Read the Fascinating Story Behind the Idiom ‘Break the Ice’

And why we call a joke an icebreaker!

Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash

To break the ice means —

• to make strangers comfortable and friendly with each other.
• to say or do something to relieve them of shyness.

Or in general terms, it means to “make friends, or to extend the hand of friendship towards another.

There are several stories behind this phrase. The most plausible one I find is that in the olden times, about four hundred years ago, in the cold coastal countries, the water nearby the coastal areas used to freeze, thereby creating a blockage for the incoming commercial ships.

The coastal areas in cold countries got frozen during the winters, thereby creating a barrier for the incoming ships.

In such situations, if a receiving country sent its own ships to literally break the ice so that the incoming ships may enter its territory, this gesture was considered as extending the hand of friendship by the receiving country. And the ships that were used to break the ice were called icebreakers.

Ships specially made to break Ice were sent by countries to break the ice barriers, thus opening the channel for the incoming ships. These ships were called icebreakers.

Thus, the term icebreaker began to be used to refer to something that figuratively breaks the communication barrier between strangers. And the phrase ‘Break the Ice’ has come to mean to extend a hand of friendship or to become friendly or comfortable with someone.

For e.g. —

“He told a joke to break the ice.”

He told a joke so that people laugh together and that will make them comfortable with each other. In this example, the joke itself will be known as the icebreaker because it is used to break the invisible barrier between people.

I hope you found this story interesting. If you did, buy my full course on Udemy or watch it for free on Skillshare by signing up here. This course covers nearly 380 idioms with their origins and backstories.

Hi, I am Gauri Shanker, a Vocab teacher and enthusiast. I teach vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. You can check out my courses here.