harp on
to repeatedly talk or complain about something
TRANSLATION
harp on = immer wieder von etw. reden, auf etwas herumreiten --- GOOGLE INDEX harp on: approximately 500,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Confusion ruled as the media HARPED ON the growing public panic, and health care workers and government officials struggled to understand and contain the diseases...
(CBS News)
---
Over the years, several observers have HARPED ON the nature of students graduating from schools, arguing that many are unable to join the workplace, soon after graduation.
(allafrica.com)
(CBS News)
---
Over the years, several observers have HARPED ON the nature of students graduating from schools, arguing that many are unable to join the workplace, soon after graduation.
(allafrica.com)
Did you
know?
harp on
idiom
- to talk or complain about something many times
---
Most people know the noun harp, a stringed musical instrument that is plucked with the fingers. According to harp.com, the earliest evidence of the harp is found in Ancient Egypt circa 2500 BC. They were shaped liked bows or angular and had very few strings, because they lacked a column they could not support much string tension.
The term is from the Old English "hearpe" and further from a Proto-Germanic source that is also the root of the German "Harfe." Harp is also short for harmonica or mouth harp, a usage that first appeared in the late 19th century.
The verb harp, which is normally used together with the preposition "on," was first recorded in the 16th century. How this sense developed is not clear, but it may simply relate to the idea of repeatedly playing on the same string of a harp. Shakespeare used it in this sense in several plays:
- Harp not on that string, madam; that is past. (King Richard III)
- He makes me angry with him; for he seems proud and disdainful, harping on what I am. (Antony and Cleopatra)
- How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. (Hamlet)
---
SYNONYMS
dwell on, nag, pester, rag on about, rant
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"He's still harping on about the parking ticket he received last week."
idiom
- to talk or complain about something many times
---
Most people know the noun harp, a stringed musical instrument that is plucked with the fingers. According to harp.com, the earliest evidence of the harp is found in Ancient Egypt circa 2500 BC. They were shaped liked bows or angular and had very few strings, because they lacked a column they could not support much string tension.
The term is from the Old English "hearpe" and further from a Proto-Germanic source that is also the root of the German "Harfe." Harp is also short for harmonica or mouth harp, a usage that first appeared in the late 19th century.
The verb harp, which is normally used together with the preposition "on," was first recorded in the 16th century. How this sense developed is not clear, but it may simply relate to the idea of repeatedly playing on the same string of a harp. Shakespeare used it in this sense in several plays:
- Harp not on that string, madam; that is past. (King Richard III)
- He makes me angry with him; for he seems proud and disdainful, harping on what I am. (Antony and Cleopatra)
- How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. (Hamlet)
---
SYNONYMS
dwell on, nag, pester, rag on about, rant
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"He's still harping on about the parking ticket he received last week."
