English: in the grips of

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allf100
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English: in the grips of

Postby allf100 » Wed Nov 17, 2021 6:25 am

Berlin (CNN)German health officials have warned the country is in the grips of a "very worrying" spike in Covid-19 cases and expanded its booster vaccine program to all adults, after a new record in daily infections was registered for the second day running.

Source: CNN

Hello,

Would someone please tell me the usage of 'in the grip(s) of'?

Are 'grips' and 'grip' alternative in this idiom? If no, how should I use them correctly?

I've looked them up on online dictionary, but I don't have a clue about them.

Thank you!
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby DaveAgain » Wed Nov 17, 2021 8:40 am

allf100 wrote:
Berlin (CNN)German health officials have warned the country is in the grips of a "very worrying" spike in Covid-19 cases and expanded its booster vaccine program to all adults, after a new record in daily infections was registered for the second day running.

Source: CNN

Hello,

Would someone please tell me the usage of 'in the grip(s) of'?

Are 'grips' and 'grip' alternative in this idiom? If no, how should I use them correctly?

I've looked them up on online dictionary, but I don't have a clue about them.

Thank you!

grip/grips would be interchangeable.
If a person, group, or place is in the grip of something, they are being severely affected by it.


https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... -something

Think of the gripper as a large wrestler, if you are in the grips of such an individual, they are controlling/hampering your movement and to free yourself would be difficult.
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby Kraut » Wed Nov 17, 2021 3:27 pm

High German consonant shift

English "grip" vs German "Griff": /p/ to /f/
like
English "sharp" vs German "scharf"
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby DaveAgain » Wed Nov 17, 2021 5:36 pm

Kraut wrote:High German consonant shift

English "grip" vs German "Griff": /p/ to /f/
like
English "sharp" vs German "scharf"
The dictionary on my computer gives the origin of 'grip' as:
ORIGIN
Old English grippa (verb), gripe ‘grasp, clutch’ (noun), gripa ‘handful, sheath’; related to gripe.
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby allf100 » Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:11 am

Thank you very much for your help, DaveAgain and Kraut. :)
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby Le Baron » Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:42 pm

'Grips of' is just wrong. The common idiom is 'in the grip of'. It wouldn't surprise me if 'grips of' has caught on and is being used by some people, but it's not the idiom.
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby sfuqua » Thu Nov 18, 2021 10:33 pm

I've heard "in the grips of" quite often. It seems pretty common to me, even though it doesn't make much sense. :D
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby Kraut » Thu Nov 18, 2021 11:58 pm

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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby SCMT » Fri Nov 19, 2021 2:52 am

I think you could be "in the grips of" just as easily as you could be "in the clutches of," but you would never be "in the grasps of.". "clutches" can never be singular and "grasp" can't possibly be plural, but a grip can either be alone or with a friend. Why? I blame Samuel Johnson.

To me, grips sounds British and grip sounds more American, although either seems ok.
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Re: English: in the grips of

Postby Le Baron » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:01 pm

SCMT wrote:To me, grips sounds British and grip sounds more American, although either seems ok.

'Grips' is not a UK English thing.
'get to grips' is , but 'in the grips' isn't. They're not the same.
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