by Alan Townend21. Expressions with break or «Have a break!».........................
There's a television advertisement about a chocolate biscuit called Kit
Kat that has been running now for some years. It's a confection
consisting of thin bars of chocolate-covered biscuit joined together.
The slogan is: «Have a break — Have a Kit Kat». When the words
have finished, you hear a snapping sound as a piece of the biscuit is
broken. So «Have a break» in this sense means not only relax but
also break off something. Break in fact is a very versatile word in its
different aspects of verb and noun. At this time of the year many of
us take a break — have a holiday — and of course around this period
most of the schools «break up» — close for the holidays.
Of course in the old days the «annual break» (yearly holiday) was
the conventional bucket and spade type by the seaside. And in the
small island of Britain there's plenty of choice with hundreds of miles
of coast from the luxurious 5 star hotel to the humble bed and
breakfast. And there we go again — «break fast» — when we stop
the so-called «fast» (having no food) during the night and then start
eating again. Today most of us «break with» (no longer follow) this
tradition and travel to exotic places hoping we won't be «breaking
the bank» (spending more than we can really afford) in order to do
so. While you're away you hope that nobody will «break into»
(burgle) your house. If you're travelling by car, you hope that your
car won't «break down» (stop working) as you set off on your long
journey at the «break of day» (dawn).
Another occurrence at this time of the year is the constant phone
calls «breaking the news» (announcing) that you have won a
fabulous holiday. You are invited to «break off» (stop) doing what
you had planned for your holidays and come along to a presentation
at a local hotel. So we decided to «break the habit» of a life time (do
something we had never done before) and go along and listen to
what this holiday company had to offer. When we arrived, we were
offered a drink to «break the ice» (make the occasion more relaxing)
as it were and the sat down to see what happened next. Well the
first half was quite interesting but after the «break» (interval) it
started to get very serious. What we had thought would be free,
turned out to cost more and more and if you did accept their
scheme, you would quite honestly be lucky to «break even» (not lose
any money). As the speakers continued their presentation, we
became increasingly bored, checked to see which exit was free and
«made a break for it» (made an attempt to escape) but were
stopped by one of the staff, who tried very hard to persuade us to
stay but we broke in on (interrupted) his little speech, said we were
not well and got away.
So we've decided to «go for a short break» (quick holiday) the other
side of the channel. Just think all those thousands of years ago if
what is mainland Britain hadn't broken off from (become separated
from) what is mainland Europe, I could actually drive all the way
without having to cross the channel by boat but then of course we
wouldn't have a south coast. I don't like the idea of the channel
because I like to see where I'm going! The place we've chosen is