Idiom of the Day

“On the dot”

When you need to arrive at a

destination at a precise time, we will say, “Come at 3:00 PM on the dot.” Maybe this is the moment a band will begin playing music, or a movie will begin showing. We can sometimes also use this expression when talking about money if it is an exact amount that comes to no change, like “twenty dollars on the dot,” but the expression is more commonly used for time.

From my understanding, people in Scandinavian cultures arrive at friends homes “on the dot.” Arriving earlier or later is considered rude in their culture.