[Idiom] Today we cross the Rubicon.

[beachboy]

Today we cross the Rubicon. There is no going back (The Free Dictionary).How common in everyday English is the expression "to cross the Rubicon"? Is there a more common expression with the same meaning?

 

[emsr2d2]

I wouldn't say it's particularly common. I've heard it but, unless the context made it very clear, I'm not sure I'd know what it meant.

 

[Roman55]

I've heard it and used it quite a lot here in France. I can't remember whether I first came across it in French or in English, but I'd say it is more common here.

 

[Amigos4]

Students of history will recognize the expression. Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BC in direct violation of an ancient Roman law which forbade any general from crossing the river and entering Italy with a standing army. To do so was treason.

Today, "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means to pass a point of no return. Another common idiom is "the die is cast"! What's done cannot be undone!

 

[beachboy]

Sorry, something is wrong today here. I can't either thank or like your comments. I'm very thankful, though.



Ok, I've fixed it.

 

[GoesStation]

Crossing the Rubicon is an expression that was widely used, perhaps to the point of cliché, in the days when education in Anglophone countries consisted largely of studying the literature and languages of ancient Rome and Greece. Well-read modern Anglophones will certainly have seen it but may be uncertain of exactly what it means.

 

[beachboy]

Crossing the Rubicon is an expression that was widely used, perhaps to the point of cliché, in the days when education in Anglophone countries consisted largely of studying the literature and languages of ancient Rome and Greece. Well-read modern Anglophones will certainly have seen it but may be uncertain of exactly what it means.

Is there a modern expression with the same meaning?

 

[Rover_KE]

See post #5: 'We pass the point of no return'.

 

[beachboy]

See post #5: 'We pass the point of no return'.

Yes, ok. I thought somebody might come up with another one. I'll stick to this expression then.

 

[beachboy]

By the way, "to sign one's own death warrant" has a rather similar idea, doesn't it?

 

[jutfrank]

By the way, "to sign one's own death warrant" has a rather similar idea, doesn't it?

Well, no. Julius Caesar went on to become, let's say, quite successful.

 

[beachboy]

Well, no. Julius Caesar went on to become, let's say, quite successful.

But when we use any of the three expressions, we're not 100% sure of the outcome....

 

[GoesStation]

But when we use any of the three expressions, we're not 100% sure of the outcome....

Signing one's own death warrant is not equivalent to the other two expressions.