Truck has seen better days

[loctantruong]

Hi there,

Once I watched the movie "House of Wax" in which a truck driver told a boy and a girl when they wanted him to roll down a truck window and it was out of order "Truck's seen better days". What does it exactly mean? was he meaning that the truck's condition was getting worse.

thanks for help.

[Veronikap]

Hi...I'm not a native speaker but perhaps I canhelp you. In my native (Slovenian) language we have the same expression. It only indirectly implies that the truck's condition was getting worse - it's basic meaning doesn't stress the process (of getting worse) but rather a present state compared to a past state. so what the man wanted to say in that case was that the truck is (at present) in a bad condition, but this used to be different in the past. He wanted to say that once the window worked, i.e. that it hasn't been broken for ever.

In Slovenian, we often use this expression when we refer to the condition of a building, for example:
A: 'The old school is dilapidated. Nobody wants to have it renovated.'
B: 'Yeah, it has seen better days...' = it wasn't always in such a poor condition

[loctantruong]

Dear Veronikap,

Your are really helpful. Thanks a lot