Idiom
soft sawder
Meaning
Cajoling or flattery.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He used a lot of soft sawder to get what he wanted.”
“You cannot win me over with soft sawder and empty promises.”
“The manager uses soft sawder to make the staff work extra hours.”
“She knew he was using soft sawder to win her favor, but she enjoyed the compliments anyway.”
“The salesperson tried to use soft sawder to convince me that the expensive car was a perfect match for my lifestyle.”
“After arriving home late, he hoped a bit of soft sawder would keep his parents from being angry with him.”
“The politician relied heavily on soft sawder, hoping his charming words would distract the voters from his lack of policy.”
Examples
simple
“He used a lot of soft sawder to get what he wanted.”
“You cannot win me over with soft sawder and empty promises.”
“The manager uses soft sawder to make the staff work extra hours.”
contextual
“She knew he was using soft sawder to win her favor, but she enjoyed the compliments anyway.”
“The salesperson tried to use soft sawder to convince me that the expensive car was a perfect match for my lifestyle.”
“After arriving home late, he hoped a bit of soft sawder would keep his parents from being angry with him.”
complex
“The politician relied heavily on soft sawder, hoping his charming words would distract the voters from his lack of policy.”
Origin
The term originated as a phonetic spelling of soft solder, a substance that melts at a particularly low temperature. It was coined by Thomas Haliburton in his 1836 short story "The Trotting Horse" and enjoyed significant popularity throughout the nineteenth century. While the utility of the metaphor remained for some time, it had largely fallen out of common use by 1950.
Key words
Related idioms
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