to touch grass
- phrasal verb
- /tʌtʃ ɡræs/
- Slang
:
salir al aire libre
- After spending too much time online, he decided to touch grass and enjoy a walk in the park.
Also, I apologize for telling Dan he needs to touch grass.
- Also, I apologize for telling Dan he needs to touch grass.
Examples
-
Some people say you got to touch grass, man, which means like get off your phone and go the outside.
-
Go outside and touch grass like you.
-
She realized she needed to touch grass and engage with nature instead of being glued to her screen.
-
When life gets overwhelming, it's important to touch grass and reconnect with the world around you.
Synonyms
3
4.6
To take time to enjoy small pleasant things in life
Antonyms
How Offline
7
4.0
893
1.0
- Slang
496
1.4
234
2.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meanings of 'touch' and 'grass' point to physically going outside, so a learner might infer something about leaving an indoor place. However, the phrase is recent internet slang where the act is a metaphor for stepping away from online/virtual activity and reconnecting with reality, a culture-bound sense many B1 learners would not predict from the words alone.
Etymology
Touch grass comes from online groups where people would tell someone to go outside and literally touch the grass when they were too stuck in the internet. That simple image of putting a hand on real grass became a way to say 'take a break from online life' and clear your head.