Animals like tigers and zebras have stripes. Humans do not. Or do they?

VO: Earn Your Stripes

A: Jonathan! I heard you just joined the symphony! How’s it going?
J: It’s great! But I still feel like I’ve got to earn my stripes. I’m only playing the 3rd trombone part for now.
A: Oh, you are going to earn SO many stripes.
A ALT: Well, I’m sure you’ll earn your stripes soon enough.
A ALT: And stripes you shall earn.
A ALT: I have plenty of stripes. (holds up stripes of some sort)

J: Thanks, Anna!
J ALT: Thanks, Anna. But that’s not how the idiom works.

To “earn your stripes” means to prove you deserve to be accepted – and respected – by other people in a group. This phrase comes from the military. Soldiers who earn certain honors wear “stripes” that they attach to their uniforms.

And that’s English in a Minute!


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