Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

1. Is there a particular verb for picking up the piece of paper from a raffle draw box?
To draw a raffle?
What about "to draw lot"?

2. It's yours to go= It's yours?
Do they mean the same thing?

Thanks.

[CP]

1. When a prize is raffled off, the usual way is to sell numbered tickets to the entrants. Each entrant keeps half the ticket, and the other half goes into the hopper or box. The beautiful girl reaches into the hopper to draw the ticket with the winning number.

Usually, drawing lots or drawing straws is different. Drawing lots: Say that five of us are disturbed by some inappropriate behavior by a teacher, and we want to report it to the principal, but we are afraid. So we decide to draw lots. We put five pieces of paper, each one bearing a different name, into a hat. One of us draws one of the lots without looking, and whoever's name is on the paper must go tell the principal.

Or we could draw straws. We take five straws -- blades of grass, pencils, toothpicks, whatever -- and make one shorter than the rest. One of us mixes them up and holds them in his / her hand, hiding all but the tops. Each person draws a straw, and whoever draws the short straw is the one to tell the principal.

So you hear people say things like, "Choosing lousy men seems to be her lot in life." Or, "He always gets the short straw."

2. I don't know this expression. What is the context?
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