Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 387. The idiom today is to step up to the plate.
Okay. If somebody wants a screenshot, now's a good time. Let's get right to it.
If someone steps up to the plate, he or she takes responsibility for something that needs to be
done. So this is one way we use it. We actually have three different meanings and uses here. The
second one is literally you know, and again this is where it comes from. To have a batter
go into a batter's box in a game of baseball. So if you know baseball, they have that little
box in the front where the catcher is and where the battery is and the umpire is. That, that's
called the batter's box. In the game of baseball and be ready to hit the ball from a pitcher.
Okay. And number three here. We say to go ahead and act. Yeah. Sometimes we say you know, you
you need to step up to the plate, it means you got to do something you got to get into the action.
All right. Let's continue. The origin of this idiom comes directly from baseball. Plate in
this idiom is not the type of plate that you eat from, it is in reference to home plate
where the batter must stand next to it to hit the ball from the pitcher. Yeah. Remember in baseball
you know , sometimes that's actually kind of like a trick question. They ask people.. they ask
people how many bases are in baseball ? And you know, a lot of people don't think right away they
say four. But actually there's only three bases in baseball and then there is home plate. The one
where the batter stands that's called home plate. There's first base, second base, third base and
then there is home plate. All right. Let's continue. The phrase started to be used in
business and politics starting in the latter half of the 1900's. So probably like after the 1950's,
60's , 7'0s ...that's when they started using it. So it was a baseball analogy meaning that
you have to take responsibility. Somebody's got to do something. Somebody's got to act.
Somebody has to step up to the plate. Okay. Let's continue. All right. Here's the first
example. Someone needs to step up to the plate and counter all this corruption. If not you then
who ? So to counter means like to fight against it or to go against all this corruption. Maybe
there's a lot of people that are not brave enough to do this, but they say somebody's got to do it.
If not you then who ? You know, meaning that well if you don't do it maybe nobody will. Number two.
After his father died, his son decided to step up to the plate and take
control of his father's business. All right. This is another one where we're saying you know,
you're trying to take responsibility for something that needs to be done. You know,
it was the father's business. I guess you could just close it or sell it , but the son decided to
be the one to run it and take it over. So he accepted the responsibility. Number three.
That team's power hitter is on deck and will step up to the plate next. Well this one is directly
from baseball. A power hitter means one of the strong hitters that when he gets a lot of hits,
that are like extra base hits . Like doubles or triples or home runs. So he's that kind
of a batter. So he's good at trying to knock and make ... knock the runs in. Make the other
runners score. So he's the power hitter. On deck, that's an area that's not too far from home plate
where the next batter who is supposed to hit will sometimes wait. He sometimes likes gets down and
bends on one knee or something and he'll wait on deck. You know, to be the next hitter to come up .
Okay. Good. All right, And, and so here step up to the plate is literal. You
literally step up to the plate to be the next one to take action and hit the ball.
And here's the fourth one. Don't dilly dally. You know, don't waste time. Don't delay. Yeah. I think
Ii did a , a video explaining dilly dally before. If you if you're interested you could check out
that one. You need to step up to the plate now. It is time to act. Yes. You .... you, you need
to step up to the plate. Now's the time to do it. Don't delay. Don't dilly dally. Okay. I hope you
got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was very informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.