chop and change
chop and change
Meaning
- to repeatedly change.
- abrupt and repeated changes in opinion or behavior.
- to suddenly change one’s intentions or mind.
- to keep changing plans, especially when it is not necessary.
- to keep changing from one thing to another.
Example Sentences
- You wouldn’t chop and change your mind; either stay or go.
- After ten months of chopping and changing, I have decided to take this class.
- You will have to stop chopping and changing and make up your mind.
- Do not chop and change from one style to the other. Your readers will get confused.
- If you chop and change careers like this, you will never gain experience.
- One day she’s going to be a doctor; the next she wants to study architecture. She’ll have to stop chopping and changing and make up her mind.
Origin
This phrase dates back to the 1400s. This was a period when Henry’s father, Henry VII, came to rule the English throne. The word chop during this period meant to barter, derived from the Old English word “ceapian,” from which we get the word cheap. Initially, the chop and change phrase was meant to barter and exchange and remained in use until the 1600s. However, by the mid-1600s, the meaning had shifted to its current meaning. Presently, chop is an archaic word used for centuries to mean “change suddenly.”
Some suggest that the phrase came up due to Henry VIII’s habit of divorcing and executing his wives. However, it came earlier, in 1485, during the reign of Henry VII on the English throne. The first printed example of this idiom is from the Digby Mysteries and was published in 1485.
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