Reader question: In a speech to Congress on February 24, 2009, Barack Obama said, in part: “That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort – because nobody messes with Joe.” What is the meaning of “nobody messes with Joe”?

My comments: First of all, the Joe Obama was talking about is not Joe Louis the boxing champion, or Joe DiMaggio the baseball great.

Nor was he talking about the average Joe, you know, the everyday Joe on the street.

The Joe he was addressing instead is none other than Biden the Vice President, Joe being his first name.

Now let’s deal with the messing business.

If you mess with something, you may, well, mess it up, that is, make a mess of it. The other day, for example, I overheard someone in the office yell: “My, somebody messed with my computer. My files are gone. Heaven’s sakes! Years of work, gone!”

If you mess with a person, on the other hand, you confront them, get in their way, argue with them, contradict them or even fistfight them. People are therefore warned not to mess with certain folks who are tough, strong, and generally known to be hard to defeat. If you mess with them, they will beat you up, or, as Americans say, kick your butt.

Hence, Obama gave the job to Biden because he knew nobody wants to get in the way of the no-nonsense Senator.

Alright, here are some media examples to give you a better idea of how it feels to mess up with someone:

1. The great Danbert Nobacon appeared in public in a brown leather skirt, and looked great; the sarong showed dangerous signs of becoming the New Lad’s favoured beachwear. And then someone told me that kilts were about to make an appearance in Jigsaw's men’s shop. I was down there the same afternoon; there was quite a scrum, and, by now, I understand that they can’t be had for love or money. You certainly feel you are taking your life in your hands the first time you walk out of your front door in it. It’s a very strange feeling indeed; it makes you walk in a completely different way, a sort of aggressive stomp; you have to learn a new way of sitting; it makes you feel that everyone is staring at you, which of course they are; and, weirdly, it gives you a strong feeling of confidence. Nobody messes with a man in a skirt; in London, I suppose there is a sense that picking on anyone because of what they are wearing exposes you as uncool. And perhaps even lads out on a Friday night quickly come to the conclusion that anyone who goes out dressed like that must be quite incredibly hard. A photographer wolf-whistled me as I was going into a London Fashion Week party, but I prefer to think that was genuine appreciation. On the whole, people make three comments. The first is: “Are you wearing any underwear?” To which the only proper response is “Why? Are you?” The second, more learned, is: “Of course, if you think of the whole range of cultures, the skirt is as much a male garment as a female one. Think of Greece.” - Nobody messes with a man in a skirt, The Independent, October 16, 1998.

2. Sam, 17, from Hackney is no longer in a gang but in his early teens he spent three years in one. He found it difficult to explain to us why he first got involved: “You get a little party happening. You might just hang out and…I don’t really know…” But what Sam does know, is that being in a gang made him feel as though he was a part of something in which he belonged. He liked the closeness and the solidarity: “Gangs are like friends, deep friends, you know what I mean? They’re like proper friends. When I was in a gang, I was with all my brethren.” As strange as it may sound, for Sam it was also about safety because as he said: “When you’re in a gang, no-one messes with you.” - Through the eyes of children, The Magistrate, November, 2003.

3. The next double-page spread contains a timeline of acquisitions from when Murdoch inherited and rescued the Adelaide News in 1954 through to yesterday’s formal acquisition of Dow Jones. Each entry contains skeptical quotes predicting Murdoch’s demise, including: “He’ll be broke within the year” - 1954, on his rescue of the Adelaide News. “No one reads that” - 1969, on his acquisition of the Sun. “No one messes with the BBC” - 1989, on the launch of Sky. The timeline ends with 2007 and the quote: “The Wall Street Journal will never be the same.” It continues: “Exactly. And that’s a promise.” - Murdoch trumpets WSJ purchase with global ad campaign, The Guardian, December 14, 2007.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.