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Reader question: What does "chicken and egg" mean in "Maybe it's a chick-or-egg problem"? My comments: The chick-or-egg refers to the idiomatic expression: "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" You know, chickens lay eggs, but they are hatched from eggs. So, which came about first? Not that people walk around every day wondering whether the chicken came into existence ahead of the egg or vice versa, they just use this expression to talk about two things that have influence on one another, and especially when the cause and effect becomes cyclical and it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. In other words, who got the ball rolling first? Say, you've been on friendly terms with someone for years. One Christmas day, you receive a gift from the other person – a Rolex watch, for example (suppose people value this sort of thing) – with a thank you note saying you deserve the gift for all the wonderful things you've done for him or her over the years. It is your first Rolex watch and you find your ruminating how your friendship first began. But you can't remember. Certainly neither of you handed out a Rolex watch to the other on the first day of your acquaintance. A slight nod of the head was more likely it.But as to who started the ball rolling in terms of building a serious relationship, and when, you have no idea. You can't put a firm hand on that. Call it the chicken-or-egg thing – whoever offered the other an olive branch first, one thing led to another and your friendship has grown till this day and that's the most important thing. | 
