what's the use
1
7.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
¿para qué?
- "What is the use of having money if you have to work for it?"
Examples
-
What's the use of having a reputation if you can't live up to it?
Fiction book (1995) -
"Hey, what's the use of singing this song?"
-
Then what's the use of coming after us?
-
Now, what's the use of fighting?
-
What's the use of having electricity?
-
Well, what's the use?
-
What's the use of having a little money... ...if once in a while you can't be reckless with it?
-
What's the use of going to law school... ...if you're gonna throw it over and play cops and robbers.
-
Well, it's done now—what's the use of grousing about it?
Fiction book (1994) -
What's the use of having money if you have to work for it?
Synonyms
How Futile
133
2.5
- Informal
1
7.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally asks 'what is the use' — querying the usefulness or purpose of an action — so a learner who knows 'what's', 'the' and 'use' can derive that it expresses there is no point or benefit. This compositional, rhetorical shift from a question to an expression of futility is cross-linguistically common, making the meaning accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The question what's the use comes from a simple image: imagine holding a broken tool and asking whether it still has any use. So it became a quick way to say something is 'pointless' or 'no point'.