People who visit our website or listen to our broadcasts want to learn English . They come freely . No one is forcing them . In other words , no one is twisting their arms . Having your arm twisted hurts . It gets pulled in the wrong direction . Wrestlers know this . That is why in the sport of wrestling , twisting an opponent's arm is a good way to gain control . One definition of "twist " is to bend or turn something into a shape or position that is not normal . If you do that to your arm , or any part of the body , it can hurt a lot . So , if you are wrestling with someone and twist their arm , your opponent may likely give up . You would be the winner . The expression to twist someone's arm means to force someone to do what you want . You put pressure on them . Several websites say this term first became popular back in the middle of the 1900s . It meant using physical force to get something done . These days , it can mean using something other than physical strength . You do not have to be stronger than someone else to effectively twist their arm . If a small child wants to go to the store , she can twist your arm into taking her . She just will not take “no ” for an answer . She asks and asks until you give up ! People who are good at selling products or raising money are usually skilled at twisting other people's arms . Let's say you want to raise money for a cause that you care about -- saving the rain forest , for example . Because the issue is important to you , you do not mind twisting arms to get others to donate money . You email your friends . You start up an online campaign to raise as much money as you can . But you don't stop there . You throw a party where you look people in the eye and ask for money . They might say , "You don't need to twist my arm . Here's my donation of $200 !" With a few small changes , twisting someone's arm can become a noun . If someone is good at arm-twisting , they are good at persuading others to do what they want . We can say they are skilled in the art of persuasion . We have other expressions for making someone do what you want . It suggests that you are stronger , or are in a stronger position . So , you can get others to do what you want . More often than not , we don't use strong-arm in a nice way . Besides , “bully ,” two other common verbs that mean “strong-arm ” are intimidate and coerce . When used as an adjective , strong-arm goes before a noun . For example , a man used strong-arm methods to get what he wanted . Now , if arm-twisting or strong-arming does not work for you , you can always try putting the squeeze on someone else . When you squeeze something , you add pressure to it . For example , when you squeeze oranges , you press down on the fruit for its juice . So , when you put the squeeze on others , you pressure them to do what you want . Some people are not good at arm-twisting , strong-arming or putting the squeeze on others . If you are like one of them , you may want to try a more subtle method of persuasion . Your personal belief is , "you get more bees with honey than vinegar ." This means when you are nice or sweet like honey to people , they are more likely to help you . If your words are sharply acidic like vinegar , they may just turn away . You would rather sweet-talk or coax someone into doing what you want . These are both nice , subtle ways to twist someone's arm . English learners seek us out . This is better than trying to force English on someone . If you have to twist someone's arm to learn something , chances are they won't .