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Using 'a dime a dozen' in the 'so...that' construction

English Language & Usage Asked on December 16, 2020

This Forbes article titled "There Are 6 ‘Strongest Materials’ On Earth That Are Harder Than Diamonds" has this paragraph:

The quest to make materials harder, stronger, more scratch-resistant, lighter, tougher, etc., is probably never going to end. If humanity can push the frontiers of the materials available to us farther than ever before, the applications for what becomes feasible can only expand. Generations ago, the idea of microelectronics, transistors, or the capacity to manipulate individual atoms was surely exclusive to the realm of science-fiction. Today, they’re so common that we take all of them for granted.

In the last sentence, I’d like to use the idiom ‘a dime a dozen’ instead of ‘so common’. But I don’t know how to use it. Can I simply replace ‘so common’ with ‘a dime a dozen’? Or do I need ‘such’ instead?

(1) they’re so common that we take all of them for granted

(2) they’re a dime a dozen that we take all of them for granted

(3) they’re such a dime a dozen that we take all of them for granted

If neither (2) nor (3) works, which I suspect neither doesn’t, how can I use this phrase in the sentence?

One Answer

I can't think of any way to use "a dime a dozen" in that kind of context.

Instead, I would drop the first article and use "so dime a dozen" (or hyphenated "so dime-a-dozen"). Here are examples of that usage:

  • ... paparazzi fodder is so interchangeable, that celebrities are so dime-a-dozen, that often one has no idea whom the photographers are making ...

    ("The Anonymous, The Rediscovered and the Camouflaged", Scenes From Paris Fashion Week, by Guy Trebay, March 8 2018 - The New York Times)

  • They are so dime-a-dozen that, instead of exclaiming on their twin-ship, it seems more logical to wonder idly where the other ten might be

    ("Herbert Rowbarge", by Natalie Babbitt, p. 8)

  • a place where robots are so dime a dozen that politicians have started demanding they pay taxes.

    ("All-Automated Restaurant Chain Discovers Humans Don’t Like Buying Food From Vending Machines", by Clint Rainey, October 23, 2017 - Grub Street)

Answered by herisson on December 16, 2020

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