What's not to love

Posted by Gary Martin on November 26, 2007

In Reply to: What's not to love posted by R. Berg on November 26, 2007

: : Just wondering the meaning of "what's not to love" and how, when can I use such a phrase?
: :
: This phrase is a sarcastic way of saying that something has no good features. It may have begun as a form of praise, but I always hear it used to mean the opposite. ("Big deal!" has a similar history.) "What's not to like?" seems the more common version. I believe it originated with Yiddish-speaking immigrants in the United States. ~rb

That's interesting. Here in the UK, I can only recall hearing it as a form of praise, which is how it began in the USA in the 1970s, as far as I can discover. It hasn't been used here for so long, so maybe we haven't developed the ironic form yet.

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