Idiom: A Packrat
Context #1:
Chris: Have you been to Tom’s apartment? It’s a total mess!
Jerry: Yeah I know! He’s got books and clothes and stuff everywhere.
Chris: He never throws anything away. He’s a real packrat!
Context #2:
Anthony: Hey Sean, what are you doing?
Sean: I’m cleaning out my garage. My wife says I have to get rid of all the stuff that I haven’t used in years.
Anthony: Well, if you haven’t used that old soccer ball in 10 years you probably don’t need it.
Sean: I know, but I just like to keep things. My wife says she married a packrat.
Meaning: “a packrat” is a term that refers to someone who likes to keep things instead of getting rid of them. Often this is someone who has a hard time throwing things away. This idiom was taken from LSI’s textbook Reading Horizons, which is used to teach Level 6 Reading/Vocabulary at LSI schools. For more information please visit www.languagesystems.com
