One of my students came across this great expression listening to an interview with the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Interview by by Calvin Sims.
(There are a number of remarkable interviews in the “Interviews” section of the Video Library at the NYT.)
the woods: you can imagine being in the midst of a forest.
not out of the woods = still lost in the midst of that forest.
not out of the woods yet > while we’re still in the woods, we will eventually get out to a clearing.
“On n’est pas sorti de l’auberge!”
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