"To Be Broke" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 18/08/2020

0:00 - How to Say, “To be broke…”
0:16 - Examples of “To be broke…”
0:56  - Meaning of “To be broke…”
2:30 - Origin of “To be broke…”
4:35 - More Examples of “To be broke…”
5:21 - Conclusion

“To be broke…”

You may have heard someone lament that they had no money, that they “were broke”.

“I’ve been broke ever since moving to the big city,” your friend from a small town might complain to you.

You might be invited on a trip with your friends, “Sorry, I can’t go… I just paid my university tuition and I’m broke at the moment.”

“My phone fell in the toilet, but I can’t afford a new one, I’m broke,” your sister might be complaining to you.

As you can see, “to be broke”, means not to have any money, not to be able to afford whatever it is that you need or want.

“Broke” is not only an adjective that means you have no money, it is also a common verb in the past tense used when something “breaks”...

… for example, “My car broke down yesterday,” “She broke the silence with a fart,” “He broke the law by littering,” and more.

You might also hear, “going broke”, to describe someone who is doing something that is causing them to lose a lot of money.

“I’m going broke trying to keep my restaurant afloat,” your aunt might tell you just a few months after opening her own eatery.

Your dad might sit you down and give you advice, “You’re going broke by spending so much money on things you don’t need. Time to start living frugally.”

It is unclear why a person who loses all their money is considered, “broken”, but “broke” has been used since at least the 17th century to describe bankruptcy or financial ruin.

Contrary to historical usage, “to be broke” nowadays does not mean you really have no money - rather, it is most often used to describe a temporary moment in time when you lack funds.

For example, if you live paycheque to paycheque - in other words, you spend or use all your money without saving any…

… you can call yourself “broke”, even though you may not be in debt and may be buying the latest in fashion and electronics.

It is clear, however, that you are “going broke” by not saving anything and if you do not make any changes, you will genuinely “be broke” eventually.

The main cause of “being broke” (for the middle class, at least) is that most people never sit down to take account of their income and expenses.

If you know exactly how much money you make or earn, and know exactly what you spend it on or where it is going, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to avoid “being broke”.

“I’m always broke! I can never seem to save money,” your friend might be complaining to you over a coffee at a fancy cafe.

You might be nagging your cousin, “Maybe if you got a job and stopped being so lazy, you wouldn’t be broke!”

“After using my life savings to start my tech company, I’m pretty much broke. I just hope it takes off,” a friend might optimistically tell you.

So, whether you find yourself without money between paycheques or you have really gone bankrupt, don’t forget that you can say that you “are broke”.

#superduperenglishidioms #englishidioms #idioms #proverbs