On The Rocks
March 12, 2008 – 12:17 pm
“Their relationship has been on the rocks for a while.”
“They have been married for 20 years, but there are rumors that their marriage is on the rocks.”
“Bartender, get me a whiskey on the rocks.”
As you can see, the idiom “on the rocks” has two different meanings.
1. having troubles or likely to fail — this meaning is usually applied to relationships or marriages. You will also hear “rocky” applied to relationships. For example, “We have always had a rocky relationship.” This means “We have always had a problematic or difficult relationship.” When applied to relationships, smooth is the opposite of rocky. So if you said, “We have always had a smooth relationship,” it would mean, “We have always had a good relationship without many problems.”
2. with ice. The “rocks” are ice cubes. In this sense, you normally only use “on the rocks” when referring to alcoholic beverages. It would sound a little funny to say, “I’ll have a Coke on the rocks.” (It isn’t wrong, but it sounds like you are trying to make a joke.)
There is a famous song from 1980 called, “Love on the Rocks” by Neil Diamond.
Love on the rocks Ain’t no surprise Just pour me a drink, And I’ll tell you some lies Got nothing to lose, So you just sing the blues, all the time Gave me your heart, you gave me your soul Then you left me alone here With nothing to hold Yesterday’s gone Now all I want is a smile First they say they want you How they really need you Suddenly you find you’re out there Walking in a storm And when they know they have you Then they really have you Nothing you can do or say, You got to leave, just get away We all know the song Love on the rocks It ain’t no big surprise Just pour me a drink And I’ll tell you my lies Yesterday ’s gone Now all I want is a smile…..
You can see that the song is playing on the double meaning of the phrase “on the rocks.” He is singing about a relationship that is “on the rocks,” but he also uses the phrase “pour me a drink” which is associated with “on the rocks” also.