Winning English - Mastering Idioms, Slang, and References
Where there's a will • Get it in gear • So much riding on it • Get your hands dirty • Money doesn't grow on trees
Hello, everyone! It’s the start of a new week. We all have goals that we want to accomplish on small and large projects. But we can do it. After all, where there’s a will, there’s a way!
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“Where there is a will, there is a way” is a very common saying used to motivate or inspire yourself or others. The word “will” might be confusing in this case. Often will is a verb, as in, “I will go to the store.” But here it’s a noun. It’s a shortened version of “willpower”. Willpower is the emotional strength necessary to overcome any problems you might encounter. So, this saying means, if you have the emotional strength to keep working at something, you will find an answer to your problems.
Now that you are emotionally ready for the week’s challenges, you need to start working on all of the tasks necessary to accomplish your goals. You need to get it in gear. After all, there’s so much riding on it. You’re just going to have to get your hands dirty.
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That one paragraph above contained three different English idioms. That might seem like a lot, but I have overheard conversations between native speakers just like that!
“To get it in gear” means to start working on something. It comes from the world of cars. Some cars have a gear shifter (like in the picture above). If a car is not in gear, it won’t go anywhere. But once you put the car in gear, it will start moving. So, when you or a group “get it in gear”, you have started moving forward toward your goal. (By the way, there is also a common crude version that you might hear sometimes, but you can follow this link to read that one if you’re interested.)
“There’s so much riding on it” is a way of saying that a goal, task, or event is very, very important. “To ride on” in this case means to carry something on your back or maybe on the top of a vehicle. If you fall or if the vehicle gets into an accident, that thing could be destroyed, and you will lose something very important to you. You have a lot of value - whether it’s money or emotional value - “riding on” the success of a goal, task, or event.
“To get your hands dirty” means to do the necessary, detailed work to achieve a goal. When we want to grow a tree, we dig a hole in the dirt and plant the seed. That’s just what you have to do. Note that “dirty” often means something is bad, but in this case, it’s good, because it shows that you’re willing to do every task, no matter how small, to make progress.
Speaking of trees and working hard, that makes me think of another saying: Money doesn’t grow on trees.
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Even before humans started planting trees, fruit was readily available. You could just pick a piece of fruit from a tree. Money has never been that easy to get. We have to work for it. In other words, “money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Have a great week, everyone, and talk soon!