Nancy Matos

Reader question: “We also wish to advise you that the prices we quoted are our rock bottom prices.”

Could you explain “rock bottom”?

My comments: Think of a rock. Think of “the bottom”. You have yourself two things that are low, if not, the lowest possible level. Rocks are generally found on the ground, which is located at the bottom of your feet. How could someone stress that their prices are the lowest and the cheapest of any other?

And there you have “rock bottom”.

But the expression doesn’t always refer to something that is the cheapest. It is often used to explain when something couldn’t get any worse. Say for example you got a terrible grade on an essay, your boyfriend/girlfriend dumps you and on your way home, you get into a car accident. You could say in that case your day has hit “rock bottom”.

The term is also commonly used when describing addicts. When someone has reached a point so low (from alcoholism or drug use, for example) and they have to finally realize they have a problem, we say they have hit “rock bottom”. Example: “He signed up with ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ after he hit rock bottom.”

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Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.