kick into the long grass

English

Alternative forms

• push into the long grass, punt into the long grass

Etymology

An analogy of kicking a football off the playing field so that it is out of play.

Verb

kick into the long grass (third-person singular simple present kicks into the long grass, present participle kicking into the long grass, simple past and past participle kicked into the long grass)

1. (transitive) To postpone action on something.
   • 2011, P. G. McHugh, Aboriginal Title: The Modern Jurisprudence of Tribal Land Rights:

     Generally, land claims had been treated on an ad hoc and haphazard basis, without any systemic absorption much less systematic response. The prevalent attitude was at best one of indifference or of inclination to kick into the long grass.

   • 2020 May 6, Stefanie Foster, “Comment: One chance for a new order”, in Rail, page 3:

     These problems have all needed resolving for years. But all involved too much risk (either for franchisees or the Government), and so they kept getting kicked into the long grass for being 'too difficult'.

   • 2021, Glenn Templeman, The HR Business Partner Handbook, page 127:

     However, in practice it is far easier to use procrastination to 'kick something into the long grass' than it is to write something off all together (unless of course it is a problem that solves itself, as we have already explored).

   • 2021, Ian Budge, Kick-Starting Government Action against Climate Change:

     Otherwise they can be kicked into the long grass for action later, preferably by the next government.

2. To hide or conceal a problem in the hope that it will be overlooked.
   • 2016, Stefan Horlacher, Transgender and Intersex, page 77:

     Given the growth in participation opportunities for women and girls of all ages and the demise of what could truly be said to be 'male-only' sports, s.44 had been kicked into the long grass long before it, like the rest of the 1975 Act, was also repealed by the 2010 legislation.

   • 2017, Sarah Winterton, The Wintertons Unmuzzled:

     There have been signs, post-Brexit, of a concerted effort by government ministers to downplay — not to say kick into the long grass — earlier Tory promises to reduce net migration numbers to 'tens of thousands'.

   • 2020, Sara Ryan ·, Love, Learning Disabilities and Pockets of Brilliance, page 39:

     These kick-ass and largely unknown figures in a history too often kicked into the long grass.

Noun

kick into the long grass (plural kicks into the long grass)

1. An instance of kicking into the long grass.
   • 2010, Guy Lodge, ‎ Katie Schmuecker, Devolution in Practice, page 262:

     Never can a kick into the long grass have been more clearly signalled.

   • 2011, Andrew Murrison, Tommy This an' Tommy That: The military covenant, page 142:

     But I could find nothing in the parliamentary record of the committee reporting back to the House and assume that, as now, referral to committee meant a kick into the long grass.

   • 2013, Dennis Pilon, Wrestling with Democracy, page 218:

     After gaining power, veteran political observers expected to see Labour give most of these proposals a "kick into the long grass”: endless rounds of study, committee hearings, expert counsel, etc.

   • 2013, Adam Macqueen, The Prime Minister's Ironing Board and Other State Secrets:

     It was an overoptimistic timetable — and rather a disingenous one, given that Macmillan would give the subjet a couple more kicks into the long grass when it came up again in 1960 ('opinion in the Cabinet was so equally balanced that it would be preferable to defer a decision') and 1963 ('arrange for further consideration to be given to the implications of the proposal').

See also

• kick the can down the road
• ostrich politics

References

• “kick something into the long grass” (US) / “kick something into the long grass” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “kick something into the long grass”, in Collins English Dictionary.