Wear thin
Patience in Brussels is wearing thin. The ministers in the European capital want to give Britain the opportunity to approve the deal they negotiated with Theresa May, but they don’t want to just blindly give extension after extension. They want this to be over, so they can get on with their business with or without the UK. Their patience for all the chaos in London is wearing thin. That means they are running out of patience. They are getting frustrated. They are not going to be as nice about this in a few months’ time. Their patience is wearing thin.
Think about a piece of clothing that you wear over and over. You wash it every week. You pack it in suitcases when you travel. You sleep in it. Eventually, the fabric wears thin. It gets weaker and weaker, thinner and thinner. And that is where the expression, “my patience is wearing thin” comes from.
Anyone that grew up with English-speaking parents, like I did, no doubt heard this throughout childhood. Moms and dads say this all the time. My patience is wearing thin. Making noise late at night while mom and dad are trying to relax or talk on the phone? My patience is wearing thin, they might tell you. Playing outside and then tracking mud all over the kitchen floor? My patience is wearing thin, mom might say—if it’s her job to clean up. If you keep showing up late to class, your teacher’s patience might wear thin. If you announce you’re going to leave an organization, but you keep asking to stay in for a few more months—that organization’s patience is going to wear thin, as the UK is now learning.
This is how you use the word “wear thin” most of the time. More than half the time, you say someone’s patience is wearing thin. You can use it with other words, and you use it when you want to say that something is overused. It’s not effective anymore. If you keep showing up late to class and you always say, “Oh sorry! I couldn’t find a parking space.” After a couple of times, that excuse is going to wear thin. It’s just not going to work anymore—if you always have trouble finding a parking space, then maybe you need to leave your house earlier. That excuse is wearing thin after a couple of times.
A joke can wear thin. Maybe it’s funny the first time, but then four or five times later, it’s just not funny anymore. The joke has worn thin.
Oh, speaking of clothes wearing thin. I’m creeping toward a full Marie Kondo evaluation of my closet. I started with shoes: I’m donating about six pairs of shoes that just do not give me joy anymore. I then did belts. I have too many belts, usually because I forget to bring one on a trip, so I have to buy a belt at my destination. There are at least five belts that I’m consciously not bringing into my future. One of these days, I’ll get to all the stuff in the drawers and hanging on the racks. But I have to tell you, the Marie Kondo mentality is working for me. I even said thank you to the items I’m discarding. I looked at a belt—I’m not even joking—and I said, “thank you for holding my pants up that one day in New York after I forgot to pack a belt in my suitcase. I really needed you for that important meeting, but it’s time for you to serve another person,” and I put it in the pile to donate. It felt good. If you haven’t heard the episode where we talk about Marie Kondo, you can find it online at PlainEnglish.com/136. Thanks again for being with us. Don’t forget to check out Audible for a free audiobook at PlainEnglish.com/book.
JR and I will be back on Monday. If you’re into engineering or architecture, you’ll want to listen on Monday. I mean, who am I kidding? Everyone will want to listen on Monday. But, if you’re really into engineering and stuff like that, you’ll want to listen. That’s because we’re going to talk about Europe’s first underwater restaurant. It’s in Norway, and it’s called simply, “Under.” And we’re going to talk about how they built, how they got it underwater, what’s on the menu, and what the views are like from down under the sea. It’s been fun reading about it, so I know you’ll like the episode. That’s coming up next on Plain English, on Monday, April 8. See you then!
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
