For Thursday, April 18: Be worn out

Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out. Theodore Roosevelt

There's a huge difference between wearing out and rusting out. One means you worked hard and did your job for as long as possible. The other means you sat around, allowed yourself to become neglected, exposed yourself to the weather of life and became unusable. Roosevelt makes a good point in today's quote. Wouldn't you rather wear out than rust out? Wouldn't you rather be known at the end of your life for being someone who worked hard and with integrity than someone who skated by and became unusable? Because when you become rusted from neglect you also lose people's respect and become known as a person who doesn't have integrity in their work life. Wouldn't you rather wear out than rust out? I know I would.

Comments

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

More bang for your buck

This phrase was used a lot in 1953 but an earlier citation puts it at 1940 in a Metals and Plastics Publications advertisement. Read about it here . The phrase means you get more for your money.

Call it a Day

The literal use of this phrase hails from 1838 when the phrase originally was "call it half a day" to mean leaving work early. (source) The modern use of the phrase is to indicate ending something due to false sense of accomplishment.

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