In rugby and soccer to kick into touch means to “kick a ball out of play.” The phrase by extension is used in British English mean to “take some kind of action so that a decision is postponed” or otherwise get rid of a problem. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Kick into Touch”
I came across a British expression that was new to me that I thought was worth sharing.
It comes from rugby and soccer or football in the UK.
And this is to kick something into touch.
Do you know this one?
No.
If you kick it into touch, you take something you were going to do and you postpone it or decide to deal with it later.
So you’ll often find it used figuratively outside of the sport, but it comes from this whole idea of kicking a ball where you can actually pick it up and then toss it back in later.
We’re going to kick this into touch for now, and we’ll talk about renovating the basement next year.
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, it makes sense off the field.
I’m trying to picture what that looks like on the field.
Kicking it into touch.
Well, unfortunately, I don’t know rugby or soccer all that well, but that’s how I understand it.
It’s where you kick it to where it can be picked up by the hand and then tossed back in.
Oh, okay.
It’s like kicking the can down the road then.
Yeah, I guess that would be the equivalent of kicking the can down the road.
Okay.
