{"id":23,"date":"2021-09-19T21:36:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T21:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=23"},"modified":"2021-10-12T19:16:41","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T19:16:41","slug":"two-tears-in-a-bucket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/two-tears-in-a-bucket\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Tears in a Bucket - Meaning, Usage and Origin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The phrase \u201c<strong>two tears in a bucket<\/strong>\u201d has been around since the mid-1800s. But what does it mean? To find out, we\u2019ll explore the idiom\u2019s meaning, examples, origin, similar phrases, and how to say it correctly.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>The idiom <strong>two tears in a bucket <\/strong>is fairly new to the modern lexicon. It means to accept a misfortune or to be unconcerned about an unfavorable outcome.<\/p>\n<h2>Example of Usage<\/h2>\n<p>People use the <strong>two tears in a bucket<\/strong> idiom in place of its more profane rhyming partner, <strong>two<\/strong> <strong>tears in a bucket, f**k it<\/strong> or <strong>two<\/strong> <strong>tears in a bucket, mother f**k it<\/strong>. The imagery of the two tears can also be a sarcastic ruefulness about a situation.<\/p>\n<p>A few examples of the <strong>two tears in a bucket<\/strong> idiom in common usage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThe groom sat on the wedding cake. Oh well, <strong>two tears in a bucket<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIf the new boss doesn\u2019t like my TPS report,<strong> two tears in a bucket<\/strong>. What\u2019s she going to do, fire me?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYou already missed the train. <strong>Two tears in a bucket<\/strong>, get the next one.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<p>The original phrasing of the idiom is \u201ctwo tears in a bucket, f**k it.\u201d Alternatively, it would be phrased \u201ctwo tears in a bucket, mother f**k it.\u201d This phrasing is still quite common today.<\/p>\n<p>However, as the saying has gained more widespread recognition, it is often shortened to simply: \u201ctwo tears in a bucket.\u201d Most people understand the inference of the latter part of the phrase, so they don't have to say it.<\/p>\n<h2>Idiom Origins<\/h2>\n<p>The etymology of this idiom is an Americanized take on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eatingeurope.com\/blog\/cockney-slang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cockney rhyming slang<\/a>, which first started in London\u2019s East End in the 1850s.<\/p>\n<p>This type of wordplay takes a common phrase and replaces the last word with a rhyming word. The cockney slang would use the first, non-rhyming word to replace the actual word. The phrases often have some sort of meaningful tie to the word it is replacing.<\/p>\n<p>A familiar example of this is using the word <strong>bread <\/strong>to mean <strong>money<\/strong>. This is a cockney rhyming slang, taking the word bread from the phrase \u201c<strong>bread and honey<\/strong>\u201d, as <u>honey<\/u> rhymes with <u>money<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>The idiom <strong>two tears in a bucket <\/strong>began its usage in the urban slang of the 1980s<strong>.<\/strong> It first showed up in popular culture in the 1990 movie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0099800\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House Party<\/a> when <a href=\"https:\/\/georgeclinton.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Funkadelic\u2019s George Clinton<\/a> uses a record to hit a bad guy over the head and says, \u201d<strong>two tears in a bucket,<\/strong> f**k it, let\u2019s take it to the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That same year, rapper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biography.com\/musician\/flavor-flav\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Flavor Flav<\/a> used the similar phrase \u201ctwo bees in a bucket, mother mother f**k it '' when he was a featured rapper on Ice Cube\u2019s record <u>Amerikkkas Most Wanted<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>However, neither of these vehicles gave it widespread awareness as a common idiom. That milestone came in the 1997 movie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0119668\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In it, one of the characters, played by the famous drag queen <a href=\"https:\/\/clubone-online.com\/ladychablis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Lady Chablis<\/a>, says it in response to a malicious remark made to her by another character.\u00a0 He regards her lifestyle as less than exemplary and makes a comment to that effect. Her use of the idiom in response lets him know what she thinks of his opinion.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Lady Chablis says \u201cIt\u2019s like my mother always said, <strong>\u2018two tears in a bucket<\/strong>, motherf**k it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This scene introduced the idiom to the masses and entered it into the widespread common lexicon.<\/p>\n<p>Today, most people use the idiom without the vulgarities tagged on to it. In this sense, it is very much like the cockney tradition, where the real meaning is implied rather than spoken outright.<\/p>\n<h2>Similar Phrases and Idioms<\/h2>\n<p>Several common idioms and phrases express a similar sentiment as \u201ctwo tears in a bucket:\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Such is life<\/li>\n<li>C\u2019est la vie<\/li>\n<li>S**t happens<\/li>\n<li>Que sera, sera<\/li>\n<li>What will be, will be<\/li>\n<li>That\u2019s the way the cookie crumbles<\/li>\n<li>It is what it is<\/li>\n<li>F**k it<\/li>\n<li>Mother F**k it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cTwo tears in a bucket\u201d is often followed by \u201cf**k it\u201d or \u201cmotherf**k it.\u201d Thus, the complete phrase is usually <strong>two<\/strong> <strong>tears in a bucket, f**k it<\/strong> or <strong>two<\/strong> <strong>tears in a bucket, mother f**k it<\/strong>. Even when you don\u2019t say the whole phrase, the \u201ctwo tears\u201d idiom implies it.<\/p>\n<p>All of these phrasings are acceptable ways to use the idiom, and it\u2019s at the user's discretion as to what sort of emphasis or subtlety they want to bring to the saying.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>If you feel like saying \u201cf**k it\u201d but don\u2019t want to <em>actually say<\/em> it, then <strong>two tears in a bucket<\/strong> is a great substitute. It\u2019s clever and snappy and flies under the radar just enough not to offend the more sensitive ears in the room. At the same time, it is quick-witted and cuts to the heart of the sentiment without being mean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">The phrase \u201ctwo tears in a bucket\u201d has been around since the mid-1800s. But what does it mean? To find out, we\u2019ll explore the idiom\u2019s meaning, examples, origin, similar phrases, and how to say it correctly. Meaning The idiom two tears in a bucket is fairly new to the modern lexicon. It means to accept [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}