Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

Is "jsut down the pike from" an idiiom?

Notoriety Another badly botched word these days, �notoriety� has somehow become a good thing: �Burgess gained notoriety with his wildly popular children�s books.� But can�t you hear the �notorious� in �notoriety�? There are all kinds of fame; �notoriety� is one of the bad kinds, just down the pike from �infamy.�
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Hiromichi

[IanT]

It's a phrase originally suggesting geographical closeness. "pike" is short for "turnpike", I believe, which is a type of road. (US English)

So "just down the pike from" means not far away from.

So, used like this in a non-physical sense, to talk about closeness of meaning, it is an idiom, by most definitions.

(though I'm sure someone can be found who will argue about it!)

And incidentally the writer of the sentence is correct. Notoriety is bad, unless you're Lady Gaga or someone like that whose success depends on it.

Hope helps,
Ian
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All my answers refer to British English.

www.EnglishSwearing.com - How to use all the bad words! ... and ... www.throdworld.com - Silly verses to make you happy.

You decide the price for both!

[hiromichi]

IanT:
I get it. Thank you very much.
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Hiromichi