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Reader question: Please explain the following sentence (“make ends meet” in particular) - We could barely make ends meet. That is why I jumped at the opportunity when I saw their advertisement in a newspaper. My comments: Ok, to paraphrase: We were poor at the time. We were having difficulty paying bills, barely making enough money for food. Therefore I accepted the job offer immediately when I read their advertisement in a newspaper. Now what’s implied (without being said in words) here is this: We took the job because we were pretty desperate. We knew it was not an exciting job or even a high-paying one but we took it because we had to. Or, as they say, beggars can’t be choosers. Anyways, “make ends meet” is the idiom in question here. More commonly known as “make both ends meet”, “ends” stand for the END of the incomes column and the END of the expenses column in the account book. At the END of the incomes column of course is the number for TOTAL INCOME, and at the end of the expenses column is the number for TOTAL EXPENDITURE. Those two number must meet (match) for it to work. Elite international accountancy firms, of course, can always literally make both ends meet, being expert at fudging figures and coming up with all sorts of desirable numbers to help clients evade tax or for other shady purposes but on a personal level, we as individuals and families know how important it is to have enough income to cover all our expenses. | 
