Somebody ought to (put words into your mouth)
A female reporter interviewing a police commissioner.
| Commissioner: I'm not denying anything. Again, you're putting words into my mouth. Reporter: It often seems that somebody ought to. |
I'm sure the commissioner used the idiom (to put words into someone's mouth) in its usual sense (https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/put+words+in+mouth), but I'm not so certain if the reporter uses the phrase in the same sense. Does she mean that someone tells the commissioner what he should say? As if somebody put words into his mouth and he utters them.
Top answer
To me, she seems to be saying that the commissioner is not very forthcoming, or does not answer questions satisfactorily, or something like that, so other people ought to "put words into his mouth" in order to prompt him to say more, or to flesh out his answers or provide the answers that he does not.
- To me, she seems to be saying that the commissioner is not very forthcoming, or does not answer questions satisfactorily, or something like that, so other people ought to "put words into his mouth" in order to prompt him to say more, or to flesh out his answers or provide the answers that he does not.
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To me, she seems to be saying that the commissioner is not very forthcoming, or does not answer questions satisfactorily, or something like that, so other people ought to "put words into his mouth" in order to prompt him to say more, or to flesh out his answers or provide the answers that he does not.
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