|
Reader question: Please explain "out and about" in this sentence: For the trial of their coronavirus vaccine, they're looking for people who are more out and about instead of someone, for example, who stays at home all the time. My comments: In other words, they're looking for people who are active, who enjoy life outdoors and socialize a lot. Men about town - an expression descriptive of people who spend a lot of time in fashionable places, such as bars, clubs, private parties, mixing and mingling with like-minded people - are probably the type of people doctors are looking for here. In order to see if a vaccine is effective, someone who's injected the vaccine needs to contract the disease. That is the only way to see if the vaccine works. Hence, doctors are looking for people who are out an about instead of people who are staying at home in isolation. Oh, out and about. Out means outdoors, out there. This is easily understood. About indicates movement in a certain area. For example, one gets up from bed and looks about the room. One walks about the local park for hours. So on, so forth. Out about, a British idiom, implies hyper activity, descriptive of people who are outdoors and hopping about like a kangaroo, or a gazelle, or a galloping horse. I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the point. Yes, all men about town are this type, who are out and about in all the places where people congregate for excitement or other reasons, good, bad, legal, illegal. | 
