Scraping the barrel 滥竽充数，勉强凑合
When all the good wine is gone you have to scrape the barrel
今日小常识
A person who makes barrels is called a cooper. They also make other containers such as casks, buckets and tubs.
在英语里，制作大木桶的木桶工被成为 cooper. 木桶工制作大小和功能不同的各种桶状容器，如 casks 酒桶、buckets 水桶、tubs 浴盆等。
今日短语
To scrape the barrel 意思是在没有更好选择的情况下处于无奈只能滥竽充数，将就凑合。
例句
You chose Mark to represent us at the meeting? That's really scraping the barrel.
A: What are you wearing to the wedding?
B: The same dress as last time. I know I'm scraping the barrel. I just can't afford anything new!
请注意
如果某事被形容为 a barrel of laughs 那就意味着这件事很搞笑。这个短语常被用在否定句中。
A: How was the meeting?
B: Pretty bad. We found out they are cutting 10 jobs. Not exactly a barrel of laughs.
