You Can Use These Phrases 'At the Drop of a Hat'!
We wear lots of hats. When it's sunny, we might wear a baseball cap. We might need a warm hat in winter, and a swimming cap in the pool.
And if we're at school, we might want to wear a "thinking cap."
This isn't a real hat, however. If we "put on our thinking cap," it means we're thinking really hard about something. Teachers might ask their students to do this, or bosses may encourage employees to do it in a meeting.
Hats are used for lots of things. In fact, if someone has many different jobs, we might say they "wear many hats"!
In the past, if someone wanted to challenge a boxer to a fight, they could "throw their hat into the ring." We still use this today when someone wants to announce that they'll be taking part in something — especially an election.
Someone may choose to do this "at the drop of a hat." That means doing it right away without stopping to think about it. Races were once started by someone dropping a hat, and that's probably where the phrase comes from.
But if someone has no hope of winning, people might say that if they win, "I'll eat my hat" — meaning they're so sure it won't happen that they'd risk eating a hat!
On the other hand, when someone does succeed, you could say "I take my hat off to them." Taking your hat off was something that was traditionally done as a sign of respect or admiration.
If you have a secret you have to keep, someone might ask you to "keep it under your hat" — since that's a good place to hide something so no one can see it!
Just don't keep these useful phrases under your hat for too long!
