them's the breaks

English

Alternative forms

  • those are the breaks, them’s da breaks

Etymology

From break in the sense “a stroke of luck” (compare tough break, lucky break).

Pronunciation

  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Phrase

them's the breaks

  1. (colloquial, idiomatic, originally US) That is the way things happen; that's life.
    Synonyms: that's the way the cookie crumbles; see also Thesaurus:that's life
    • 2022 July 7, Heather Stewart, quoting Boris Johnson, “Boris Johnson’s resignation speech: what he said, and what he meant”, in The Guardian[1]:
      And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks.

Further reading