Q & A: "Get your feet wet/hands dirty"

Q: What is the origin of "Get your feet wet/hands dirty"?

A: The idioms "get your feet wet" and "get your hands dirty" are both commonly used in English, but they carry slightly different meanings depending on the context.

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Get Your Feet Wet

This idiom means to try something for the first time, especially when you're new or inexperienced. It implies taking a small step into a new activity, job, or environment to begin learning or gaining confidence.

• Origin: It likely comes from the idea of stepping into water for the first time—testing it before diving in.

• Example:
  “You don’t have to be an expert. Just get your feet wet and see how it goes.”

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Get Your Hands Dirty

This idiom means to do the hard, often messy work yourself rather than avoiding it or delegating it to others. It can also imply being actively involved in the details of something, especially manual or behind-the-scenes work.

• Origin: It comes from manual labour, where one literally gets dirty hands.

• Example:
  “If you want to run a farm, you’d better be ready to get your hands dirty.”

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Key Differences:

• "Get your feet wet" is about starting out or trying something new.

• "Get your hands dirty" is about doing hard or involved work, often personally and thoroughly.

Both phrases encourage engagement, but from different angles—one as a beginner, the other as a committed doer.

Source: Some or all of the content was generated using an AI language model