Joe Biden wants you to gird your loins. Here's how to do it.
By Juliet LapidosPosted Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008, at 6:01 PM ET
At a Seattle fundraiser on Sunday, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden warned supporters that, if elected, Barack Obama will be tested by "an international crisis" early on in his first term. He also advised the crowd to "gird your loins," since the tasks ahead for the next president will be "like cleaning the Augean stables, man." What's the best way to follow Biden's advice?
With a belt. To gird means to bind or encircle, and loins refers to the area between your hips and ribs. (Note: In this case, loins does not refer to the genitals, as with Nabokov's "light of my life, fire of my loins.") So, "to gird your loins" means, literally, to wrap a belt around your waist so that your clothes don't flop around.
