Please explain this statement for me

[Raptor]

English is not my native language, please explain this statement for me. I had a job interview today. In the end, he told me to expect a call in 1 week followed by this statement

"I'm not going to keep you off the hook" OR "I'm not going to let you off the hook"


Please, give me little explanation about what he meant with examples.

[Jiminator]

the first one means nothing in american english, the second one means you made a mistake and that he intends to punish you for it (ie: fish get caught "on the hook" and eaten)

[Decker]

Or that he intends to "string you along" a little longer until you actually get an answer (that is, you'll have to wait for a week). Nothing to do with any mistake necessarily. Correct me if I'm wrong. :)

[lordlonelobo]

Seems to me like he's trying to say he thinks you're a good candidate. I've never heard that expression before, but it sounds to me like he wants you for the job.

[Sang]

What Jiminator said is the correct meaning. "You'll be punished for that mistake you made, I guarantee you that"

But maybe the person who took the interview wasn't too familiar with the expression himself so it doesn't really mean anything unless we know more about the interview.

[NutWrench]

I'm only aware of 2 uses for the phrase "off the hook." One of them is a telephone reference, which clearly doesn't apply here. The other is to imply that you are personally responsibe for doing something wrong. For example, if someone says "I'm not going to let you off the hook" they're saying that "You did something wrong and I'm not going to forget about it/let you get away with it."

I think in your case, your interviewer has his metaphors mixed up and he simply means, "I haven't forgotten about you" :)

[Bludd]

If he said it with a genuine smile, he's basically saying "you're good so I don't want to let you get away".

[Decker]

What Jiminator said is the correct meaning. "You'll be punished for that mistake you made, I guarantee you that"

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/let+off+the+hook

I could swear it doesn't need to mean anything bad necessarily. The 'difficult situation' may just be the fact that he won't get an answer until after a week. That's an odd way to express it though.

If a person is at an interview, I don't think there's any mistake he could have made that he could be held accountable for.

[lordlonelobo]

On a side note, Raptor said English wasn't his first language, so it's possible that his interview was in another language, and he translated it's meaning literally. It would make sense as to why there's two metaphors there.

Usually "Off the hook" does mean you're going to catch shit for something you did, but it doesn't make any sense to be saying that at an interview.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure he means that he wants to keep Raptor "on the hook", as in, wants him for the job.

[WestSeven]

It is so dependent on context. In an interview if you were asked a difficult question Eg "Why did you quit your last job?" and you answered with something vague like "I decided it was time to move on." it would make sense for the interviewer to say "I'm not going to let you off the hook that easily." with a slight smile - meening "I'm not going to accept that answer."

Isn't the English language great? What do you meen "no"??

[Raptor]

Actually...the guy who interviewed me is a 65 old American citizen. I'm a very VERY good english speaker but this is something that I really didn't get. I had a feeling that he was happy with me so I guess its a positive sign for me.

ThanX guys!!!!