In Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Who’s that candidate in the teal toenail Polish?” in New York Times (August 3), http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/dowd-whos-that-candidate-in-the-teal-toenail-polish.html?hp she quotes the following comment of New York City mayoral candidate, Christine Callaghan Quinn:
“Quinn is still smarting over a Times story that described her
volatile “hair-trigger eruptions. “Am I pushy?” she asked. “Yep. Do I
like taking no for an answer when no means New Yorkers aren’t going to
get something they need? No. Do I push back and crack some eggs?
Absolutely.”She also defended herself for calling the police and
fire commissioners in July when an ambulance did not arrive in a
timely way, after a City Council intern fainted in the heat.”
Though I understand this is a metaphoric expression, I’m not clear with the meaning of “Do I push back and crack some eggs? Absolutely.”
It sounds like she is saying that she is adamant to say ‘No,’ whenever she doesn’t think the proposed policy and measures benefit New Yorkers, without worrying about conflict or confrontation, but I’m not sure.
What does it exactly mean?
Is “push back and crack some eggs” a popular turn of phrase, or Christine Quinn’s (not Dowd’s, as is usual) own turn of phrase?
Best Answer
The candidate for Mayor of New York in question is not afraid to assert herself. In fact in the article she is described as:
Someone who pushes her ideas forward and is prepared to defend her proposals, even if it means upsetting and antagonising her opponents or a section of the public opinion, i.e. to crack eggs.
That last expression reminds me of an idiom "walking on egg shells" It's definition is as follows: Fig. to be very diplomatic and inoffensive. I was walking on eggshells trying to explain the remark to her without offending her further.
Thus when she claims she is unafraid of cracking eggs, she is saying the exact opposite of the well-known recognized idiom.