, over and over, over lack of acting, while laying crouched beside the warmth of a fireplace.

mheredge

Sometimes you have to pussyfoot around people @filauzio. This especially the case if you know that they are particularly sensitive about something or if you don't know how they will react if you dive straight in.

filauzio

I just learnt two new words @mheredge , so I can't restrain from using them here: sponger and freeloader.
I suppose these kind of people deserve being addressed abruptly with no pussyfooting at all.
It occurs sometimes that you go for a coffee with colleagues, and, at the moment you need to pay the bill, the spongers shrink back, retire to the corner, get smaller and smaller like a cooked steak which loses all its fat.
The word ' pay ' has worked as a vacuum pump to do away with any expected would-be payers within a few metres of you.
In such occasions, any kindness has to be put away, and you have, even while still keeping a smiling face, come face to face with the slippery elusive molluscs, and compell them to do their duty.
No pussyfooting ever with people gifted with ' short arms ' as we say in Italy.

mheredge

'Short arms' @filauzio! I like this phrase. If someone is mean, we call them tight or a tight wad. Other words that can be used are cheapskate, niggard, penny-pincher, scrooge (after Charles Dicken's character), skinflint and miser.

To have deep pockets and short arms means that though you are rich, you are mean.

filauzio

Or maybe, I suppose, it means that you are an Australian female marsupial; but then you kangaroo should explain us why you are having a coffee-break with us.

mheredge

Cat's paw is a phrase derived from La Fontaine's fable, "The Monkey and the Cat", referring to a person used unwittingly or unwillingly by another to accomplish the other's own purpose. I learned something new today @filauzio.

I saw a lot of these in Japan when I visited in 2015. The maneki-neko or 'beckoning cat' and is usually displayed in—often at the entrance of—shops, restaurants, pachinko parlors, and other businesses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki-neko

filauzio

This ' beckoning cat ' is quite new to me too, @mheredge; let me read more about it in the article from wiki which you posted.
Meanwhile, let me say that, were it displayed at the entrance of Italian shops, it would certainly be acknowledged to be a cat performing the communist salutation: which is done by raising the left arm with all fingers tightly closed in a fist.
The red ears of the cat in picture, besides, should clear the field out of any eventual doubts left.
It seems to be going like ' I'm holier than thou ' , in terms of communist beliefs and fanaticism.

BTW Am I right by saying: ' clear the field out of something ' meaning get rid of something ? I've many doubts here.

mheredge

Your perception of the welcoming cat is very interesting @filauzio (I'm not sure whether there are many communists in Japan).

The tight fist of the cat should clear any doubt of its political persuasions.

Jantien

What a strange term I never heard before. Is there more about the word?

filauzio

Just think about how the pussycats move around in their careful, cautious, circumspect attitude, and you can try to switch the word pussyfoot to make it rather becoming to a human being who act the same way, @Jantien, I suppose it's just a matter of stretching your imagination a bit.

Bubbly

Interesting word!

I am pussyfooted about joining a local welfare organisation because of its reputation.

@mheredge if it is a verb, doesn't it sound weird to use it like this?
I am pussyfooted......gosh!

mheredge

Cats do walk daintily @filauzio, @Jantien. I don't think you can be pussyfooted @Bubbly unless the cat walks over you, but you can pussyfoot around a particularly sensitive issue.