“Close the question” means ... The meaning, origin and translation of phraseology

Often in the media or even in everyday communication you can hear the phrase "close the question." This phraseology has an intuitively predictable meaning. More about it will be discussed in the article. And also you will find out in which situations this stable expression is used, how it is combined with other lexical units, in what ways it is translated into foreign languages ​​and many other interesting facts.

Value

First you need to voice what phraseological unit is. So in linguistics they call a stable combination of words, which makes sense in the form in which it exists. For example: “fool around”, “circle around the finger”, “scruff of the neck”, “white crow” and the like. The meaning of such expressions is conveyed not with the help of their components, individual words, but thanks to the meaning rooted in the language. So, “fooling around” means deliberately behaving stupidly, “circling your finger” - cleverly deceiving, “scruffy-upside down” - not as it should, or inside out, “a white crow” - dramatically different from the total mass.

Also among the phraseological units is the expression "close the question." This means finally solving a problem or problem so as not to return to it anymore. Closing the issue may be related to the implementation of any actions, as well as simply to the termination of discussion of a topic that has exhausted itself.

In parallel, there are stable expressions “open question”, “question open” and “question remains open”. Accordingly, they mean that the problem has not yet been resolved - measures need to be taken or the discussion, which has become meaningless, should be completed.

Origin

At present, the expression “close the question” is a rather frequently used cliche in journalistic speech. It is not known for certain where this expression comes from, but it can be assumed that the socio-political sphere became its source. Most likely, the phrase was once used in the media and quickly spread, gaining a foothold in the Russian language.

Using

“Close the question” is a phraseological unit that can often be found in news articles and speeches by statesmen. They use it when discussing important social and political issues, when they want to show their intention to bring a matter to a logical end, solve the existing problem, etc. Moreover, the solution may consist in not continuing or not taking any actions. Also, the expression can be used in situations where the speaker emphasizes the importance of the final solution to the problem.

You can see examples of the use of this phraseology below.

• The union has put forward a demand before the end of the month to close the issue of wage arrears.
• Countries agreed to close the question of export conditions.
• The city authorities closed the question of the possibility of building a new stadium.

Synonyms

Speech should be literate and diverse. Sometimes, in order to avoid lexical repetition, it will not be amiss to recall and use an expression with the same meaning as “close the question”. A synonym for it may be, for example, the simplest: "solve a problem (business, question)." You can put it this way: "close the topic." Another option: “finally decide and never come back to this.” The last expression sounds somewhat overloaded, but it bears the same meaning as the desired phraseological unit.

Translation into other languages

Now let's talk about how the expression “close the question” is used in the speech of other peoples. Such a phenomenon as idioms is characteristic of any language. The difference is that each such combination of words is unique. It makes sense only in this form and in this language, so translation by tracing or verbatim rarely can work.

Further we will consider how the phrase “close the question” sounds in European languages. Translation into English has several options. Some of them are pretty close to Russian:

• close the matter;
• close the issue.

There is also the English expression close the books on (someone or something), which means "solve a case" or "close a question."

In German, there is an expression das Thema zu schließen, in French - fermer la question, in Spanish - cerrar el tema. All of them are similar in structure, from which we can conclude that this expression is universal. Perhaps it everywhere has the same source - a journalistic style of speech.

Variations on a Theme

Mention may also be made of situations in which the expression “close the question” is not quite idiom. These include, for example, the field of Internet communication. Closing a question on a forum or site is an option that the moderator implements. Otherwise, you can say - closing the topic. This means disabling the possibility of commenting in a particular thread of discussion, since the top starter (the person from whose post the virtual conversation started) has already received the answer to the asked question or no longer wants to see feedback from other participants.

Another variation of the expression to which this article is devoted can be called the concept of a “closed question” (English closed question). It is used in sociology and means such a question in the questionnaire to which the respondent can only answer “yes” or “no”. For example: “Do you like milk?” or "Is the statement true that ...?" and similar wordings that do not imply a detailed answer with an explanation.

After reading the article, you learned what the phrase "close the question" means. This expression is a phraseological unit and is most often used in media reports and official statements by authorities. Also, this phrase is familiar to patrons of online forums and sites with questions and answers, but in this area it is used in a slightly different meaning.