Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / April 2004

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.