my poison
5
9.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
mi debilidad
- If all I can do is pick my poison, then I'm not really free.
- Pick my poison
Examples
-
He asked his friends, "What is your favorite poison when it comes to snacks?"
-
At the party, everyone was asked to choose their poison from a selection of cocktails.
-
Pick your poison on what to watch live if you have to choose just one.
Blog text (10) -
I am free to choose my poison.
Blog text (23) -
You're the director, pick your poison.
-
What's your poison, Lord Dunmanway?
Fiction book (1994) -
Pick your poison.
Blog text (10) -
By way of compensation, wrote Palmer, "we will feed you beer, hug/high-five you up and down (pick your poison), give you merch, and thank you mightily for adding to the big noise we are planning to make."
Blog text (10) -
When dining out, my poison is always a rich chocolate dessert.
Synonyms
A treat someone likes to have to relax, often a drink with alcohol
How Indulgent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the possessive 'my' with 'poison' used metaphorically to mean a pleasurable but potentially harmful indulgence; the possession is transparent but the figurative shift from literal toxic substance to 'preferred vice' is not fully predictable. A B1 learner who knows both words might guess a negative or harmful sense but would likely not reliably infer the colloquial meaning 'one's favourite indulgence' without prior exposure, so it is partially transparent.
Etymology
My poison comes from a clear image: someone keeps choosing a food or drink that might be a poison for them because it harms their health, but they love it anyway. That's why my poison now means 'a favourite thing you enjoy even if it is bad for you'.