Come to a head
The English phrase I want to share with you today is “come to a head.” Here’s how you first heard it: The issue of policing content on social media has come to a head lately, with several examples of offensive content leading to violence.
An issue comes to a head when it reaches a crisis. This issue about policing content has always been out there. The sites have always had community standards; they have always had to make judgment calls about what to leave up and what to take down. People have been happy and people have been angry at what they decide. The issue has been gradually getting more and more important, more and more difficult to deal with. But it came to a head—it came to a crisis—this summer with several examples where the big tech companies had to act to solve a really bad situation.
The issue of Brexit is going to come to a head soon. Great Britain is set to leave the European Union in March and they don’t have any deal on how to negotiate their exit. I just read again that the EU is still trying to determine its negotiating position, and Britain is no closer in getting support at home for the prime minister’s plan. In other words, it doesn’t seem like they are getting closer to a solution here in October, with just a few months left. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but this is going to come to a head soon; it’s going to come to a crisis and, like it or not, there will be a solution soon.
I had a long week at work last week. I had a lot of projects to get done and I needed to do it all by Friday because I was going to Mexico on Saturday. I also have this little side project called Plain English and since I record on the weekends, I had to write and record two episodes all before I left for Mexico, even as I was balancing my projects for work. I’m recording this on Friday now, and it all came to a head this evening. I didn’t finish writing this episode until 10; it’s now about 10:30 and I haven’t even begun to pack yet. My flight’s in the morning. It’s all coming to a head right about now.
But you guys are worth it, so I’ll never complain. And skipping an episode was not an option, by the way. This is episode 90; JR and I have never once missed an episode. We were late once, I think, because I had to work super late. I think we got that episode out on a Thursday evening instead of a Thursday morning. With just that one little slip, we’ve been on schedule for coming up on a year now. It’s really a pleasure and a privilege to be invited into your world, even for just 15 minutes at a time, twice a week. JR and I always love hearing from you and hearing about what your English journey is like, so feel free to drop us a note and let us know how you use Plain English. JR is the producer in Mexico and his email address is [email protected] and I’m [email protected]
We’ll be back again on Thursday with episode number 91. See you then.
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
