spur of the moment: meaning and explanation
If you do something on the spur of the moment, you do it spontaneously.
You didn’t plan to do it, but have decided to do it on impulse (another synonym of spontaneously!). e.g. I rarely do things on the spur of the moment, but I woke up this morning and decided to quit my job.
Spurs were the metal attachments that horse riders used to wear on their boots. These were used to quickly ‘encourage’ the horse to move or to increase their speed.
This is where the metaphorical use comes from – when you do something on the spur of the moment, it is like something has suddenly motivated you (or spurred you) into doing something.
Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?
Listening exercises
Dictation #1
Accent: Northern England
About the sentence
…I bought a ticket…
Notice the pronunciation of the words ‘bought’ and ‘ticket’ – the final ‘t’ sound is dropped and pronounced as a ‘glottal stop’ which can make the word hard to identify.
Dictation #2
Accent: England (RP)
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Dictation #3
Accent: North America
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Extra practice
Here are some questions/links to help you learn the new vocabulary:
- When was the last time you did something on the spur of the moment?
- Are you a spontaneous person? If not, do you wish you were?
Photo by Scott Warman on Unsplash
I sometimes tend to do things on the spur of a moment. But I’ve learned to think things through instead of doing something on impulse so that I won’t regret later. However, I tend to do some things on the spur of the moment, for example, If the day is quite sunny and beautiful, I get dressed and go to the park to do exercises. But when it comes to taking serious decisions, I normally think twice.
I imagine a cowboy spurring his horse on, when that happens the poor makes a sudden movement or jump, this movement is spontaneous and makes it move faster. Similarly, when we do something on impulse is as if someone spurs us on and we react suddenly and even faster.
You’re welcome 🙂
That’s exactly right about spurs. There is actually another idiomatic use of this word: ‘to spur sb on’, which means ‘to motivate sb’. This is generally used positively.
Careful with regret – you need to use this verb with an object. So your sentence should be: “…instead of doing something on impulse so that I won’t regret it later…”.
I believe the last time I did something on the spur of the moment was when I bought a pair of pants. I went out to buy a gift to my mother, but I also bought the pants. I never find clothes to me, so I don’t consider this impulsive act so bad in this case. I am not a spontaneous person, but I wish were. I think I’m too undecided and this is a problem to me.
In Portuguese we have a similar expression, something like “on the heat of the moment”. I think it sounds better than spur, which makes me think in horses being ‘forced’ to do something.
It’s interesting to know that using excessive punctuations might be considered a bit agressive. I use them a lot!!! haha
People here consider the use of CAPS LOCK as something rude or impolite
I agree with you about ‘spur’, it isn’t very nice when you actually think about what it means.
We can also say ‘in the heat of the moment’, but this is when you are angry. e.g. “In the heat of the moment, you can sometimes say things that you later regret”.
When you want to say that you find it hard to make decisions (in general), you should use the adjective ‘indecisive’. If you still haven’t made a specific decision, you can say that you are still ‘undecided’.
Yes, be careful about excessive punctuation! Like you say, it is also very important not to write everything in capitals. This makes the writer seem like they are shouting!