Reader Opinions
Hannah from Utah – (dribs and drabs) February 21, 2026
The word “drib” in “dribs and drabs” is related to “dribble,” meaning to fall in small drops—like water dripping slowly. So, the idiom originally carried a literal image of something arriving drop by drop before it became a metaphor for small, scattered amounts.
Steve Jacques – (hang on) February 16, 2026
Regarding “Hang On” I just found a reference to this from an 1846 publication of Life in California by Alfred Robinson. This term is given in relation to ships. He defines it specifically on page 143 as: “Vessels, when not enabled to enter the bay at night, are obliged to keep under sail, beating to windward, for should they heave to, they would be swept to leeward by the strength of the current. This is what’s called “hanging on” [or Hang On, as he states in the sentence above]. I didn’t see this definition in here.
Rain – (Pronouns) February 7, 2026
What’s the difference between reflexive and emphatic pronouns, because I don’t see much difference between them. Please make me understand.
Thank you.
Paddysnr – (come hell or high water) February 3, 2026
It is believed by some that once in hell there is no way out.
Also if the water is extremely high one cannot pass through.
Determination to achieve is indicated, in that, both of these seemingly impossible tasks will be overcome regardless.
Anonymous – (face the music) January 30, 2026
“Face the music” gangsters kept guns in violin cases”?
Nathan – (on the other hand) January 23, 2026
As far as the origin of this phrase, there are earlier uses of it:
Romans 7:25 – “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
Anonymous – (so long) January 14, 2026
I wonder if there is any connection with the Scottish “Auld Lang Syne” (“old long since”), other than they both contain a version of the word “long” of course.
Tabbbinski – (chop chop) January 10, 2026
Though in modern usage it’s often delivered humorously, it tends to carry racist overtones of the white master ordering his Asian underlings to hurry up.
Steve – (I could eat a horse) January 7, 2026
It was a fairly common thing in warfare throughout history that horses, at most times were useful for transport, when food ran low(i.e. during a siege) would eventually be eaten rather than the soldiers starve. If this is the origin then it probably goes back further.
Frederick Zirin – (line in the sand) December 22, 2025
This incident had to do with the Seleucid King Antiochus IV who wanted to invade Egypt, a Ptolemaic country and Roman protectorate. Popillius drew the line in the sand and essentially threatened war from Rome if Antiochus dared to cross the line. As a result, he retreated and went up through Israel and caused what happened as Hanukkah when he desecrated the temple in Jerusalem and replaced the Jewish high priest with Menelaus, a semi-Greek adherent. With decreeing a forbidding of practicing the Jewish faith, he set up his own defeat by the Jews who had the determination to win. Cleansing and then rededicating the Temple became a minor holiday that we celebrate today.
