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The Kitchen Table

Phrase of the day 3/30

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

3 years ago

Start from scratch

This comes from the practice of giving handicaps to some competitors in racing. A contestant who starts from scratch (literally a line scratched on the turf or gravel) is the one who runs with no special advantages, while those with handicaps may be starting some distance down the track toward the goal.

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Comments (3)

Annie Deighnaugh
3 years ago
Interesting!
salonva
3 years ago
That's a good one! Never would have thought that but totally makes sense.
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nickel_kg
3 years ago
Related to baking from scratch, I wonder?

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