Some phrases

Posted by R. Berg on September 07, 2003

In Reply to: Some phrases posted by ESC on September 07, 2003

: : Hi folks,
: : 1.What does "I'm getting ahead of myself" mean?

: : 2.In an article, when the writer suddenly says "talk about fate!" as he is telling the story, what does he mean?

: : 3.A taxi driver says, on monday mornings the airport is "jumping", and he may get a back-to-back. How is jumping?

: : 4.One says, he would't change his job even if "he had to cut a hundred a week."
: : Does "cut" mean "get 100 in that new job"?

: : 5.What is a $64,000 question?

: : 6.What kind of person could be called as an apple?

: : Thanks in advance!

: 1. Getting ahead of yourself -- telling the last part of a story first is one meaning of the phrase.

: 2. Fate -- something that was meant to be. That's the best I can come up with on that one.

: 3. Jumping -- really busy. Lots of coming and going at the airport.

: 4. I don't know. Cut or lose $100 in salary?

: 5. I don't know. I've never heard of someone being called an "apple."

: 6. $64,000 question -- this phrase comes from the title of a game show that aired in the 1950s in the U.S. The $64,000 Question -- 1955 - 1968. 30 minutes. Black and White. Hal March, host.
: www.fiftiesweb.com/ quizshow.htm

Before that game show, there was a catchphrase, "That's the $64 question." It meant "That's a good question" and was used when somebody asked an important question whose answer wasn't known.

Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Catch Phrases: American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day quotes Webster's International Dictionary : the question was "so called from the fact that $64 was the highest award in the CBS radio quiz show 'Take It or Leave It'" (1941-48).

"Talk about fate!" is a condensed way of saying that a series of events seemed so well connected that they must have been planned, by the forces of destiny, to bring about a particular result.