Skip to main content

meaning - Getting into the Groove


What is the exact context of using this phrase? Is a positive connotation attached to it or a negative one?



Answer



The common version of this expression is "get into a groove," which means to get used to a routine, to get settled into a comfortable pace doing something, to hit one's stride.


It would normally have a positive connotation in American English ("I got into a groove about the middle of the race"), but you could use it to imply that you are unable to get out of the routine, and in British English to "be in a groove" may more often relate to boredom.


See these definitions:


groove, 3:



a fixed routine: to get into a groove.



groove, 3:



A settled routine: got into the groove of a nine-to-five job.
in the groove: Slang - Performing exceptionally well.




The expression "get into the groove", on the other hand, can mean to have fun or to get with the times, usually in a positive way. This phrase is probably a bit dated (1985 Madonna, anyone?). "The groove" is a reference to musical rhythm, probably from the physical groove in a record. This discussion sums it up pretty well:



To "get in the groove " means to enter into the spirit of the situation or circumstance of the moment. The groove is really the track on an old record in which the needle of the record player had to ride in order to reproduce the music--so the meaning is figurative.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more