At the drop of a hat

Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.

Rob And I’m Rob. So Feifei, have you got any holiday plans?

Feifei Yes I have actually. Three weeks in Australia.

Rob Australia - wonderful! If I had the money, I’d go there at the drop of a hat .

Feifei What? At the drop of a hat ? Here, take my hat.

Rob Your hat?

Feifei Yes, you said you’d go at the drop of hat , so here’s my hat, now drop it - and then you can go.

Rob I wish it was that simple. When I said at the drop of a hat I meant ‘mmediately’. If I had enough money, I would go to Australia immediately - without delay.

Feifei I see. So in other words, you would go to Australia without hesitation.

Rob Exactly. Let’s hear some more examples…

Examples My husband just can’t stop spending - he buys clothes at the drop of a hat !

If I knew what to do next, I’d quit my job at the drop of a hat . Until then, I’ll stay where I am.

My wife’s expecting a baby so I might have to rush to the hospital at the drop of a hat .

Feifei To do something at a drop of a hat means to do something immediately without even thinking about it. Well Rob, I’ll send you a postcard when I get to Australia but it may take a while.

Rob Why’s that?

Feifei Well I’m going skiing in France first.

Rob Oh, well that’s somewhere where you really don’t want to drop your hat - it’ll be freezing!

Feifei So you don’t fancy coming with me then?

Rob Skiing? No, that’s something I wouldn’t do at the drop of a hat . I’ll think about it. But have fun.

Feifei Thanks.

Both Bye!