Drop like flies

Question

Reading the interview of a player I found this..

"So many of the top players have dropped out like flies so.."

Why is he using "drop out" if this phrasal verb means something totally different from the phrase "drop like flies"?

Thanks.
Irma.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Reading the interview of a player I found this.. "So many of the top players have dropped out like flies so.." Why is he using "drop out" if this phrasal verb means something totally different from the phrase "drop like flies"? Thanks. Irma.[/nq]
Well you're right, the idiom is 'drop like flies', you drop out like... well, not like flies anyway, who aren't noted for participating in anything much to drop out of. But it's easy for speakers of all languages to come up with these sorts of confusions and mixed metaphors, especially in the heat of the moment with a TV camera trained on you. It's a syndrome that sports people seem especailly prone to... 'Private Eye' magazine used to (still does?) run a column called 'Colmanballs' which is worth Googling for English examples; the first one I found was at http://www.pcsunion.com/colemanballs.htm.
DC
"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered" - George Best.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Reading the interview of a player I found this.. "So ... totally different from the phrase "drop like flies"? Thanks. Irma.[/nq]
[nq:1]Well you're right, the idiom is 'drop like flies', you drop out like... well, not like flies anyway, who aren't ... run a column called 'Colmanballs' which is worth Googling for English examples; the first one I found was at http://www.pcsunion.com/colemanballs.htm.[/nq]
I think you're misinterpreting the statement. It's quite idiomatic and is simply a rather colourful extension of the idiom "to drop like flies", which means that people are collpasing to teh ground in large numbers. In the variant "to drop out like flies", it means that people (in this case players) are refusing to participate (to drop out) in large numbers.
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Drop like flies

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