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Reader question: Please explain “run of the mill type” in this sentence: The coffee here is average for what you would expect from a run-of-the-mill type of coffee place. My comments: A coffee shop of a run-of-the-mill type is ordinary, neither very good nor too bad, just common and commonplace, a shop you can find anyplace, everyplace. Needless to say, the coffee on offer here is also of the run-of-the-mill type, just so-so, average, nothing special. Oh, run of the mill. The mill refers to any factory that mass-produces something, cloths, bricks, steel sheets, etc. The reason we understand run-of-the-mill as ordinary is because all mass-produced goods look exactly the same, one an exact copy of another. And you can always have them, have them any time, have as many of them as you like, as a matter of fact, so long as the mill is running. Anything we can have at any amount and any time we want it, we tend not to value it. This may also add to the feeling that things of the run-of-the-mill type are not very good. Well, they are not too bad, either. They’re just common and ordinary, not exceptional. Got it? All right, here are media examples of the idiom “run of the mill”, which is American in origin: 1. A never-before-seen strain of swine flu has turned killer in Mexico and is causing milder illness in the United States and elsewhere. While authorities say it’s not time to panic, they are taking steps to stem the spread and also urging people to pay close attention to the latest health warnings and take their own precautions. | 
