APAD: on the rocks

Definition

   a) difficult relationships

   b) drinks served over ice cubes

 

Examples

   1) After months of arguments, their marriage is now on the rocks.

   2) I'll have a whiskey on the rocks, please.

 

Etymology

   a) a ship or boat running aground on rocks in a body of water

   b) ice cubes resembling rocks in a glass

 

Synonyms rocky, shaky, in difficulty, ice cubes

 

- englishdaily626.com [edited]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It is at once frustrating and delightful when I discover new meanings of known

terms. They are mostly short words, e.g., brass, bundle, essay, salt, etc.

 

I learned the second meaning of "on the rocks" first from the movie "Scent of A

Woman" where Colonel Slade kept ordering "Jack Daniels on the rocks." I tried.

It tasted like hogswill.

 

A quick search showed that there's much more to the first meaning as the term

applies when any enterprise is in trouble. Difficulty and relationship are

synonyms, I've always thought, and to imagine otherwise would soon end up on the

rocks. Recently tourism, and maybe more, between two east Asian countries is on

the rocks.