English for Students

scraped the bottom of the barrel

What does the Phrase “ scraped the bottom of the barrel " mean?

Do you know that Sumatra’s father has bought Mr. Sonja’s old car?

Good grief! Why has he bought that dreadful thing! He's really scraped the bottom of the barrel to get that old car.

Scraped the bottom of the barrel? I have never heard that expression before.

When you scrape the bottom of the barrel, you....

I can probably guess the meaning of the expression. Usually when you scrape the bottom of the barrel, you get a lot of things that you don't need. Like mud, sand....

Excellent! When you say that someone is scraping the bottom of the barrel, it means that he/she is choosing from the worst.

He is choosing from what is left over. He is choosing from what remains.

Exactly!

Here are a few examples.

• Some of the people that the employment agency sent for the interview last week were terrible. They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

• When I found out that they had hired my neighbor’s son to teach maths in school, I knew they were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

• When Sumatra asked Rakish whether he would be interested in going to the concert with her, she knew she was scraping the bottom of the barrel.

• When the company hired you, I knew they were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I don't agree with you. I am the kind of person the company needs. Not many people have horse sense, you know.

I am not so sure about that. Just because you look like a horse doesn't necessarily mean you have horse sense! Anyway, let's see what the hatchet man has to say.



COURTESY : The Hindu (The National News-Paper) - India