And the stirrup, it's maybe the most complicated word for you and it's the word that's the most important, I guess, in this expression, it's an iron ring that we use or that we put on each side of a horse's saddle. So you imagine that there's a horse. To get on the horse, we put a saddle, so that's what we put on the horse's back and it's the part on which we're going to sit, the riders are going to sit, the one who wants to show on horseback, so he sits on the saddle. It's the place where he sits, where he puts his buttocks on the horse's back. And on each side of the saddle, there are what we call the stirrups. It's the place where the rider puts his feet. You've already seen these metal rings. The rider sits on the saddle, on the horse's back, and each of his feet he puts in metal rings, iron rings, which are called stirrups.
So you already understand, just by imagining a rider getting on a horse, you can already begin to understand what it means to put your foot in the stirrup. The stirrup, we agree that it allows the rider to mount the horses more easily, because the rider will first put a foot on the stirrup, he will push and will arrive at the level of the horse's back. It's like a step. Of course, he could ride a horse without it, but it's a good help.
the stirrup represented a way to reach one's goal more easily, to achieve the desired success more quickly. You see, the meaning has deviated. At first, it was just this object that we poland whatsapp number data used to ride a horse, but since the stirrup helps us to ride a horse, in everyday language, we started to say that a stirrup could be something else that helped us to reach a goal.
And today, when we say that we put someone's foot in the stirrup, well, it means that we help them. And often, there is the idea that we help them to start. We do not help them to complete a whole task, we help them to start this task, like the stirrup helps us to get on the horse's back and not to gallop, and not to move on the horse.
What I suggest you do now is to study some examples to make sure that you understand the meaning of this expression.
The first example would be to say: "His parents help him a little financially just so that he can get his foot in the stirrup". So here, you see that it's a young person who is starting out in life, who doesn't have a lot of financial resources yet, and his parents help him. And to show that they help him and that they help him get started, to start something, we use the expression mettre le pied à l'étrier.
Second example: "I don't need this second job, but I would like to have some savings to get a foot in the door." So here, this person has a job and she wants to take a second one, not because she needs it to live but to have savings, because she would like these savings, these savings, to get her a foot in the door, that is to say, to help her have something better a little later.
Last example: "Exams are never pleasant to take, but getting his degree would really allow him to get his foot in the door." So here, we indicate that the degree that this person is preparing for and which is difficult, will give him his foot in the door, that is to say it will allow him to advance in his career, it will help him in his life, it will help him get started in life, quite simply. We always have these two notions, helping someone to start something, really these two different notions which are included in the expression "get his foot in the door."