I love you a bushel and a peck12/11/2022 ![]() ![]() If you were packaging up apples or grapes at a farm, for instance, you might use the saying to convey an exact quantity of the fruits to another packer. Of course, bushel and a peck can be taken and used literally, as a bushel and peck are units of measurement. And when someone has hit the nail on the head, they’ve gotten an answer exactly right or done something exactly as it should have been done. It’s time to face the music means that it’s time to come to terms with the consequences of your actions. Likewise, rather than literally being handed a tool for chopping wood, if you get the ax from your boss, it means you’re getting fired. But the expression is actually used to describe a person who’s in trouble. #I love you a bushel and a peck fullIf you took the first example literally, you’d think it was describing a person standing in a bathtub full of hot water, perhaps. ![]() Here are just a few of the most common idioms used today: Even if you’ve never heard the term idiom, you have most likely heard many idiomatic expressions. These phrases have a figurative rather than literal meaning. An idiom is an expression with an intended meaning that can’t fully be understood just by looking at the words that comprise it. ![]() What Is an Idiom?īushel and a peck is an idiom. A peck equals eight quarts, or a quarter of a bushel. You might encounter a peck or half-peck bag of apples at the farmers market, too, and occasionally at the grocery store.Ī bushel equals 32 dry quarts, or eight dry gallons. If you head out to an apple orchard for picking, you might be given a bushel basket or see peck on the bag you’re given to fill, for example. And, you guessed it, they’re large quantities! They’re both dry volume units of measurement, mostly used in agriculture. Both a bushel and a peck are forms of measurement. While we don’t know precisely when the expression was first used, we do know how it came to be. Here is an excerpt:Ī bushel and a peck and a hug around the neckĪ hug around the neck and a barrel and a heapĪ barrel and a heap and I’m talkin’ in my sleep The phrase is repeated over and over in the song’s lyrics. It is perhaps Doris Day’s version that is most well known, although it didn’t perform as well on the charts when first released as recordings of it by other artists. After that, many artists recorded versions of the song, from Perry Como and Betty Hutton to the Andrews Sisters to Doris Day. However, it was certainly in use in the middle of the 20th century and only became more popular around this time, when the songwriter Frank Loesser penned a song titled “A Bushel and a Peck” for the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls. It’s not entirely clear when exactly the saying was first used to express loving someone a great deal. The latter reflects song lyrics that helped make the phrase popular, which brings us to the history of the saying. You may also hear or see two variations of the expression, with a few words added on for extra emphasis: bushel and a peck and some in a gourd and bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. Say, if you were asked how many scoops of ice cream you wanted, you could respond cheekily with “a bushel and a peck.” (Though, you’d have to hope the scooper knew you were speaking figuratively and not literally keep reading to find out why!) Every night when I tuck my daughter into bed, she asks me how much I love her, and I hold my arms out wide and exclaim, “A bushel and a peck!”Īlthough it is not commonly said in this way, the expression could be used to express wanting a lot of something. ![]() When she asked what I thought of it, I told her I enjoyed it a bushel and a peck. I really liked the meal I had at the new restaurant my friend and I tried last night.Before I head out the door to go to work in the morning, I give my husband a kiss and tell him that I love him a bushel and a peck.Here are some example sentences using the saying bushel and a peck: As the introduction to this post alluded, it’s typically used to emphasize how much a person loves someone-and is often given as the answer to the question: How much do you love me? In the same vein, it can also be used to describe how much a person likes or loves a place or thing. Simply put, the idiomatic phrase bushel and a peck means “a lot.” It’s used to describe a large amount or great deal of something. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |