My thoughts: *Gasp* --- Holy Moley is this serious!
There are people purposely under-performing to commit a mutiny of sorts? ...to sabotage the productivity of the company?
...what do they think they're doing!?
I didn't even know such an Act existed. Imagine the police force they had to bring in! All the cop cars, the radios bleeping, guns gleaming. This is gunna be goood.
...I really need to read up on my company & labor rights...
I waited patiently for the thrilling events of The Reading of the Riot Act. Justin read into the awkward silence of my thoughts and said, "...go look it up in that dictionary I gave you."
oh.
You see...to tackle my idiomatic ineptitude, Justin bestowed upon me a the most useful of items: a book entitled Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs by Richard A. Spears.
It turns out it's not "The Riot Act of [insert year here]", capitalized, proper, and intimidating; it's an uncapitalized "the riot act," which requires much less government enforcement.
From Spear's Dictionary:
To read someone the riot act:
Fig: to give someone a severe scolding.
The manager read me the riot act for coming in late.
The teacher read the students the riot act for their failure to do their assignments.
Read the Riot Act
My Score Card for this idiom:
Able to be understood initially?: No
Able to be understood once explained?: Kind of
A HA!
A severe reprimand
...nothing even close to mutiny.
Lesson learned.
Case closed.
Yours incompetently,
an under-read American
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