Idiom
A chip off the old block
A chip off the old block is someone who is very like their parent in personality, talent or behavior.
How people use it
People use it most often about a child who resembles a father or mother (Maya fixes everything in the house; she's a chip off the old block). It is informal and usually affectionate or proud, though it can be used about shared faults too. It refers more to character and habits than to looks. A related saying is like father, like son.
Also said: chip off the old block.
Examples
- Sam tells the same terrible jokes as his father; he's a real chip off the old block.
- Like her mother, Ana became a nurse, so everyone calls her a chip off the old block.
- When the boy calmly fixed the bike chain, his grandmother laughed and called him a chip off the old block.
Where it comes from
The image is a piece of wood cut from a larger block: it is made of the same material and has the same grain. An older form, 'a chip of the same block,' was used in the 1600s, and 'chip of the old block' followed. Over time 'of' became 'off,' perhaps because a chip is cut off a block. The statesman Edmund Burke famously used the phrase in the 1780s about the young William Pitt, son of a former prime minister.
Check yourself
1. If someone calls a boy a chip off the old block, what do they mean?
Answer: He is very like his parent. A chip off the old block shares a parent's character or habits.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: Leo is as stubborn as his mother; he's a chip off the old block.. Sharing a parent's stubbornness fits. Being nothing like your parents is the opposite, and the carpenter sentence is literal.
Similar idioms
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