{"id":9323,"date":"2022-09-21T15:32:29","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T15:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=9323"},"modified":"2022-09-21T15:34:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T15:34:08","slug":"acid-test-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/acid-test-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Acid Test \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Would you like to let someone know that an issue has been subjected to intense scrutiny, or that it has been considered carefully from every possible angle? The saying <strong>'acid test' <\/strong>can sometimes be used to say what you mean. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this common saying.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>The saying <strong>'acid test' <\/strong>is an expression that can be used to mean that something <u>has been considered carefully, or that something has been subjected to intense scrutiny.<\/u><\/p>\n<p>When people use the term 'acid test' it can be used to refer to any issue, with the concept in question usually mentioned in the context of the question (or assumed to be understood from the rest of the discussion).<\/p>\n<p>The correct way to use the term is to say that something has been <strong>'put through the acid test'<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Someone can also say that something has (or should be) <strong>'given the acid test' <\/strong>to say that it needs more careful examination or thought.<\/p>\n<p>The expression is meant to be <u>largely figurative,<\/u> and there is no actual test in question. The meaning of the saying is simply to say that something has been carefully considered by all parties, and the issue is usually mentioned or implied.<\/p>\n<p>The term is most common used in the singular form, and the plural of \u201cacid tests\u201d is rarely used.<\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIf you don't know how anyone is going to react to the casserole at the party, the best thing you can do is to put it through the acid test by trying the recipe out over the weekend instead. \u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don't know how things are going to end by Tuesday, so the best thing we can do about it is to put it through the good old acid test and see what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you don't know how people are going to feel about the menu, have you thought that it's time for the acid test?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told my grandmother that it's time to put things through the acid test, and she pulled out some blotters. I had to tell her that it's not exactly what I meant.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The first use of the saying 'acid test' is difficult to establish even according to most top online language resources, but it's agreed by most that the term would have had its origin somewhere in the 1600s with the popularity of metallurgy and alchemy.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, a literal 'acid test' was used to establish the authenticity of certain metals. While fakes would react to the acid in a certain way, the real thing would not, and this is where the term 'acid test' is said to come from.<\/p>\n<p>After the introduction of the term into the English language, it would become more commonplace throughout the 19th century with the rise of its figurative meaning.<\/p>\n<p>The term 'acid test' would experience a sharp rise during the counterculture movement as the term was revived by writer Ken Kesey and his group of Merry Pranksters: the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test would become one of the most famous counterculture writings, and bring the term back into the mainstream.<\/p>\n<p>The term was included on the website Urban Dictionary in 2005, though popular use dates the term back to way before the start of the world wide web.<\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Acid Test<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>N\/a<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Acid Test<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>N\/a<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>[put it to] the acid test<\/li>\n<li>[subject it to] the acid test<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Acid Test Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>There are several ways in which the term acid test can be used in the wrong way if someone does not know the meaning or the context of the term.<\/p>\n<p>An 'acid test' (or sometimes 'the acid test') refers to an issue that has been subjected to careful thought and consideration. Sometimes, it can refer to the metallurgic concept of testing certain metal types (including gold).<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Acid Test<\/h2>\n<p>The correct way to use the term 'acid test' is to say that something has been subjected to 'the acid test', which means that serious thought has gone into a particular issue. The issue is most often implied to be understood by the rest of the conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Would you like to let someone know that an issue has been subjected to intense scrutiny, or that it has been considered carefully from every possible angle? The saying 'acid test' can sometimes be used to say what you mean. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this common saying. Meaning The saying 'acid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9323"}],"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=9323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9325,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9323\/revisions\/9325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}