Accelerator, take one’s foot off the: 1. Lose energy and enthusiasm for a project or initiative. 2. Decide you can’t be arsed because the whole thing’s pointless; one of many automotive analogies that makes wishy-washy male executives feel particularly virile; suggestion of speed and power, but in reality slowing down; much-loved rallying cry for oppressed managers, as in “Guys, we mustn’t take our foot off the accelerator on this one.”
