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Reader question: Please explain “false start”, as in this sentence: “I’m writing the last month off as another false start.” My comments: In other words, the “I” in that sentence did not achieve what he set out to achieve “last month”. He therefore wants to write that month off, hopefully to start anew this month. “False start” is a term borrowed from the sports meet. In the 100-meter dash, for instance, the umpire at the start of a race has players lined neatly up behind the starting line. That’s when he announces “On your marks!” Then he says, “Get set” (meaning Get ready), and he then shoots a toy gun – the sound of the gunshot being the signal for the players to get up and run. Sometimes, however, one or more players will dash out before hearing the shot – in other words, they will have “jumped the gun”. This is a violation, or illegal. A second such violation will see the player expelled from the race. Anyways, whenever a “jumped gun” situation occurs, the field or the players will be called back to start again. Hence, the nullified attempt is called a false start. The false start is a start, no doubt, sort of, but it is in vain. It is false, as against true. In the top example, when “I” want to write last month off as another false start, it means that person considers last month a total failure in terms of achieving or rather not achieving his goals. Not a total failure perhaps – there must have been some good done – but considered as a whole, that month’s time was considered a waste. | 
