leapfrog
verb

- to improve your position by going past other people quickly or by missing out some stages

noun
- a children’s game in which a number of children bend down and another child jumps over them one at a time

The Cambridge Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

The name of the game “leapfrog” stems from the way frogs move forward by jumping or leaping. Games of this sort have been called by this name since at least the late sixteenth century.

We're also reminded of British comedian Benny Hill’s wise advice:

“Never play LEAPFROG with a unicorn.”

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NOT JUST A GAME

These days “leapfrog” is also applied in a figurative sense in four specific areas:

(1) Technological Leapfrogging = a process whereby developing countries skip inferior, less efficient, more expensive or more polluting technologies and move directly to more advanced ones. A common example is a country that moves directly from having no telephones to having cellular phones.

(2) Ecological Leapfrogging = which involves countries that accelerate the development of sustainable energy resources, such as solar, in order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

(3) Military Leapfrogging = a military strategy that was employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan during World War II. It involved attacking some islands but not others, effectively isolating the islands that were not attacked to keep them from being re-supplied with additional forces, ammunition, fuel and food.

(4) Legal Leapfrogging = a provision in the law (under the UK’s Administration of Justice Act 1969) for what is known as a “leapfrog appeal”, where in cases of general public importance, the Supreme Court can hear appeals directly from the High Court (example: Julian Assange, 5 December 2011).

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SYNONYMS

- to pass or get ahead of someone or something:

advance ahead, jump ahead, bolt over, bound over, jump over, skip over, vault over, LEAPFROG, outdistance, outstrip, overtake, pass by

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“This new technology will allow us to LEAPFROG the competition by the end of the year.”

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THANKS to Florian for suggesting today's OWAD.

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and,

Paul Smith, IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40