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Idiom(s) of the day: Right up/down your alley
Variation(s): (Right) up/down your street [BRITISH]
My category (Russian-to-English translation): Понимание и знание (Understanding and knowledge)
Explanation(s):
Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):
If you say that something is right up your alley, you mean that this is the kind of thing you like or know about. Right up your street means the same. You can also say that something is right down your alley street. Judging by the entries in the Corpora (see below), alley seems to be mostly American usage.
Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):
very suitable for someone
Babylon (www.babylon.com):
well suited to one's tastes, interests, or abilities
Compatible with one's interests or qualifications
to be what someone likes or is good at doing
Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:
in keeping with or satisfying one's abilities, interests, or tastes
Translation(s):
CCDI:
По чьей-либо части; в чьих-либо возможностях; это уже ваша епархия; вам и карты в руки.
Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):
Babylon (www.babylon.com):
как раз (подходящий) для кого-то
Multitran (www.multitran.ru):
По вашей линии
то, что подходит; то, что нравится; то, что надо
Examples:
CCDI:
This should be right up your alley but, despite the film’s undoubted virtues, it has an air of ‘Look at me, aren’t I good’ that grated.
I thought this little problem would be right up your alley.
I’ll need whatever information you can turn up within the week. I have other people looking into this from other angles. But this case seems right down you alley.
Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):
The job sounds right up your alley.
Babylon (www.babylon.com):
this job would be right up your street
A teaching job would be right up her alley
an assignment that is right up your alley
Teaching computers to adults that sounds right up my alley!
Multilex (www.multilex.ru):
that's right up my alley (coll.) это как раз по моей части.
this is just up your street это как раз по вашей части.
Multitran (www.multitran.ru):
"Well since you're so flexible, Indre, yoga should be right up your alley!" — Раз ты такой гибкий, йога — это как раз по твоей части!
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:
Alley: c.II.3.c to be up a person's alley: to be up a person's street (see street n.). slang.
1931 M. E. Gilman Sob Sister v. 65 It's about time a good murder broke, and this one is right up your alley. 1936 D. Carnegie How to win Friends (1938) iv. viii. 247 Bridge will be in a cinch for you. It is right up your alley. 1941 Auden New Year Let. ii. p. 37 All vague idealistic art That coddles the uneasy heart, Is up his alley. 1954 R. P. Bissell High Water (1955) iii. 32 Right up your alley with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse and all them other uplifting characters you are always studying up on. 1965 New Statesman 9 Apr. 583/2 Its slogans and chirpy recommendations are right up her spiritual alley.
street, n.
Street: j.3.j to be up (down, †in) one's street: to be suited to someone's taste or ability.
1903 Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 10/1 Street‥, a capacity, a method; a line: e.g. ‘That's not in my street’ = ‘I am not concerned’ or ‘That's not my way of doing,’ etc. 1929 Publishers' Weekly 21 Dec. 2813/2 A great many of the books published today are, as the saying is, right up her street. 1937 Forward 13 Nov. 1/2 We Labour people can the more easily say these things because some of his activities were ‘up our street’. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited ii. iv. 259 She is a jolly attractive girl, the sort of girl any chap would be glad to have—artistic, too, just down your street. 1955 Knight & George Advice to Student of French 67 The historical line of enquiry is outside your scope, but the analysis of the book or books is right down your street. 1960 L. Cooper Accomplices i. vi. 55 John Pollard got me the job and‥I loved it.‥ It was right up my street. 1977 It May 28/1 If you like Miles Davis's ‘In a Silent Way’ then Don Cherry has a new release which is just up your street.
Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:
If you like science fiction, this book will be right up your alley.
British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): up [dp*] alley, total 1; up [dp*] street, total 20
It's a kind of deceptive simplicity, I guess, and musically she's right up our alley.
This sort of thing should be right up your street.
So, if that sounds up your street , get your Peak Performance subscription in soon!
Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), Mark Davies (http:// www.americancorpus.org/): up [ap*] alley, total 71; up [ap*] street, total 14
This should be right up your alley. You're in a dirty business and he's taking the big dirt nap [A dirt nap is when you die, you take the big dirt bath. to be buried underground].
It's wonderful stuff. He's right up my street.
It's interesting that quite a few dictionaries define it in terms of competence or expertise. The prevalent US English usage seems to be "to your liking." For instance, "I thought that movie would be up your alley." Once again, that's the danger of inferring the meaning of an expression from hearing it used colloquially.
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