Sour Grapes

Sour Grapes

Welcome to English in a minute!

Grapes can be used to make wine.

Sour Grapes

Sour grapes, though, do not sound so tasty.

Did your buddy Craig ask my friend Morgan out for a second date yet?

Well, he did. And she turned him down.

But Craig told me that he wasn’t that interested in her anyway.

Sounds like Sour Grapes to me.

You are probably right.

This phrase comes from the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop.

A fox tries to eat some grapes from a vine.

But they are too high for the fox to reach.

So the fox claims the Grapes are probably Sour anyway.

When someone has a case of “sour Grapes,” they criticize something desirable that they know they cannot have.

Just like Craig did after Morgan tuned him down.

And that’s English in a minute!