Phrase: A drop in the bucket

A drop in the bucket is a phrase used to describe something as insignificant and small, especially when compared to something else.

The thing to remember, though, is that everything adds up.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, as the saying goes.

We all know that the small things we do every day, such as daily exercise and healthy eating, enable us to maintain our vitality and strength.

Let’s look at the lowly penny if you still don’t believe me.

Nobody wants to collect pennies anymore.

Heck, Canada has even phased out the penny.

Yep, there are no more pennies in Canada.

There is a proverb which goes look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves.

It’s trying to impress upon us that although one penny may be a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of money you need, for example, to purchase a new car, small amounts of money add up to become large amounts quite quickly.

Let’s do the math, shall we?

Imagine a worker purchasing a coffee can for ￥120 every day from the drink machine in their office.

It’s not a lot of money; in fact, it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to their total salary.

If they buy five cans weekly, that’s ￥600 a week, ￥2,400 a month and ￥28,800 a year.

It still doesn’t seem like much money until you look at the person’s entire 35-year career.

A worker who purchases, on average, five cans of coffee a week for 35 years at ￥120 per can will spend ￥1,008,000.

That’s a reasonably large chunk of change and no longer a drop in the bucket.

So, even though we may consider something small, insignificant and merely a drop in the bucket, everything adds up over time.

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 73.

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.