{"id":3253,"date":"2022-05-03T18:08:07","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T18:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=3253"},"modified":"2022-05-03T18:08:07","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T18:08:07","slug":"rubber-meets-the-road-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/rubber-meets-the-road-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubber Meets the Road \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for a way to tell someone that it\u2019s time to implement and prove a concept? You could use the saying \u201c<em>rubber meets the road<\/em>\u201d to announce the start of the project. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The expression \u201c<em>rubber meets the road<\/em>\u201d means that you\u2019re about to test a concept in the real world or the market. It\u2019s a way of saying that it\u2019s time to see if your project works as expected.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The phrase usually appears as \u201c<em>when the rubber meets the road<\/em>.\u201d It\u2019s a way of describing the inflection point between theory and practice.<\/p>\n<p>The saying can also refer to times when a person's attitude becomes serious, and they are ready to test themselves against a challenge in life, at work, or in the market.<\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cAlright, we\u2019ve spent the last year developing this new system. It\u2019s time to test it. Let\u2019s see how it performs when the rubber meets the road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOkay, team, we\u2019ve spent the offseason improving our game. It\u2019s our season opener, and this is where the rubber meets the road. Go out there and show them what you learned over the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe CRM is where the rubber meets the road for the sales process. As soon as a lead enters the CRM, it moves to the sales funnel where the prospect starts receiving our email campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe president spent the last year talking down the opposition and making big promises. We\u2019ll he won the re-election. This is where the rubber meets the road, and he implements his policies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s time to test this concept in the market. This is where the rubber meets the road, and we\u2019ll know if the algorithm works in the next few hours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThings are getting serious right now. We\u2019re in the last phase of testing, and this is where the rubber meets the road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3254\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Rubber-Meets-the-Road.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Rubber-Meets-the-Road.jpg 229w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Rubber-Meets-the-Road-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Rubber-Meets-the-Road-120x120.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3255\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Rubber-Meets-the-Road2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"136\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The origin of \u201crubber meets the road\u201d has an origin in the early 1900s, after the invention of the rubber tire by John Dunlop in 1888. The earliest reference of the idiom in print comes from the Mt. Vernon Register News in 1956, where it appears as the following.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much is it going to cost?:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Let\u2019s get down to where the rubber meets the road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The phrase would also appear in \u201cThe Modern American Usage: A Guide,\u201d published by Wilson Follet, in 1966.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLately, speakers of weak imagination have taken to saying \u2018where the rubber hits the road\u2019, evoking an image of cars falling or bouncing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Where the rubber meets the road\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GyRj4k7K77g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Rubber Meets the Road<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Buckle down.<\/li>\n<li>Knuckle down.<\/li>\n<li>Pull out all the stops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Rubber Meets the Road<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>We\u2019re not ready for testing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Rubber meets the road.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Rubber Meets the Road Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>The phrase doesn\u2019t refer to cars or motorbikes, or any form of transportation. You\u2019re not actually talking about tires or the road. In this case, the \u201crubber\u201d is your idea or concept, and the \u201croad\u201d is the testing environment.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Rubber Meets the Road<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the saying \u201crubber meets the road\u201d when you\u2019re about to test a hypothesis in the real world. The phrase suits professional and social use.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, you could use it at work when launching a CRM system, or you could use it at home when you\u2019re testing a project you built in your garage.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase is a statement suggesting that you are about to prove a concept in real-time. It\u2019s a way of describing the implementation of something that you\u2019ve been planning for a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you looking for a way to tell someone that it\u2019s time to implement and prove a concept? You could use the saying \u201crubber meets the road\u201d to announce the start of the project. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression. Meaning The expression \u201crubber meets the road\u201d means that you\u2019re about [&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\/3253"}],"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=3253"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3325,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions\/3325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}