[Vocabulary] What is the meaning of "to the well of bad ideas" in this sentence?

[Farshad.021]

Hey guys, hope you all are doing fine,

My question as is mentioned in the title, is about the meaning of "to the well of bad ideas" in the following context:

In a movie, a man says:
You ever heard of manifest destiny? I like history. Everyone's so damned scared to repeat it, they never thought how bad the alternatives was. Now look around at this world. Seems to me, repeat business
to the well of bad ideas would've put us all a lot better off than we are today.

What does the man mean by the underlined sentence? Does "to the well of something" have special meaning? If yes, when do we usually use it?

Thank you in advance,

 

[Jill Dorchester]

It's not a common phrase, just one that the script writers coined. "Well" refers to a deep pit dug into the earth where water is stored. In this case, the speaker is using "well" as a metaphor - instead of water, bad ideas are being stored in a some sort of universal well.

 

[SoothingDave]

"Going back to the well" especially if you go "once too often" is an expression.

 

[Farshad.021]

It's not a common phrase, just one that the script writers coined. "Well" refers to a deep pit dug into the earth where water is stored. In this case, the speaker is using "well" as a metaphor - instead of water, bad ideas are being stored in a some sort of universal well.

Thank you so much for answering dear friend, yeah, you are right, almost 1/3 of what they say in this movie is not common and difficult to understand.
Anyway, if you don't mind my asking, what does the whole "repeat businessto the well of bad ideas would've put us all a lot better off than we are today" mean?

Can we forget about that metaphor and just say "repeat business would've ..." ?

 

[emsr2d2]

As always, quote your source. What is the name of the movie?

 

[SoothingDave]

It seems to be saying that people are afraid to repeat the errors of others. That we would have been better off returning to some of those "bad" ideas and trying them again, perhaps improving and perfecting them. Rather than always looking for new ideas.

 

[JMurray]

The film is Young Ones (2014), "set in a near future when water has become the most precious and dwindling resource on the planet" (rottentomatoes.com).

 

[Farshad.021]

As always, quote your source. What is the name of the movie?

It's name is "young ones".

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks Farshad, but please see post #7 where JMurray demonstrated the correct way to write a film title. You should either italicise it or enclose it in quotation mark. Whichever you choose, each word should start with a capital letter.

 

[Grumpy]

It's name is "young ones".

That should be the possessive "Its". "It's" is short for "it is", or "it has".

 

[MikeNewYork]

I like the metaphor "well of bad ideas". Many people seem to draw from that well.