I recently encountered the phrase, “cheap as chips” on a trip to the UK (it’s the equivalent of the US “a dime a dozen”). The video below delves into common phrases such as this, with some surprising information on the origins of “breaking the ice” and why we call certain insects “butterflies”.

David Crotty

David Crotty

David Crotty is the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He serves on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

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