Modul 5: Idiom 31: Fork Out
Video 01
Fork Out
Hi. Let’s take a look at the Idiom, ‘Fork Out.’ What does this mean? If I said “I had to fork out”, then it means I had to spend a lot of money on something.
So what is the origin of this idiom?
Centuries ago, when a farmer was working in the fields, he would use a garden fork to dig down and loosen the soil – you know, make it softer – by turning it over. ‘Forking out soil’ is a term that has been used since the 17th century when referring to agriculture, but the idiom “forking out” when referencing money comes from the early 19th century. It came about because when people have to dig deep into their pockets and pay a lot of money for something expensive, it resembles – it is similar to – the farmers digging deep into the ground and throwing out large bits of soil.
Take a look at our illustration.
Here we can see a farmer with a garden fork. What is he digging into? Is he digging into the ground? No. He is digging into a large pile of money. He has pushed the fork into the money and thrown it behind him. Much like a farmer who would dig and throw out soil, he is throwing out his money. Look at his eyes fixed on the money in the air above him. I think he’s going to miss that money but that money is gone with the wind and never to be seen again.
Here are some examples before we go to the concept questions…
“Sarah, can you get my wallet, please. I need my credit card so that I can fork out for this gym membership.”
“How much is it?! I can’t fork out that much!”
“I forked out £400 on a necklace for my wife yesterday.”
“Would you like to buy a cake for 60p from our bake sale? Oh come on, I’m not asking you to fork out!”
“I’m fed up with always being the one to fork out on the groceries. We should all pay for the groceries!”
Great.
Let’s look at some situations and check your understanding:
- Jack and his family buy each other nice presents every year for Christmas. This year, however, Jack has said to his family “I won’t be able to fork out on Christmas this year.” What will his family do? Will they spend more money or less money on their Christmas presents?
They will spend less money because Jack cannot afford to buy anything expensive.
- Sally is obsessed with poker. She’s obsessed: she loves poker and plays it all the time. She plays poker every Tuesday and Saturday with her friends. They are all very good at poker so when they bet money, they bet a lot of money. At the end of the game who ‘forks out’, the winner or the loser?
The loser forks out the money and gives it to the winner.
- My uncle crashed his car the other day and had no choice but to buy a new car. Do you think he forked out a lot of money?
Yes. Cars are a lot of money and he wasn’t expecting to buy a new one.
- Perry is a dirty policeman. When I say ‘dirty’ I don’t mean that he doesn’t take showers or baths, I mean that he does things that he shouldn’t. Perry is famous for taking bribes from people to stay quiet about certain things that he has seen. Charlie, a thief, was standing on a street corner one night. He was looking for someone who he could steal money from. A businessman walked past him and Charlie stole his wallet without him knowing but Perry the dirty policeman did know. Perry saw the whole thing and threatened to arrest Charlie. Charlie pleaded with Perry and begged him not to arrest him, to which Perry replied: “fork it out.”
Did Perry mean “Talk” or “Pay me”?
He meant, “Pay me a lot of money and I won’t arrest you.”
- Jen was looking for a new mattress. She walked around the store looking at all the prices. She had forgotten how expensive mattresses could be. The sales assistant approached her and asked her if he could help her but she told him that she thought that they were all too expensive. He said to her “A good mattress is worth forking out a bit of money for because it is an investment.” Did he mean that mattresses weren’t so expensive?
No. He agreed that they were expensive, but Jen would have the mattress for years, so all that money was worth it for all the good sleep that she would get for years ahead.
Great. Now go and practise. See you soon.