11/9/2023 0 Comments Rack my brain wrack my brain![]() ![]() I guess people also like using “racquet” to sound fancier. “a drugs racket”) and favour “racquet” for the sporting equipment. However, here in Australia and New Zealand, we tend to save “racket” just for loud noises or an illegal scheme (e.g. Officially, the world tennis body calls it a “racket”. And I never have to rack my brain to recall what I got. Actually, while we’re here – is the thing you play tennis with a “racket” or a “racquet”?Ī: Good question. use rack my brain in a sentence, and rack my brain meaning 1. Q: We’ve certainly racked up the knowledge today. But at the same time, don’t get too upset if you see one in the wild. We’d even go so far as to say not to use “wrack” as a verb at all. 1.4.1 Translations 1.4.2 See also 1. Q: So to recap, both are accepted, yet “rack” is the better option in most cases?Ī: Yes. ![]() This even includes saying “rack and ruin” even though #teamwrack does have a legit wreckage-based claim to this one. However, most language boffins including us would suggest the best option is to use “rack” in all the stretchy-torture verb phrases instead of “wrack”. Q: So “wrack” was a corruption but is now widely accepted?Ī: Yes. It started off incorrect, but most dictionaries now accept both. After all, it could be argued that being “destroyed with guilt” makes sense along with “damaging/destroying one’s nerves”. Modern usage has seen these variants grow in popularity – perhaps through the association of “wrack” with wrecking something. Q: So you can’t say “wracked with guilt”, “nerve-wracking” or “wracking my brain”?Ī: Well, this is where things get muddy. And this is where original meanings set the tone but modern usage has messed things up.Ī: Remember how “rack” had stretching out or torturing origins? Well that’s what was originally intended with “racked with guilt”, “nerve-racking” or “racking my brain” – to be stretched or tortured. ![]() Q: So why do so many people get them confused now?Ī: It’s the verbs that cause the problems.Ī: Exactly. But remember, most people have no problem knowing how to spell a wooden “rack” while modern usage of “wrack” is either a type of seaweed or still a description of wreckage. Q: Okay, so they sound the same but had different childhoods.Ī: Correct. It derived from words meaning “damage” or “destruction”. Meanwhile, the noun “wrack” didn’t show up for another century or so, and essentially meant the same thing as a shipwreck. With all those little jars of oregano and thyme, rosemary. Q: Ugh those torture racks give me the creeps. We were going to say that they’re nothing alike.Ī: “Rack” as a noun originated around the 1300s from Middle Dutch – as a “frame with bars”, derived from a bunch of words that meant to “stretch out”. So, as origin stories go, these two words are like Superman and a tub of yogurt.Ī: No. Q: That’s what I was hoping you’d clear up for me.Ī: Indeed. Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn November 1st 1981, Wrack My Brain by Ringo Starr entered Billboards Hot Top 100 chart at position 79 and five weeks later on. Wouldn’t want things to go to rack and ruin. Q: I’m always getting confused about whether I should be “wracked with guilt” or “racking my brain” – or the other way round. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness.
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