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Reader question: Please explain “wear thin” in this sentence: “As peacock population grows, their charm begins to wear thin.” My comments: The male peacock has its large ornamental tails to show off. And they’re beautiful to observe. To humans, those shiny colorful tails are ornamental, but to the birds they have a crucial function – to attract females. Pretty much like the high heels, bikinis and heavy makeup some women wear to attract the ogles of males. For the first or first few times, at the very least. First timers to see a peacock fanning its tail are bound to be mesmerized. But usually not for long. First, color dazzles. Then it blinds. When people get used to it, they, well, get use to it and no longer feels the same sensations of wonder and lust that they once felt at first. Same with tasty food. Too many tasty foods at once spoil the good feeling. In other words, too much of a good thing. Hence, “as peacock population grows, their charm begins to wear thin”, that is, to wither, like a flower and to wane, like the moon. All because people see too many of them too often. And as people often say, familiarity breeds contempt. Wearing thin originally describes clothing getting old and worn. Wearing “thin” because due to overuse, the clothes become thinner at some places where there’s been much “wear and tear”. “Thin”, in other words, because the cloth is getting “threadbare”. | 
