Home » Segments » Must Needs

Must Needs

A man in Del Mar, California, wonders about the expression must needs meaning “must by necessity.” Is it a regionalism, pretentious, or perhaps used just for emphasis? This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

1 comment
  • I encounter this phrase at least monthly in one of my favorite hymns “The Way of The Cross Leads Home” (1906):

    I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
    There’s no other way but this;
    I shall ne’er get sight of the Gates of Light,
    If the way of the cross I miss.

    Refrain:
    The way of the cross leads home,
    The way of the cross leads home;
    It is sweet to know, as I onward go,
    The way of the cross leads home.

    I must needs go on in the blood-sprinkled way,
    The path that the Savior trod,
    If I ever climb to the heights sublime,
    Where the soul is at home with God.

    Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
    To walk in it nevermore;
    For my Lord says, “Come,” and I seek my home,
    Where He waits at the open door.

More from this show

What Makes A Great Book Opening Line?

What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...

Slip Someone a Mickey

To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...