James Baquet

    Mark and Ming continue finding idioms using ordinal numbers.

    Mark: Hi, Ming. Want to do more “ordinal number” idioms?

    Ming: Sure!

    Mark: Okay. The only proper idiom I can think of with “fourth” is “the fourth estate,” referring to the press.

    Ming: Why is the press called that?

    Mark: In history, the first three estates were the clergy, or priests of the church, the nobles, or upper class, and the common people. The press was another power or “estate” in society.

    Ming: I see. Okay, “fifth?”

    Mark: One good one is “to be a fifth wheel.”

    Ming: How is that possible? A car can’t have five wheels!

    Mark: Exactly! To be a “fifth wheel” means to be extra, unwanted, out of place.

    Ming: Can you give an example?

    Mark: “My friend was going on a date, and asked me along, but I didn’t want to be a fifth wheel.” Some people, though, say “a third wheel.”

    Ming: Got it. And what about “sixth?”

    Mark: Have you heard of a “sixth sense?”

    Ming: Oh, yeah, like ESP (extra-sensory perception) or something!

    Mark: That’s right. The five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. But some people claim to have a “sixth sense” beyond those five.

    Ming: Uh-huh. Let’s do “seventh.”

    Mark: Probably the best-known here is “seventh heaven.” Some people say there are seven levels of heaven, and the seventh is the highest.

    Ming: So if I’m really, really happy, I can say “I’m in seventh heaven,” right?

    Mark: Perfect. Now, do you know how many “wonders” the ancient world had?

    Ming: Seven?

    Mark: Right. So if you want to say that you saw something amazing, you might say, “It’s the Eighth Wonder of the World.”

    Ming: I’ll buy that. How about ninth?

    Mark: Remember that there were supposedly seven levels of heaven?

    Ming: Don’t tell me: there were nine in hell?

    Mark: Bingo! The “ninth circle of hell” is where the punishments were worst.

    Ming: Sounds like a good way to describe my math class.

    Mark: Okay, we have one more idiom, I think.

    Ming: That’s right: “10th.”

    Mark: Honestly, I can’t think of any idiom using the ordinal number “10th.” But there’s one that uses the fraction “nine-10ths.”

    Ming: Okay, let’s try it.

    Mark: There is an old expression that says “possession is nine points of the law.”

    Ming: So if people are arguing over who owns something, the one who actually has it has a stronger case?

    Mark: Right. The expression is also stated as “possession is nine-10ths of the law.”

    Ming: I see.