Means: To have a situation under control or to be under someone’s control
Usage: “I can definitely come out, I’ve got the parent situation on lock”“Steve, man, that girl has so got you on lock”
Reminiscent of a trigger-happy Tom Cruise targeting an enemy jet in Top Gun, or the more believably Yoof-influencing “lock and load” gun reference of gang culture, this buzz term is actually nothing to do with ammo aggression. The age-old idiom of being “under lock and key” has been reworked for the now standard multi-purpose requirements of pupils, meaning it can be both positive and negative, to suggest being in total control or helplessly under the thumb, another phrase of yore that has lost its lustre. With the Yoof’s thumbs permanently engaged in texting or playing Angry Birds, anything being “under” them bar a keypad or a touch-screen is too unrealistic to contemplate.
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