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moon shot

English translation: very ambitious goal

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:moon shot
Selected answer:very ambitious goal
Entered by: danya

08:30 Jun 19, 2009
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
English term or phrase: moon shot
all the dictionaries available say it's a moon mission; my context is this http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/02/moon-shots-for-manage...

I can figure out that the meaning is smth like bold aspiration / ambitious goal, but I'd like a confirmation and/or elucidation from a native.

TIA
danya
Local time: 04:02
very ambitious goal
Explanation:
like you said, a company's most ambitous goal. I've found an example regarding Google Books:

"catalogue is thirty-two million, the number in WorldCat, a database of titles from more than twenty-five thousand libraries around the world. Google aims to scan at least that many. “We think that we can do it all inside of ten years,” Marissa Mayer, a vice-president at Google who is in charge of the books project, said recently, at the company’s headquarters, in Mountain View, California. “It’s mind-boggling to me, how close it is. I think of Google Books as our moon shot.”"

HTH

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Note added at 18 mins (2009-06-19 08:49:14 GMT)
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to me it's more a challenge, as in your article: managers will need to tackle the greatest challenges ever to be successful (that's how I understand it, IMHO).
Selected response from:

MurielP (X)
Local time: 02:02
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +6very ambitious goal
MurielP (X)
5setting a very ambitious task for yourself
Alexandra Taggart


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
very ambitious goal


Explanation:
like you said, a company's most ambitous goal. I've found an example regarding Google Books:

"catalogue is thirty-two million, the number in WorldCat, a database of titles from more than twenty-five thousand libraries around the world. Google aims to scan at least that many. “We think that we can do it all inside of ten years,” Marissa Mayer, a vice-president at Google who is in charge of the books project, said recently, at the company’s headquarters, in Mountain View, California. “It’s mind-boggling to me, how close it is. I think of Google Books as our moon shot.”"

HTH

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 mins (2009-06-19 08:49:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

to me it's more a challenge, as in your article: managers will need to tackle the greatest challenges ever to be successful (that's how I understand it, IMHO).

MurielP (X)
Local time: 02:02
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: thank you. is this like a stretched objective/target?

Asker: thank you, I'm buying this one)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  polyglot45: if you read the sub-heading of the article, the explanation is there
27 mins
agree  Gary D: Take a shot at the moon, Take your best shot, see how far you can go, give it your best, have a shot at making it happen.
35 mins
agree  Jack Doughty
57 mins
agree  Kathryn Litherland: Not just a lofty goal, but one with a set, tight deadline, as the phrase as it's used here (not just "taking a shot at the moon.") It's no coincidence that the time frame for the project is the same as Kennedy's "within the decade" promise
3 hrs
agree  Demi Ebrite: It is like a 'stretched objective,' perhaps more aptly put, in English, is 'long shot'.
5 hrs
agree  Tina Vonhof (X): If you are looking for an alternative, you could try 'trip to the moon'.
6 hrs
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
setting a very ambitious task for yourself


Explanation:
"a shot at the Moon"=an attempt to reach the Moon; means - "Flight to the Moon" which was a very ambitios task in it's time.

Alexandra Taggart
Russian Federation
Local time: 04:02
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 8
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