"Blank Slate" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2020-08-26

0:00 - How to Say, “Blank slate.”
0:16 - Examples of “Blank slate.”
1:06 - Meaning of “Blank slate.”
1:49 - Origin of “Blank slate.”
4:12 - More Examples of “Blank slate.”
4:58 - Conclusion

“Blank slate.”

You may have heard someone refer to something as a “blank slate”, meaning that it is empty or untouched.

“A baby’s mind is a blank slate, so it’s up to you guys, their parents, to teach them,” your parents might say after the birth of your first child.

Maybe you and your partner are shopping for an apartment, “I’d prefer to buy new construction, because it’s a blank slate and we get to choose all the finishes.”

“I’m going to paint over my canvas and start again. It’s easier to start with a blank slate,” you might say to a classmate during art class.

It’s plain to see that “blank slate” indicates that something is fresh, unspoiled and unaltered.

“Blank slate” also insinuates or indicates that something is waiting for your input, alterations, additions or touch.

Slate is a type of metamorphic rock, which is simply rock that has transformed via heat and pressure, giving slate its smooth finish.

Slate has been used as roofing material in Europe for around 2,000 years, but only came to be used for writing on, in the last 200.

Chalk, which is another type of rock, was found to be the perfect companion to slate. Chalk is soft and white, while slate is hard and black, resulting in a useful combination.

If you’re not too young, you’ll probably have sat in a classroom where the teacher used chalk to write on a slate blackboard.

If you’re old enough, you probably even had your own little slate tablet that you could use to practice what was being taught.

Thus, it is easy to see where the idiom, “blank slate”, comes from! If your slate was filled with writing, you could simply wipe it off and get a blank slate to start over!

In life and in learning, it is often useful to clear our minds of preconceived notions or things we’ve already learned.

A mind that is a “blank slate” will learn and experience more easily, more readily and more accurately.

In addition to “blank slate”, you may also hear; “clean slate”, “clean sheet”, or “blank sheet”.

“Let’s wipe the slate clean, let’s start over with a blank slate,” you might hear someone say, as “wiping the slate clean” is a metaphor for the act of getting a “blank slate”.

“I’m a blank slate, I know nothing about this country,” you might say on a trip to Taiwan as your friend from university shows you around.

Perhaps you ask your business professor why new companies always come to dominate, “Well, companies that start with a blank slate are more agile and more adaptive to changing market conditions.”

“In order to meditate, you have to let your mind become a blank slate,” your teacher says.

So, the next time you desire to start something anew or throw out all paradigms and views, don’t forget that you need a “blank slate”.

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