move the goalposts
verbUK /ˈmuːv ðə ˈɡəʊlpəʊsts/ · US /ˈmuːv ðə ˈɡoʊlpoʊst/
Etymology A metaphor of British origin derived from association football (soccer), from the idea that it is difficult for a player to kick the ball into the goal if it is moved.
1
Idiomatic To alter the terms of an agreement or an agreed target, or the rules of a negotiation while it is ongoing, especially in an unfair way.
- This is a Government that meets its economic targets and does not move the goalposts.
- We were given a moving date, and an exchange date, but the buyers kept moving the goalposts and giving us a later date.
4 more examples
- The tempo at which events are moving, the technological changes and the new developments being encountered on all sides sometimes gives the impression that the objectives or goal posts are constantly being moved.[1958, Telephone Engineer and Management, volume 62, Wheaton, Ill.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publications, →OCLC, page 64:
- The conflict between being a lady and having a career was crystallized when I was in high school. It seemed as if my mother kept moving the goalposts around.1977, The Ladies’ Home Journal, volume 94, Los Angeles, Calif.: Family Media, inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 62, column 3:
- The common thread to these four problems is the question of wha can reasonably be inferred about the covert processes, as opposed to the overt acts, of other organisms if we and they cannot communicate directly through verbal disclosure. […] No one baulks at applying the same standards of inference to other cultures of our species, but it is still easy to move the goalposts when another species is involved[…].1992, W[illiam] C[lement] McGrew, “What Chimpanzees Are, Are Not, and Might Be”, in Chimpanzee Material Culture: Implications for Human Evolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 1996, →ISBN, page 217:
- Sooner or later we have to have rules, and we have to know that they are not going to change, for people to have business plans developed and so that they can go out and raise capital and stick with their business model. But if there is this constant uncertainty that when the Commission changes, or when they have another rule tha they are going to move the goal posts again, nobody is going to want to have anything to do with this field.2003 January 14, Peter G[osselin] Fitzgerald, “Statement of Hon. Peter G. Fitzgerald, U.S. Senator from Illinois”, in Competition in the Telecommunications Industry: Hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session, Washington, D.C.: Printed for use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; U.S. Government Printing Office, published 2006, →ISBN, page 85:
- Synonyms
- change the goal posts, shift the goalposts
- Related terms
- level playing field, move the yardsticks