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Dear sirWould you please enlighten me what do these words mean?Thanks in advance for your help, A look of determination of defiance even = ? (what does it mean for defiance even here)The origin of which is lost in the mists of time = ? Slippery path = ? Nobler = ? Fizzle out = ?

Inchoateknowledge · Accepted Answer

dear sir:)
say hello instead

enthusiasm can fizzle out, that is, fade.

slippery slope: trying out any drug is a slippery slope, id est, having done so it is easy to go to the dogs and become the floatsam and jetsam of society.
there is no way back from the chewy chunks of moral degradation.

the origin of which is lost in the mists of time: figurative, mist is a meteorological phenomenon - it means soething gradually disappeared.
to defy means to go against something that is expected of you to do.
you look determined to not do sg you are imposed on from above.

inchoate

BarbaraPA · Answer

As incho says, the slippery path is usually written as a slippery slope. It is a metaphor that means that you when you take the first step, it can lead to other consequences far bigger than you at first intended.

For example, you have a policy at work about not allowing animals in the building. Someone asks if he can keep a fish at his desk. You say, "That's a slippery slope. First it's your fish, then it's Mary's pet frog, then Marty's gerbil, and before you know it we've got dogs who are small enough to fit in a basket under the desk, and then it's polo ponies in the men's room stalls!"

And to clarify on the mists of time - it was so far back that no one can quite remember or figure out how it came to be. The further back you go, the more "dim" it becomes.

Nobler simply means "more noble."

Something that fizzles out probably started with a lot of energy, or a lot of ceremony or attention paid to it.

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