English, baby!

hit rock bottom

Date: May 07 2009

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“I don’t want to put out anything I’m not proud of. Not just yet. Wait until I hit rock bottom.”

-Wrestler, actor, and musician John Cena on his next album. (BET)

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

lose everything; be depressed

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

You have to go pretty low before you hit rock bottom. Getting dumped by your boyfriend or girlfriend is bad, right? But things could still get worse from there. If you got dumped, lost your job, broke your leg, and your dog died, then you could probably say you’d hit rock bottom.

Rock bottom is as low as you can possibly go. The expression comes from the layer of hard rock that you’ll eventually come to if you start digging. You have to dig really deep before you hit that layer. But once you do, you can’t go any further. It’s the lowest possible point you can reach (at least without blowing anything up).

John Cena is proud of his work and says he’d have to be at rock bottom before he made something he didn’t like. For most people, making a bad album probably isn’t the worst possible situation they can imagine. But if you’re a rich and famous performer, your idea of rock bottom might be a little different from that of the average guy.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

“Peter will hit rock bottom if he doesn’t turn his life around.”

“Ryan didn’t quit drinking until after he crashed his car and hit rock bottom.”

“My vacation hit rock bottom when I got lost in a bad neighborhood and my wallet got stolen. “

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

	that means to be in the worst possible situation or reach the lowest possible level. by VOLTS
	hit rock bottom - achieve the lowest limit by Lolita_23
	I think 'hit roc bottom' means that somebody is in the worst possible situation. by Sara90
	reaching a point in life where things coludn't get any worse by susu afroo
	to get to the worst situation possible where is impossible to go any lower by monacovalentina
	to be in the worst possible situation by Liaa

Want to guess next week's slang?

Go Super to Ask Ebaby! teachers your questions!

The iTEP^® test

Sponsored by

Schedule an iTEP^® test and take the official English Practice Test.
Take Now >

Comments

< Previous
21 through 36 of 36
1 2

Futuristic

Philippines

How I wished John Cena hit the rock bottom when he sing.

linlisha003

China

Hope is always in front of you even you are hitting rock botton

alice197

China

everyone may ever experienced that,but the matter is we should refresh and hold up.

Futuristic

Philippines

Basically, People tend to hit rock bottom by some troubles in life. We should accept it no maater what because we never learned from our mistakes.

Naomi1010

Taiwan

When will the global economy hit rock bottom? It seems worse and worse everyday.

_enigma_

Germany

Thank you for posting these useful lessons . I am getting down to rock bottom (to lay the foundation of a language)with ebaby lessons.

I had hit rock bottom once but I never gave up to see rainbow again…The rain and rainbow live together!

Fairstorm

Tunisia

Sometimes we think we hit rock bottom. But when things get further worse, we realize that we could never hit rock bottom. It doesn't matter how the events may be difficult and deceiving. What is really worthy is to keep good spirits and cope with facts as bad as they might be. After all, life is a challenge.

zeki96

Turkey

he’d have to be at rock bottom before he made something he didn’t like.this is unreal situation and i think means "he would have to be at rock bottom before if he made something he didn't like

cuiyanxin

China

Thank you Mira,you make it clear now.

Sometimes it is very different between easten and westen people, they think in different ways. I thought he would probably hit rock bottom in the case of making a bad album.

look at this:"For most people, making a bad album probably isn’t the worst possible situation they can imagine. But if you’re a rich and famous performer, your idea of rock bottom might be a little different from that of the average guy."

this paragraph really confused me with its first sentence(John Cena is proud of his work and says he’d have to be at rock bottom before he made something he didn’t like. ).

It seems that it is trying to explain that he had a bad album so he would hit rock bottom!

Thanks again!

zhzloverzy

China

when girls dump me… I hit my rock bottom…

huiyuanapple

China

nothing could be worse than hit rock bottom.

pizzachuwave

Thailand

sometimes my life hit lava bottom

—a comperative of rock bottom

mukashi

Myanmar

My last sick hit rock bottom when I got the blood pressure was 91 and 55.

Mira_Memoir

Egypt

yeah I think he means that he hasn’t made anything bad yet and that he’ll never do anything bad unless he hits rock bottom. So, he’ll have to be at rock bottom “first” and then do something he doesn’t like or something bad.
could you please inform me if my explanation is good enough?
thanks