Comments on: Fall between the cracks

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:06:54 +0000

It is an irrational expression and should be retired. Fall into the cracks is fine. Disagree with Word Detective that it is picky to want what you say to make sense.

By: Kait

Kait — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:13:30 +0000

Hmmmm. I have heard the “fall through the cracks” idiom all my life. Well what I can remember of the 41 years of it. I am don’t really recall the early years all that well. Is this a idiom that has not been used in the USA, but has in Canada, where I am? We have many British, Irish and Scottish sayings that have influenced our speech and writings. Mayhap it came from the UK?

By: micael

micael — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:27:58 +0000

should say somebody’s cranium

By: micael

micael — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:26:57 +0000

and the other day i saw a homeless person sleeping in front of a bank branch and I said to myself, it was God who put him there, it was God who unravelled his life, it was God knows where that somebody decided to push religion everywhere all the time even if it has nothing to do with it, God simply fell between the cracks of somebody’s carium and penetrated their brains..

By: Kaler

Kaler — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:43:43 +0000

Thank you for dealing with the phrase, but what a coincidence that your column followed so closely to what triggered my thinking about it.

very tks.

By: Partha

Partha — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:14:14 +0000

I agree many idioms don’t make literal sense, but this one isn’t one of them. The thing becomes obvious, very obvious, when you think of a LIQUID disappearing between the cracks. Think of a liquid, not a solid body, and immediately the idiom suddenly starts making extremely good sense, intuitively and literally, doesn’t it? After that, of course, to metaphorically use this to mean other things, including solids, even abstract things, shouldn’t take too much imagination.

By: Karen Martinez

Karen Martinez — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:09:19 +0000

Walking to the door, just only minutes before I write this, with the thanksgiving basket kindly given me just this morning I spotted a small package of seeds that the wind had blown from, well only God knows where. I picked it up. Zinnia seeds, probably, I thought, probably planted in the spring; but as the thought took my mind a few still left in that packet fell to the ground. I stooped to pick up my Thanksgiving basket which I’d set down upon the step when, from that packet I spotted one tiny feathery seed. It had fallen between the cracks. Just like me.

In the spring I shall plant it. It did harm to none. It did not break the conventions of law or men. It just fell between the cracks. Just like me.

So if you happen to see on a summer’s day a single Zinnia swaying in the breeze its just its way of thanking God. It’s God that makes your eyes to see, and it’s God that unfolds your hands in prayer and reaches out to plant a seed. If its beauty you see its because God put it there. Just like me.

By: Bill McCray

Bill McCray — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:27:55 +0000

Our preacher used “fall between the cracks” during last Sunday’s sermon and triggered my thinking about the phrase. This led me to the Web and your column. Thank you for dealing with the phrase, but what a coincidence that your column followed so closely to what triggered my thinking about it. It is unlikely that this was asked by someone else who heard the same sermon, since it was just two days before the column. Now I’m going to have to subscribe.