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gloves came off

English translation: to imply that now they will be bare-fisted and really mean business

07:46 Dec 8, 2005
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Military / Defense
English term or phrase: gloves came off
Declared the CIA's then Counterterror chief Cofer Black: "After 9/11, the gloves came off." At one point, the Bush administration formally told the CIA it couldn't be prosecuted for any technique short of inflicting the kind of pain that accompanies "organ failure" or "death."
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what does that mean?
Waleed Mohamed
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 20:55
Selected answer:to imply that now they will be bare-fisted and really mean business
Explanation:
now they can really punch hard!

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Note added at 10 mins (2005-12-08 07:56:40 GMT)
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To take off one's (boxing) gloves means the force of the punch will be harder
Selected response from:

Terence Ajbro
Sweden
Local time: 18:55
Grading comment
Thank you Terence and all!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +12to imply that now they will be bare-fisted and really mean business
Terence Ajbro
5 +2see explanation
KNielsen
5after 9/11 they got very serious about fighting
airmailrpl


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +12
to imply that now they will be bare-fisted and really mean business


Explanation:
now they can really punch hard!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2005-12-08 07:56:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To take off one's (boxing) gloves means the force of the punch will be harder

Terence Ajbro
Sweden
Local time: 18:55
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you Terence and all!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty: Exactly. Really tough bare-knuckle fighting as opposed to boxing in padded gloves.
4 mins
  -> yeah, the Empire strikes back!
agree  Kim Metzger
5 mins
  -> thanks
agree  Dave Calderhead: Fight Club - the movie!
8 mins
  -> thanks
neutral  BrigitteHilgner: Terence, I find your jokes in this context in RATHER bad taste!
33 mins
  -> sorry you think that, but humour is what keeps me going when I have to spend hours correcting other translator's formating errors!
agree  vixen
1 hr
agree  Lucinda Hollenberg
1 hr
neutral  airmailrpl: be careful lest you get this permanent message everytime you try to make a suggestion, etc. "You broke KudoZ rules in http://www.proz.com/kudoz/xxx. Some humour is allowed, but not out of context. Please refrain from doing it."..though no rule was cited !
1 hr
agree  Peter Shortall
1 hr
agree  pidzej: boxers will not get out of their gloves, looks like NHL "code of ethics" to me
2 hrs
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
6 hrs
agree  NancyLynn: agree with pidzej re. NHL - and sorry Terence but I'll have to delete your joke in the Ask the Asker box for being not linguistic in nature - however your answer is absolutely correct
7 hrs
agree  Nikos Mastrakoulis
18 hrs
agree  RHELLER: stopped playing nice
23 hrs
agree  Romanian Translator (X)
5 days
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
after 9/11 they got very serious about fighting


Explanation:
After 9/11, the gloves came off. => after 9/11 they got very serious about fighting

airmailrpl
Brazil
Local time: 13:55
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 12
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
see explanation


Explanation:
In his statement to the Joint House/Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing (see first link), Cofer Black talks about "operational flexibility" when he refers to the gloves coming off. Some examples of what he means by "operational flexibility" (see second link):

-CIA operatives no longer having to keep to the "old standards/restrictions"--such as observing the Geneva Conventions;
-Establishing secret prisons abroad;
-Extraditing prisoners to countries that allow much more severe interrogation techniques, or torture.

So, the usual sense of "the gloves coming off" is that one's opponent is no longer enjoying the benefit of the cushion of the gloves, so that when the gloves come off, the opponent will be hurt more. But I think the sense of Black's statement goes one step further, meaning that basically, post-9/11, there are no restrictions at all. (Restrictions such as treating prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, not extraditing prisoners to countries allowing torture, etc.) So not only are we not limiting the damage we do our opponents by not using nice soft gloves, but we aren't restraining ourselves at all in our actions against them.


    Reference: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602black.html
    Reference: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051103/the_torture_test.p...
KNielsen
Japan
Local time: 01:55
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Besmir (X): yes totally
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Besmir!
agree  Nikos Mastrakoulis: While the expression per se only implies what Terence said, the US have indeed stated they consider such restrictions to be mere 'niceities', which fits your explanation. Gloves in boxing are also considered a 'nicety' over bare-knukle boxing. -> Niceties
11 hrs
  -> Thanks, Nikos! "Niceities"--that was the word that wouldn't come to mind--you put it very well.
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