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Phrase: Chip off the old block
Parents always seem to be so happy and proud when their children perform well.
When a boy does well, the father will say they are a chip off the old block.
If, however, their child gets in trouble, neither parent is willing to take responsibility.
Of course, it must come from the other side of the family.
If you ever hear someone described as a chip off the old block, it means that they are just like one of their parents.
Sometimes, it is uncanny how much a child can resemble their parents.
A young girl may have the same mannerisms as her mother or even have a similar-sounding laugh like that of her mom.
One of my male friends has a young son, and they both walk the same way.
When they walk, they both seem to bob up and down like an empty bottle floating on the ocean.
This expression chip off the old block probably comes from people working with stone or wood.
Often when a smaller block is cut from a bigger one, they have similar characteristics and markings.
It’s easy to see how children resemble their parents in the same way.
In my home province back in Canada, when a son resembles his father, the old guys will say, “He (the son) is the spit right out of his (the father’s) mouth.”
Now, as unpleasant as that may sound, the intended meaning is the same as a chip off the old block.
The funny thing is, my students never want to learn this one.
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 79.
The higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100, the easier the passage is to read.