"Worse comes to worst" or "worst comes to worst"
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Track title: Ocean Floor
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Chapters
00:00 &Quot;Worse Comes To Worst&Quot; Or &Quot;Worst Comes To Worst&Quot;
00:25 Answer 1 Score 4
00:42 Answer 2 Score 4
00:55 Answer 3 Score 27
01:35 Accepted Answer Score 35
01:52 Thank you
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Full question
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Tags
#idioms
#avk47
ACCEPTED ANSWER
Score 35
The expression should be:
If the worst comes to the worst, ...
It means "if the worst thing that can happen does happen...".
Contracting it without the definite articles doesn't seem to me to justify 'worse comes to worst'; it should still be 'worst comes to worst'.
ANSWER 2
Score 27
According to the Cambridge Dictionaries Online, the following forms of the idiomatic expression are correct:
- British English: if the worst comes to the worst
- American English: if worse/worst comes to worst
I quote the relevant definitions of idiom and expression from my New Oxford American Dictionary to put things in perspective:
idiom: a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words
expression: a word or phrase, esp. an idiomatic one, used to convey an idea
ANSWER 3
Score 4
It should be
"If the worst comes to the worst, then..."
Which means that, if a possible worst-case scenario actually occurs
or
if an already bad situation progresses into a catastrophic situation.
ANSWER 4
Score 4
Traditionally it was 'Worst comes to worst'. Nowadays 'Worse comes to worst' is used as it seems more logical.