A: Do you want to eat Italian or Chinese food tonight? B: Well, that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Note: This idiom refers to a question that is very important and/or difficult to answer. Using it signals to a listener that the speaker needs an answer to the immediate question to resolve a make-or-break situation. Sometimes it’s used ironically. The saying has its origins in TV game shows where contestants have the chance to win a huge amount of money if they can answer all the questions correctly. An updated version of the 1940s American “US$64,000 Question” show was shown on British ITV in 1998 as “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The latter may have driven the popularity of the phrase. |