exit, surprise visit, sort out, penalty box, put/set someone straight

Unless the capital's property market is sorted out, people across the country will bear the brunt

Poor land-use regulation is the main reason for London's crazy house prices

There is enough green-belt land in London to build over a million houses

ECON.ST

It was after a three-hour train ride north from Tokyo, heading for Tsurunoyu Onsen, that I learned Tsurunoyu isn’t an onsen at all. “It’s really more of a hitou,” Moto, my guide, delicately pointed out. We were in Honshu Island’s far-north prefecture of Akita, winding our way up the unpaved road to the 300-year-old mountain lodge, and Moto seemed especially intent on setting me straight. An onsen, he explained, is a natural hot spring. A hitou is a natural hot spring that is hidden. Ah. Hiddenness being perhaps the most prized characteristic in Japanese culture — second only to a love of drawing precise distinctions on a minute scale — I undertood this was a critical difference.





Bush in Iraq on surprise visit 

US President George Bush has arrived in Iraq on an unannounced visit. Speaking at a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani in Baghdad, Bush said the war in Iraq had been hard but necessary for US security and world peace. It is the president's fourth trip to Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion and follows approval of a security pact between Washington and Baghdad. The deal struck last month paves the way for US forces to withdraw by the end of 2011. It will now be left to US president-elect Barack Obama to sort out an exit strategy after he takes office on January 20.

penalty box

March 6, 2008, 9:54 am

Will Europe Let Google Out of the Penalty Box?

By Saul Hansell

Google’s year in the penalty box may be over.

Reuters and Bloomberg report that the European Union is preparing to approve Google’s pending acquisition of DoubleClick, the advertising technology firm. The deal, which was announced last April, has been delayed mainly because of protests by Microsoft that Google would gain monopoly power in the online advertising business.

The acquisition was approved in the United States in December, but European regulators have been looking at it more closely. The deadline for action in Europe is April 2, but Bloomberg reports that action could be taken as soon as next week.

WordNet: penalty box

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: (in ice hockey) an enclosed bench to the side of an ice-hockey rink for players who are serving time penalties

Wikipedia article "Penalty box"

Investment Dictionary: In The Penalty Box

When a company's stock price is in the doldrums and has yet to rebound because of poor earnings, government regulation or another reason.

Investopedia Says:
Sometimes you'll hear an analyst say "they are going to be in the penalty box for some time to come." This means that it'll be awhile before the company turns things around.

Related Links:

It's quantity that generates all the hype, but there are more meaningful factors that gauge true performance. Earnings: Quality Means Everything

surprise visit 突然 意外 拜訪
日文 "電撃訪問"
exit strategy 出場 撤軍戰略
exit
noun [C]
1 the door through which you might leave a building or large vehicle, or the act of leaving especially a theatre stage:
a fire exit (= a door you can escape through if there is a fire)
an emergency exit
He saw Emma arrive and made a quick exit.
She made her exit from the stage to rapturous applause.
Compare entrance.

2 a smaller road used to leave a main road:
Come off the motorway at the Duxford exit.

exit
verb [I or T]
I exited quickly before anyone could see me.
Please exit the theatre by the side doors.

sort sth/sb out (DEAL WITH) phrasal verb [M]
to deal satisfactorily or successfully with a problem, a situation, or a person who is having difficulties:
We've sorted out the computer system's initial problems.
[+ question word] It'll be difficult to sort out how much each person owes.
Most of the job involves sorting customers out who have queries.


. 泉 (a hot [mineral] SPRING 温［鉱］泉）;

put/set someone straight
to make certain that someone knows the real facts about a situation:
Don't worry, I set him straight (on this matter).
ひとう　―たう 0 【秘湯】

人にあまり知られていない温泉。
おんせん　をん― 0 【温泉】

(1)その地方の年平均気温より高い温度のわき水。日本では湯温が摂氏二五度以上か、または規定された物質を溶存するものと定められている。地下水が火山起源の熱で熱せられたものが多い。含有成分によって、単純泉・炭酸泉・硫黄泉などに分ける。いでゆ。
⇔冷泉
→鉱泉
(2)(1)を利用した浴場。また、その浴場のある地域。温泉場。
「鄙(ひな)びた―」