To Give St/Sb a Rain Check
Hey guys! So, before you ask... No, we're not dead yet. But we've been very naughty bloggers lately (this, my dear friends, is called understatement), especially me, since this post marks a full half a year of me not writing one single post. I am so ashamed. Today I'm trying to make this right a bit, with an Incredible Idioms post, although I usually write about similes. Please, do enjoy your flight, but first, let me show you a video, whose song has been my inspiration source :) also, it Is a lovely video.
You can find the lyrics here (although there are several versions, none of them apparently an official one, I tend to like this one best, and I'm very much interested if I've chosen the right one... we'll see). As you can see, the narrator is giving the academy/commodities a rain check. When I was preparing this song as a listening exercise for an English lesson, I was very much intriqued by this phrase. What does it mean? After several moments of fascinated googling, I am able to bring you the solution to this not-so-metaphysical conundrum (I do profoudly apologize for these Cabin Pressure inserts, I just can't help it right now).This phrase originates from, in the British Isles undoubtedly not-so-scarce, occasions, where a sports match or an outdoor performance of some sort had to be cancelled, or rather postponed, due to bad weather. The visitors would then get this rain check, which was a ticket that enabled them to come to the postponed performance without loosing their money.
Later, rain check gained its metaphorical meaning. For example, when you promised your friend to come to their house but something came up and you had to cancel your visit, you could say: "Can I take a rain check?", meaning that you aren't cancelling the visit, just postponing it until next time. It seems that it doesn't matter which side gets the rain check, because you can be giving it to something or somebody, or taking it, and still be the one who is postponing something.
And lastly, what I like most about this phrase being used in the song, is that you're not giving out rain checks because of procrastinating and sudden inconvenieces coming your way, making you postpone the things that you would like to do. The song is all about new beginnings, leaving the old you behind to make a fresh start and giving rain check to things that no longer work for you to make room for new and exciting stuff. At least this is how I feel about the song :) Ready to give something a rain check and take up something new? :)
