come hell or high water
Who taught: Andrew and Eric
Come hell or high water (source: http://www.noiset.com/)
It is 8:40 am on Dec 15, 2010 (Wed). According to weather.com, it is 16°F (-9°C). But, there is another degree you need to look at when it comes to the current temperature. It is “feels-like” degree which is the degree people really feels like because of wind, etc. Current feels-like degree in Pittsburgh is 2°F (-17°C). To sum it up, it is fre*king cold now. But, I am happy. Do you know why? At least, there is not that much snow yet compared to the last year.
Wait for a sec! Jessy wants me to cut some bread for breakfast…………………. OK, I am back.
Every monday, I play soccer with some people in the league I am in. To get to the indoor sports complex, people need to drive. (Oh! You do know that you need a car in the U.S., right? It is not an option. Without a car, life is so much harder. In Korea, I did not need a car. There are so many places I could go and so many things I could do without a car. But, that is not the case in the U.S. I mean, at least, in PGH.) Starting from last Sunday, there was a winter storm affecting PGH area. Knowing that, one of my soccer friends, Eric, sent an email Monday morning to all of the players, saying, “Hey, guys, I will be there come hell or high water!” He actually misspelled it to “cone hell or high water” and the other people teased him, saying “I will bring cones. Don’t worry, Eric!”
Even though I do not really like this expression, I believe you would want to know this one because I heard this from Andrew too. It seems like this one is a pretty popular expression. Here is a good example for you. Do you have a child? Let’s say if your child does not want to do her/his homework. How would you say to her/him in English? That is right! You can say, “Finish your homework come hell or high water.” So, do you get the meaning of the expression now? Just want to make sure we are on the same page, it means, “something must be done no matter how hard or unfavorable the circumstances are.”
Since we all know this, here is what I want to say to you, my non-native English speaker friends. KEEP STUDYING ENGLISH COME HELL OR HIGH WATER! With that, let me give you a homework. How about you try to find the etymology of this expression and add a comment?
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Hi Terry,
I’m really enjoying your posts and writing, and tying to improve my english by learning expression and your writting pattern.
Please keep this in your mind, not only your close friends around you but someone else over the net are reading your post with enthusiasm as well.
Will it be OK to you if I leave some comment ? Thanks.
Hi Byung, Good to see you! You would not imagine how much I am happy now. You made my day! I will always keep in mind all of my readers, my friends. Please, feel free to add comment anytime! Talk to you soon! I am sure it is pretty cold in Korea now. So, stay warm!
I’m delighted to see your direct resonse to my comment.
Actually, I’m also living in States, at San Jose, CA.
As you know that the weather in CA is wonderful and rarely goes below zero Celsius even at winter season here.
But sometime I wish I could feel four seasons just like in Korea and Chicago where I lived before coming to San Jose.
One thing I have not done yet in the U.S. is visiting the west coast. I would love to visit sometime soon. Did you go to school in Chicago? I like Chicago. Actually, that is the city I want to visit again. When I plan, maybe I should contact you to get some information. 🙂 I kind of envy you but, at the same time, I do like winter because I love snowboarding. I guess you work there, right?
Yes, Terry.
I’m working here and did at Chicago as well.
Unfortunately, I’ve never had a chance to study in U.S except a few time in community college ESL class. Ha Ha..
My kids,10-year old son and 8-year old daughter now, were born in Chicago and grown up in Korea till I came back to here in 2006. Now they are having hard time to learn Korean in oppose to me suffering from english.
Let’s keep in touch close at your blog, reading your blog is one of my daily activities now. Appreciate your efforts.
It’s Lunch Time here, I finished it eariler at our cafeteria.
Yesterday, I explained this expression to my daughter and she said “I will play game come hell or high weather”… I’m wondering whether this expression is good enought to be used by kids.
There was a typo… “I will play game come hell or high water” not “high weather”.
Have a wonderful day, Terry.
I think the expression is fine for her. There are some expressions I could post that are not really good for her. For example, whale tale. But, I honestly think she will learn those anyhow pretty soon. Maybe, it is a good idea for you to tell her and she can choose whether she will use it or not. But, it is all up to you.
It depends on how old she is. Using the word “hell” is typically not good for kids in elementary school (kindergarten through 5th grade), regardless of your religion.
Also, since it wasn’t explicitly mentioned anywhere, I just wanted to point out that “high water” means “flood”. I assume the origins are biblical because of Noah’s flood and Hell.
Thanks Andrew,
Your point out is exactly what my son in 5th grade said yesterday while I was talking with daugher on this.
As a general rule, I try to answer etymological or phrase origin questions without looking them up on the web first. So, in this case it looks like I might have been mistaken about the origin.
There seems to be some compelling evidence that the “high water” part of the phrase refers to the danger of cattle drives across “swollen” streams or rivers.
This link (http://www.word-detective.com/2008/02/12/hell-or-high-water/) also mentions the fun phrase:
Very similar meaning, but gives credence to the idea of an overflowing creek, stream or river.
The word homework sounded dreadful when I was a student, but it’s not so bad to have one or two from time to time. So I, being a lazy learner of English, went so far as to google the etymology of the phrase and tried to be a faithful reader of your blog with my answer, but there seem to be several different stories about the origin of the phrase. I found another similar expression, “come hail or high water,” on the way. It won’t need any extra explanation, it’s just that you can’t do anything when the weather doesn’t agree with you, right? I’ve never experienced such terrible hail, though.
BTW, as I was surfing around the Internet and looking for mtymology, I started to wonder if you can recommend any enjoyable! sites, forums or blogs which you often refer to when you want to know the things about English itself.
Good day!
Emmie, thanks for commenting with the etymology. There are two main sources I am mainly using. Urban dictionary and Wikipedia. I am sure you know about Wikipedia. Urban dictionary has many expressions people use in their daily life. Some are of course rated-r kind of words. 🙂 When I search for etymology, I definitely rely on Google. But, there is a specific one I think it is useful. World Wide Words! Hope this helps!
You made my day!
(‘ve never used this phrase, hope it’ll suit here^^)