What does the expression "being drug up on the carpet and then run up the mast" mean and where did it come from? It could very well be the person who said it made it up on the spot.
Learn English – What does this idiom mean and where did it come from
idioms
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Best Answer
It's a fine example of mangled idioms. I take it "drug up" is the writer's own way of saying "dragged up". He's probably thinking of "being dragged before the boss", but he's combined that vague thought with the phrase "on the carpet", which is used about people in trouble with their superiors. Not content with that, he progresses to an image of someone being "run up the mast" (picture it if you can). The only things that are actually run up the mast are flags or sails, and the popular phrase is exclusively used about the first. This is likely an exercise in free association, where the writer is thinking of "hanging from the yard-arm", but can't remember the exact words, so he latches onto the first substitute with naval overtones that springs to mind.