This usually means that something is somewhat unique but not totally.  It’s almost an oxymoron or a self-contradicting statement.

Reader’s Digest recently said this was one of the most irritating English phrases and I agree.  Why would they say that?  Thoughts?  To me, it’s because it seems so wishy-washy a statement…

This usually means you are summarizing a key point, and saying that the bottom line is…such and such.  So you say “at the end of the day…”

Reader’s Digest recently said this was one of the most irritating English phrases but I disagree.  Why would they say that?  Thoughts?

To me, it means that you are not always going to be able to plan, control or influence where you end up.  However, this saying is a way of expressing that this lack of control of where we end up doesn’t matter or shouldn’t matter.

Instead, we should be content and happy where we end up.  There we are.  WHEREVER we go.  Glad to be us, glad to be alive, glad to be able to be glad.  Wherever you go, there you are is a quote about contentment!

What does this phrase mean?

This phrase means that a person is trying to tell us something important.  We use this to get someone’s attention and say, “look, you need to listen because it’s no coincidence that I am here to tell your something”.

It;s an attention grabber that means hey – you need to know something and I am here to tell you what you need to know and therefore please pay attention and heed what I am saying because it’s important.

Other variants of “I’m here to tell you” include:

I’ll say that…

I will tell you that…

Listen carefully…

Look, I’m only going to say this once…

What does this phrase or saying mean?

It means that something isn’t as great or as terrific or spectacular as it’s made out to be.  It means something has been over-exaggerated or over-hyped.

It’s not all it’s cracked up to be…is a good way of telling someone quickly “look, you may have heard all these great things and this or that about something, but I’m here to tell you that its not as great as it sounds”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be” brings a much-needed reality check to the table and therefore is something that we must use to give that reality check to others.

We do this to warn them it’s not as great as you think – a kind of expectation management phrase really.

Before they believe in something that is not true, waste their time, money or their lives doing something that is not worth doing or not “all it’s cracked up to be”.